c'mon barbie, let's go party

I guess it was bound to happen that Marta discovered the song "Barbie Girl" by Aqua. She's been singing it for days.

I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation

I have a funny relationship with this song. In 1997, when it was released, I was working in a music store. And people used to come in and ask for the single "Barbie Girl." They usually had a strange look in their eyes, like they were a bit mad, and they would say something like, "I just can't get that song out of my head. I have to buy it."

I knew then that the song was very dangerous. I was afraid that if I too heard "Barbie Girl," then I would get the same look in my eye and wind up buying the single just because I couldn't get the song out of my head. And so years passed without me hearing the song. If it came on the radio, I would quickly change the station. And even when I heard it, years later, its effectiveness had worn off, and I paid it little attention.

But then Marta discovered it, and now I really can't get its vapid lyrics out of my head. It's taking me back, way back to 1997. I know that doesn't seem like a long time ago, but Martha, Marta's babysitter, said the song came out when she was a little girl. And Martha is 15, which means that she was only about three years old back then. She really was a little girl. For some, songs like these create feelings of nostalgia.