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Smooth Breakfast with Eamonn Kelly 6am - 10am
4 March 2020, 09:59
Thanks to one kind Twitter user, it turns out singing the choruses to Toto's 'Africa' and Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' are just the perfect length to give your hands a good clean during the coronavirus crisis.
According to the NHS, washing your hands is one of the easiest ways to protect yourself from flu – with the recommended scrub time being around 20 seconds.
A great way to time it, the health service cleverly advises, is to sing 'Happy Birthday' twice.
But now one *very kind* Twitter user has compiled a list of songs which have 20-second long choruses, to help shake it up a little.
And the list includes Fleetwood Mac, Toto, Prince and Dolly Parton...
You're supposed to wash your hands for 20 sec, which is the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice. But I'm tired of singing Happy Birthday and you probably are too, so I've done the very important public service of compiling other songs with roughly 20 sec choruses to sing:
— Jen Monnier (@JenMonnier) March 2, 2020
Jen Monnier discovered six catchy alternatives to whistle and sing your heart out to as you clean your hands – because no-one really wants to sing 'Happy Birthday' if there's no cake involved.
Instead, wisely use the 20 seconds of hand washing to get your country on with Dolly Parton's unforgettable 'Jolene', or maybe you'd prefer the drama of Toto's 'Africa' as you scrub.
Toto - Africa (Official Music Video)
Whatever your preference, it's clearly a great way to time to task – which is why the tweet has gone viral with over 200,000 likes and almost 80,000 retweets.
Among the list of some of our favourite artists are also Lizzo and Beyonce.
Well, we know what we'll be singing while we lather up...