Stayin' Alive. Literally.

October 17, 2008 9:41 AM

The Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive can be used as a training tool for CPR, because it has a near-perfect rhythm for timing compressions, it's well-known and it has a tendency to get stuck in your head. Unfortunately, another song useful for training, with a similar rhythm, isn't quite so uplifting.
posted by Cool Papa Bell (33 comments total)

I always use Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." Seeing as no-one I've ever performed CPR on has ever "come back" it seems more fitting.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:45 AM on October 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

I'll add that my grandfather, the retired Marine colonel, always swore that the Marine Corps Hymn was the proper rhythm for soothing a cranky baby by patting him on the back to the beat.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:45 AM on October 17, 2008

Words cannot describe how great it feels to strut to this song. About a year ago a car, with windows down, was playing it as I walked to an intersection. It was incredible.
posted by ALongDecember at 9:55 AM on October 17, 2008

Wow, related!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:56 AM on October 17, 2008

"This video is not available in your country"

So, what is this song that works, but is less uplifting?
Why do they call it the "world wide web" if stuff isn't really world wide?
posted by Goofyy at 9:57 AM on October 17, 2008

I always use Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." Seeing as no-one I've ever performed CPR on has ever "come back" it seems more fitting.

This implies a causal relationship.
posted by troybob at 9:58 AM on October 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

I got the same error as Goofyy. When did this nonsense start?
posted by Ljubljana at 9:59 AM on October 17, 2008

Goofyy (and Baby_Balrog too, I suppose) - it is "Another One Bites the Dust".
posted by yhbc at 10:00 AM on October 17, 2008

When they get the defibrillator paddles out you should remember to use some Grease.
posted by mandal at 10:00 AM on October 17, 2008

'Take my breath away' works as well. As do several other thousand songs.
posted by ijsbrand at 10:01 AM on October 17, 2008

Seeing as no-one I've ever performed CPR on has ever "come back" it seems more fitting.

How often have you attempted to perform CPR?

I haven't heard their rhythm (I'm at work on break), but I wonder if the the greatest heavy metal Bee Gees cover band's version of Stayin' Alive would also work. As long as there's no "heavy metal tonguing" with the breathing part, I'd be OK with it.

(my knowledge of this band is thanks to a timely QC comment)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:04 AM on October 17, 2008

Like Sandy, Oh my Gad, dat's like, so weird!
posted by chillmost at 10:08 AM on October 17, 2008

Wow, so now I know that I like working out to about 130 BPM (I really go nuts on that elliptical when Gloria comes on. Or Mony Mony.)

Yeah, I know, too fast probably. When I have a heart attack from the 80's music you can come do disco on me.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:11 AM on October 17, 2008

Someone should use this technique on her.
posted by swift at 10:16 AM on October 17, 2008

given that "Stayin Alive" (the Bee Gees version) pleases me about as much as Karl Rove, I suspect that I will be non-responsive if such is playing when they try to revive me.

I did hear a pretty cool (extremely drunken) country + western version once though.
posted by philip-random at 10:31 AM on October 17, 2008

Title notwithstanding, this probably isn't a good choice.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:33 AM on October 17, 2008

How's about Wham!'s "Wake Me Up (before you go go)?

Nobody? Nothing? Sheesh!
posted by Nick Verstayne at 10:34 AM on October 17, 2008

I don't know about people, but Stayin' Alive certainly has the power to bring dance floors back to life.

My friends, I have seen it happen.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:45 AM on October 17, 2008

I wonder what beat 'Taps' is in?
posted by doctorschlock at 10:56 AM on October 17, 2008

The Burhanistan Gibbeth, and the Burhanistan shaketh away.
posted by cortex at 11:14 AM on October 17, 2008

Other 100-bpm songs (according to the database ijsbrand linked): Kickstart My Heart, Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), Dagger Through The Heart, Heartbreaker, Strong Heart, This Is Your Life, Die Now Live Later, Take My Breath Away, and I'm Back.
posted by pracowity at 11:41 AM on October 17, 2008

Bitch does a soulful ukulele version of Stayin' Alive.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:44 AM on October 17, 2008

No tonguing anymore, as it is recommended you use a barrier (clothing, ect) between mouths for breathing.
posted by batou_ at 11:46 AM on October 17, 2008

Some trivia - the beat from that song was actually a tape loop - a snippet from their tune "Jive Talking", which they had also just recorded (their drummer's father died half-way through recording "Staying Alive", and he left - leaving them drummer-less, in their remote studio in France.) The "drummer" on that song was credited as "Bernard Loupee". The song's producer said that for months later, other record labels would contact him because they wanted to book "Bernard Loupee", as his timing was so tight...
posted by pellucid at 12:18 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Wasn't that part of the alleged appeal of disco music? That the typical "disco tempo" was the same speed as your heartbeat?
posted by straight at 12:24 PM on October 17, 2008

Wasn't that part of the alleged appeal of disco music? That the typical "disco tempo" was the same speed as your heartbeat?

Take your pulse right now. Now think about this rumor you heard.

If you want, you can go run around the block, take your pulse again, compare the two figures, and think some more about the rumor.

100 compressions per minute is just a nice round number fairly close to the mean adult heart rate that's good to have during a medical emergency. There's no one-size-fits-all figure.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:50 PM on October 17, 2008

If I ever need CPR performed I want it done in time to Larry Levan's remix of Taana Gardner's Heartbeat. I don't care if it's too slow and kills me.

Come to think of it I want that song playing pretty much all the time.
posted by No-sword at 2:54 PM on October 17, 2008

il Travatore? No?
posted by Smedleyman at 3:40 PM on October 17, 2008

Sure, but it's Singin' in the Rain if you do it with your feet.

(hell, meet handbasket. handbasket...)
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 5:02 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Please. My heartbeat (and I tested it) matches that of this song: Please, Please, Please, a song I would much rather hear in my last moments than those of the travesty bands Queen or the Bee Gees.
posted by kozad at 9:18 PM on October 17, 2008

Calling Queen a travesty is a good way to get yourself closer to those last moments.
posted by cortex at 9:59 PM on October 17, 2008

This one works too, and the title's appropriate.

Baby Bash - Don't Stop


posted by basilwhite at 10:13 PM on October 17, 2008

filthy light thief: I'm an EMT with the red cross - I think I've performed CPR a couple dozen times, at least. By "come back" - I mean that they've been able to sit up, smile, and say - "Oh hi, thank you for doing that CPR on me the other day."
A few of them made it to the hospital and are healthy pieces of furniture to this very day.
But something like less that 3 or 4% of people generally actually recover to a neurologically favorable degree after CPR. Chest compression accomplishes only about 20% arterial blood-pressure (as compared to a beating heart) - no matter what, stuff is shutting down.

Nevertheless - 3% is still a TON of people in the general population and lives are saved daily with proper CPR. So it's hugely important. I've just never been blessed to see it.

I did, however, save a baby once by clearing its airway - and I understand that it was pretty statistically miraculous how it happened so I'm happy and content with that.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:13 AM on October 18, 2008 [1 favorite]