It’s been the topic I tried to avoid writing about.

Every few weeks this summer, a programmer or colleague has asked, “When are you going to do something about all the songs with whistling in them?”

In recent months, the list of CHR hits with whistling has included Britney Spears’ “I Wanna Go,” Bruno Mars’ “The Lazy Song,” Foster The People’s “Pumped Up Kicks,” Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera’s “Moves Like Jagger,” Enrique Iglesias’ “I Like How It Feels,” and Jason Derulo’s “It Girl.”

I worried that the subject was picked over already. But the e-mails continue to roll in; I’ve now heard from programmers on both sides of a major-market CHR battle, for instance. It’s the topic that won’t die. And if it did die, somebody would be whistling past its grave.

So by popular request, some thoughts on why whistling became the new ukulele.

First, thank Peter, Bjorn & John. PB&J’s “The Young Folks” is often mentioned in the same breath with “Pumped Up Kicks,” but it’s a song that a lot of industry people liked. And as Goldfrapp’s “Ooh La La” proved, by launching two years worth of electro-shuffle hits, today’s stable of hot producers has pretty good taste in songs that should have been hits.

Whistling works everywhere—both in those acoustic whimsy songs that are descended from “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” and “I’m Yours” and in today’s “Turbo-Pop” where it provides relief and a human element among the techno power chords. It’s the same reason that sax solos ended up in two hits at the same time this summer. And when somebody puts a harmonica in a hit song again, it will sound as good and as surprising as it did around the time of Alanis Morissette’s “Hand In My Pocket.”

It’s catchy, literally. Any era’s hit records are always informed by each other, and this generation’s hits more than most. There were at least six years of R&B hits that sounded like Yarbrough & Peoples’ “Don’t Stop The Music,” so it seems likely that the whistling (and the ukuleles) will continue for a while. And while I’m ready for the next big thing, I’m not quite as over the whistling as I am songs about partying until you pass out, lose your memory, or, now, throw up.

It’s simultaneously innocent and suggestive. And this song proves it.

Whistling rocks the docks: even today’s super-producers weren’t listening to each others’ records, they’d still hear this any time they turn on an Oldies/Greatest Hits station.

So what are your favorite whistling songs, old or new? Please leave a comment.

This article is part of the October 6, 2011 issue of Ross On Radio. Check out these other articles:

In Search Of The Next Bob Pittman: Nominate Your Favorite Young Broadcasters

Radio’s Best & Worst