As with so many foibles of human nature, Mark Twain exploited this phenomenon in his short story, A Literary Nightmare.

It seems that New York trolleys (this part is true) had a color-coded ticket-and-punch system, with various colored tickets for certain prices, which the conductor had to punch, in the presence of the passenger. Someone (not Twain) wrote this bit of doggerel:

Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
Chorus.
Punch brothers! Punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!

Twain, recognizing the genius and the stickability of this, wrote his story. The narrator is caught by this earworm, and it drives him nearly mad, with parts of it intruding into every activity and thought, until he's a physical, emotional, and mental wreck. He finally writes it down, and there it is--"And now, dear reader, YOU have it!" He's free!

It's a howler, well worth finding and reading even though I've given you the essence (though not the compulsive humor) of it.

Dave Oesterreich