The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science

Subject: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Burke
Date: 09 Oct 01 - 07:53 PM

My apologies if this has already been posted, but my connection is up & down so I don't have time to do a thorough search.

From the LA Times

The Science Behind the Song Stuck in Your Head

With all the tunes out there, why is it stuff like 'My Sharona' that takes over our brains?

By ROY RIVENBURG TIMES STAFF WRITER

October 7 2001

Warning: This article could be hazardous to your sanity. It contains discussions of songs so diabolically annoying that merely reading their titles--"It's a Small World," "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," "My Sharona"--can cause them to get stuck in your head. Proceed at your own risk.

For years, humans have been tortured by Stuck Tune Syndrome, in which a seemingly innocuous piece of music lodges in the brain and won't leave. So far, no reliable cure exists, but a University of Cincinnati professor hopes to change that. James Kellaris has embarked on a study to figure out why songs sometimes commandeer people's thoughts.

Kellaris, a marketing teacher who moonlights as a bouzouki player in a Greek band, theorizes that certain types of music operate like mental mosquito bites. They create a "cognitive itch" that can only be scratched by replaying the tune in the mind. The more the brain scratches, the worse the itch gets. The syndrome is triggered when "the brain detects an incongruity or something 'exceptional' in the musical stimulus," he explained in a report made earlier this year to the Society for Consumer Psychology. To help determine which factors cause songs to stick, Kellaris surveyed 1,000 students at four universities.

Almost without exception, the respondents had regularly endured stuck songs or jingles, with the typical episode lasting anywhere from a few hours (55%) to a full day (23%). Another 17% said the malevolent melodies persisted several days, and 5% said tunes haunted them longer than a week. One person claimed--perhaps facetiously--that music from an Atari 260 videogame had been playing in his head "since 1986."

The survey also asked people to identify the stickiest songs. From this list, Kellaris hopes to pinpoint the characteristics that make a tune more likely to bore into the brain.

One possibility is excessive repetitiveness. Although all songs contain repetitious elements, some rely on the technique so heavily that they might cause the brain to echo the pattern automatically, Kellaris suggests. Examples: "Follow the Yellow Brick Road," Queen's "We Will Rock You" and the theme from "Mission: Impossible."

A related factor is musical simplicity. "Children's songs seem more prone to get stuck than complicated material, such as a Bach fugue," Kellaris says. "Perhaps the ease with which a tune can be reconstructed" increases its adhesiveness.

Greg Scelsa of Lancaster, who composes and performs children's music for the duo Greg & Steve, acknowledges that simplicity and repetition are key ingredients for making children's songs memorable.

A classic example is "If You're Happy and You Know It," he says. The melody in each verse builds sequentially from the previous verse. He demonstrates by singing, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands."

With each "happy and you know it" line, the melody changes slightly, "but in a predictable way," he says. "It's the same pattern, which makes it more memorable."

Does that also make it more likely to implant itself in someone's cranium? Probably, he says. Probably? Three hours after Scelsa hangs up, "If You're Happy and You Know It" has staged a coup d'etat in our brain.

Another possible component of sticky songs is incongruity. If the beat or lyric defies listener expectations, it might incite a cognitive itch, Kellaris says. As an example, he mentions the song "America" from "West Side Story," which has a jarring 12/8 meter.

Then again, maybe melody has nothing to do with Stuck Tune Syndrome, says Diana Deutsch, a UC San Diego psychology professor who also served as founding editor of the journal Music Perception.

Perhaps persistent songs are like recurring dreams, she says: "Something in the back of your mind is trying to tell you something." As proof, Deutsch cites her own experience. Whenever she can't get a song out of her head, she contemplates the meaning of the lyrics--and the song instantly goes away. "Even songs without words can have a larger meaning," she notes, mentioning anthems and religious music as examples.

OK, but what if the tune circulating in your skull is the theme from "The Flintstones"? What's the deeper message behind that? Deutsch isn't sure, but insists that if the human brain has a tendency to play songs over and over, there must be an evolutionary reason.

If so, evolution should be outlawed. That's because it inevitably favors the most irritating songs. Let's say the brain wants to send itself an anti-anxiety message. It could play something like the Beatles' "Let It Be" or the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby." But nooooo. Instead, the inner jukebox naturally selects Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

Kellaris isn't surprised. Other research has shown that disturbing thoughts are usually more memorable and compelling than pleasant ones, he says.

The first case of Stuck Tune Syndrome is lost to history. If ancient Romans had "Parvus Orbis Est" (Latin for "It's a Small World") chirping incessantly in their heads, they were kind enough not to mention it.

"Maybe this is a modern phenomenon," says H.A. Kelly, director of UCLA's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. "I can't think of any literary references to a haunting or persistent melody."

In recent times, the most bizarre cases of Stuck Tune Syndrome involve elderly men and women. In rare instances, they begin to hallucinate music, according to reports in medical journals. The songs are "so vivid that people will look for a nearby radio," says neurologist Oliver Sacks, author of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat."

Curiously, many of the auditory hallucinations are hymns or patriotic tunes, sung by a chorus. Some fade after time; others are permanent. "It goes 'round and 'round in their heads and they can't get it to go away," says UCSD's Deutsch, who has interviewed three sufferers and hopes to conduct a formal study of the disorder. "One woman went to her doctor and complained about hearing a hymn because she's not religious."

Sacks says the songs tend to be "music that was popular or important in the first 15 years of the person's life." In other words, future generations can expect to hallucinate Eminem, Britney Spears and the theme from Barney the dinosaur.

Scientists don't know what causes the hallucinations. Some people begin hearing music after surgery, others after taking too much aspirin. But most of the patients are partially deaf, so the hallucinations might be akin to phantom-limb syndrome, Sacks says.

In any case, no cure is known.

Music exerts a powerful grip on the mind, Sacks says. "It's the catchiest of all stimuli, at least for humans. I don't know whether it's catchy for monkeys or apes."

As for run-of-the-mill stuck tunes, the remedies vary. In Kellaris' survey, people outlined several strategies for derailing a nagging melody. The most obvious is to drive out the offending song by playing or thinking of another melody. Unfortunately, the substitute tune also might get stuck. "Some people turn to folkloric remedies," Kellaris says. "One chews on a cinnamon stick--and swears it works."

Others try to distract their minds by reading out loud or doing another task.

Finally, there's the "cooties" method, in which a stuck song is "transferred" to someone else by humming a few bars. Says Kellaris: "It's like, 'Tag, you're it."'

Of course, the technique isn't practical for all songs. For instance, composer John Cage's "As Slow as Possible," which is currently being performed in Germany, begins with a silence that lasts 16 months, followed by a single chord to be played on Jan. 5, 2003, then another silence, then another chord on July 5, 2004, and the final chord in 639 years.

Luckily, humming isn't the only way to transfer a song. Simply telling someone the title might also be enough to insert it into their thoughts.

With that in mind, we feel compelled to mention some of the most common stuck tunes from Kellaris' survey, all of which infected our brain while writing this article: "The Macarena," "I'm a Little Teacup," "Gilligan's Island," the Chili's baby-back ribs jingle, Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture," Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler," "YMCA," two Dr. Pepper jingles, Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and the themes from "The Andy Griffith Show" and "The Odd Couple."

Tag, you're it.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Amos
Date: 09 Oct 01 - 09:38 PM

Veelllllly intelestink!! Und zo, de researcher sez it has NUFFINK to do mit ses und der penis envy und der Elektra Complex?? ReeeeDIKulousen!! Das ist typical simplemindeed Amerikan research, ya?!!! Dey got NO idea off der comkplekshity involfed und so dey come up mit dis as though they ver chust doink NUFFINK!! Chust standing in der LAMPLIGHT!! Underneeet der MOON! Dom de dom de domm der, by der barracksh gate...hmmmm hummm ver du, Lily MAR leeeeeene......ACH!!! SCHTOP MIT DER MUSIK!!! Itsch makink me CRAAAAAZY!

Leibenscheiss

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 01:56 AM

Related thread:

Karaoke of the Mind?

~S~

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Bert
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 02:19 AM

This is a song that never ends...

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Mudlark
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 02:52 AM

I think for me it's the pattern thing....I periodically get stuck with the gum song...."Hi, ho, hey, hey, chew your little troubles away, Hi, ho, hey, hey chew Wrigley's Spearmint Gum" Simple, repetitive, stupid enough to drive one insane.....

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 03:39 AM

I am surprised that advert jingles were not mentioned until near the end of the article. They are deliberately designed, of course, to stick in one's mind. Who can forget the catchy tunes such as Winston Tastes Good Like A *click-click* Cigarette Should, or the da-da-da-da-tum-tum of Maxwell House coffee perking over a campfire, as well as the Oscar Meyer Weiner Song? It is no mystery why this was not a phenomenon of earlier ages; they probably had catch phrases sung out by newsboys and fishmongers and the like, but they were not inundated literally through the airwaves as we've been for the better part of the past century and now.

John Cage, As Slow As Can Be, or whatever? Give me a break, I cannot believe people pay any credence to such crap. At least it will be so fleeting and far apart there will be no chance of it sticking in anyone's mind! Can you imagine having sex with such a guy? In and out, see ya in a hundred years! Aaarrrggghhh!**BG**

kat

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: mooman
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 03:45 AM

Yes ..I can relate to this!

For me it's the old Toblerone advert song. You know the one:

Toblerone...it's out on it's own...
Triangular chocolate!
Make from triangular honey from triangular bees
And triangular chocolate from triangular trees
Oh...Mr Confectioner please
Give me Toberlone!

Oh no...I'll be thinking it all day now...although this is an attempt to try Kellaris's "cooties" method!

Going quitely mad,

mooman

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 03:52 AM

The only (airly) sure way to get a particular tuen out of your head is to replace it with an other tune. It's quite easy to do, and often the new tune disappears spontaneously. But not always ...

Some months ago, I realised that for a few years now there has been a tune in my head almost permanently. Not always the same tune, in fact I still sometimes get one "stuck"; but it's like having the radio on in the background: I can carry on working and ignore it (and sometimes it does switch off), or I can stop and listen to the programme. Sometimes it's s problem, because I find myself listening to the music when I'm having a conversation or in a meeting, and I suddenly realise I have to respond and I never heard the question ... It can keep you awake at nights, too.

Steve

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 03:53 AM

A perhaps applicable note is found in:

Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science & the Biology of Belief, Andrew Newberg, M.D., Eugene D'Aquili, M.D., PhD., and Vince Rause, Ballantine Books, ISBN 0-345-44033-1.

In their chapter 5, these authors present their theories on how "rituals" are processed in the brain, how they affect other brain processes, and how they affect how we feel about ourselves (and those around us). My reading of what they mean by ritual (not necessarily something religious) is repetition of familiar, and almost always rhythmic, words, sounds, and/or actions. Like chanting a mantra - although not necessarily with religious intent or meaning.

"...Research reveals that repetitive rhythmic stimulation ... can drive the limbic and autonomic systems, which may eventually alter some very fundamental aspects of the way the brain thinks, feels, and interprets reality. These rhythms can dramatically affect the brain's neurological ability to define the limits of the self. The stimulation of autonomic and limbic responses ... is the force that ... (calls persons) ... to rise out of themselves and into a larger and more exhilarating state of being."

My own observation has been that when a song gets "stuck," it is usually when I am in a mood or in a situation where a change would be welcome - even if it may not be apparent at the time. Perhaps the fixation on a "stuck" song happens because "ritual" makes us feel better when we need it.

I can't present it as a good hyposthesis, but it seems like what I need to get "unstuck" is a change in my own attitude (that being much simpler, usually, than an immediate change in an external situation).

Re the book: It is written in lay (non-scientific) language; but it appears to offer credible evidences, thus not falling in the pop-science category(?). It is distinctively UN-religious in tone - I haven't figured out if these guys believe or disbelieve anything of common theological constructs. I am reserving judgment on whether to recommend it to friends, pending completion of a little more of it. (It was on sale, and curiosity stimulates unstuckedness.)

BTW, when I went back to see who had posted while I was composing this POS, I noted a related(?) thread.

John

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: CharlieA
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 05:42 AM

For some reason most of my friends swear by humming the Imperial march from Star Wars to clear out a stuck song. Unfortunately i can never remember it if i get a stuck song (last time i heard "over the hills and far away" it was stuck for 3 days!) Cxxx

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 06:29 AM

That's really fascinating! My mother had a big operation to remove a growth on a nerve in her inner ear. It left her completely deaf in that ear. A few years later she went on a long train journey, and for weeks afterwards she had a welsh male voice choir singing hymns inside her head. They'd stick on the same hymn for ages, then there'd be a new one. She quite liked it, but it was very disconcerting. I think she'll be glad to know its a recognised thing.

Kris

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 08:48 AM

I notice that whenever my blood pressure slips out of control, that's when the nonsense tunes or snips of melody will start running like a broken record until I can get it back down again. I think it's because the brain is getting an extra push of oxygen with the slamming in of the blood, and also because the rhythm of that slam stimulates something better left asleep!

~S~

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Snuffy
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 09:04 AM

Slightly different - on my way in to work I'll have a tape or CD on in the car. The last tune played will be in my mind for a while, but it usually changes several times during the day.

But when I'm walking back to the car at night, the tune in my head is the one that was playing when I got out of the car!

It's not deliberate on my part - it just happens!

WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Wolfgang
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 09:15 AM

Snuffy,

a fine example of context dependent memory. It works without you willing (I guess it sometimes even happens you mentally hum it for a while, before you realise what you are doing) and can be triggered by many innocuous seeming stimuli in your surrounding.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 09:25 AM

I've noticed that in listening to a tape or CD I seem to know how the next song begins and which song is coming up next before I'm really familiar with the songs on the tape. It's like I remember those little parts before I learn the whole song or tape.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Amos
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 09:45 AM

Interesting bit of research on rituals and autonomic/limbic systems.

However, I submit you will get a far more desireable result as far as rising to a higher state is concerned, by humming:

Om Mane Padme Om or

"This is my creation", or

"I am One with All",

or some such, than you will from re-running the

"Get Ajax! The foaming cleanser!!"

commercial over and over!!!

:>)

A

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Grab
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 09:50 AM

I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves,
I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves,
I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves,
(repeat ad suicidium ;-)

Graham.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: mousethief
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 10:32 AM

I once had "Good vibrations" by the Beach Boys stuck in my head for months. I was in 6th grade. Drove me nuts. Now I can listen to it and hum along, but the next day it won't be stuck (thank heavens!).

I have that book Why God Won't Go Away but haven't started reading it -- maybe I will once I'm finished with current book (The Russian Revolution by Alan Moorehead).

Thread creep: Does anybody else fixate on a word? I'll get one word stuck in my head so that I try (subconsciously) to stick it into as many sentences as I can. It's usually some bizarre ten-cent word like "abstruse" or such. But not always -- sometimes it will be quite simple. Recently I had the number 17 stuck in my head -- not that I thought about it all the time, but whenever I needed a random number, that was the one I used (e.g. "I've heard you complain about this 17 times already!"). Anybody else do this?

Alex

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Naemanson
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 01:51 PM

No Alex, I haven't. But have you ever written a word, spelled it properly, and then decided you got it wrong?

Just this morning I had the song about the guy with the big mouth stuck in my head. Generally when a song gets stuck between my ears it is one that I barely know. If I start to learn all the words the song goes away.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Dani
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 02:01 PM

Oh NOT you TOO Bert. I thought only my fifth-grader sang that song!!!!

When I saw the title of this thread, the song that immediately came to mind was (early eighties pop) "She Blinded me with Science". And I didn't read the thread until now because that stupid song got stuck in my head and made me MAD! How ironic.

Now, one question: How do you get the Empire Strikes Back out of your head??!

Dani

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: mousethief
Date: 10 Oct 01 - 03:24 PM

have you ever written a word, spelled it properly, and then decided you got it wrong

Absolutely! What's even weirder is when you look at a word so much that it loses its place in your brain. Once in 8th grade I remember a form we had to fill out with our self-selected spelling/vocabulary words. It was just a bunch of lines, every other one a short one starting with the word "word".

I looked at that paper until the word "word" lost all recognition value. Usually when you see a word something in your brain goes "hey, I've seen that word before!" You don't realize it's happening until it stops happening. I looked at the word "word" and for the life of me couldn't remember ever having seen it before! Verrrrry strange feeling!

Alex

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Vixen
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 02:55 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: freightdawg
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 03:52 PM

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale..."

What's worse than rerunning a song or tune in your head?

Only being able to get about three or four bars into the song and then everything disappears.....screech!

Can't remember the next word, or phrase, or note...but your brain won't let it go and so for the next three hours you hunt around trying to solve the puzzle.

Luckily, when the words come usually the tune goes away.

BTW, I love playing Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" while my wife is doing housework. It drives her crazy for the next two or three days.

"just sing it when it comes around on the guitar again....you can get anything you want...."

Freightdawg

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Cluin
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 04:26 PM

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It's raisins   that make   Post Raisin Brand so wonderful
It's raisins   that make   Post Raisin Brand so different
More raisins!
Much more raisins!
More raisins!
Than you have ever seen before
If you like raisins
Fat, juicy Raisins
You'll like Post Raisin Brand more
Pum pum...
Pum pum...
Pum pum...



Don't the Germans call this a "Brain Worm"?

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: reggie miles
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 05:11 PM

I had a waitress from a restaurant tell me that it was one of my songs that got stuck in her head. It was the first time I had ever played it there. I was flattered, but I didn't mention that I had performed several of my songs that evening. I knew which one she spoke of, as it was the one that I introduced as a song I had written.

Sometimes I like to play my songs without that information in the introduction. My hope is to see if it will gain a good response without folks knowing it is one of mine. I think certain audiences; especially an audience that is familiar with your work can be swayed in their judgments. I think an impartial response can be a truer gauge.

Besides, if it doesn't work well, I can always pass it off as somebody else's. (Tee hee!)

I recently had someone else say the same thing about another of my songs. He wanted to know if he could do a cover of it and said that it's stick ability, in his mind, was a good thing for a song to have. Perhaps that's why so many of today's pop songs have so much repetitiveness built in.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Chief Chaos
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 01:36 PM

I'll tell you what's worse!
Having the damn tune stuck in your head and not even knowing what it's called. For years I've had the song "Popcorn" by Hot Butter swirling around in the background. It took me until a few months ago to find the damn thing. At least I know I haven't been halucinating all these years.

There's another one from about the same time that has the line "cat on a hot tin roof" "Baby what do you think your doing to me" and "Get down, get down, get down, your a bad girl baby and I don't want you around, around, I don't want you around"
I still have no idea what this song is called or who performed it.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: GUEST,Van
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 02:55 PM

The song stuck in my head over the past few weeks has been Kate Rusby singing "underneath the stars". I ended up working it out on the guitar the other night for what my wife claims to have been 2 hours. Nearly ended up with my guitar going through my head.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 03:26 PM

I've found that tunes get stuck very easily if I hear them while I'm doing some brainless task like washing dishes.

Actually, it can be a very useful way to help avoid dishwashing.

"I would wash 'em, Honey, but I'm afraid a tune will get stuck in my head and drive me crazy. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Micca
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 03:35 PM

Chief Chaos, I think the 2nd song you mention "Get down, get down, get down, your a bad girl baby and I don't want you around, around, I don't want you around"
Is called "Get down" by Gilbert O'Sullivan Here at this page

A Major contender for these "Earworms" is a song that has not got a published(that I have ever seen)tune, but you know the tune from the words, It is in Alfred Bester's book "The Demolished Man" and is used to block the villans mind from being read. I am avoiding writing it down because it is really hard to get rid of once it starts..

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Chief Chaos
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 04:36 PM

As Charlie Brown exclaimed "That's It!"

Thankyou thankyou thankyou

Years of worry about possibly being insane have washed oe'r me and are now behind me!
Granted its not a song worthy of a grammy but nobody has ben able to help me until now!

Thankyou thankyou thankyou

Mudcatters never let you down!

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Cluin
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 04:39 PM

Micca, I've been looking for that book for years. I love Bester's work.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Micca
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 05:18 PM

Cluin, I MIGHT have a spare copy if you are desperate for it, PM me

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 07:04 PM

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

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jun 05 - 03:51 PM

what programme did the song popcorn by hot butter appear, does anyone know, been bugging me which programme its from lol

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: beardedbruce
Date: 01 Jun 05 - 04:36 PM

Despite the wide range of music Gershon Kingsley has composed, he is most well-known for a 1972 instrumental dance hit called "Popcorn."

Kingsley recalls that he wrote the primary melody to "Popcorn" in about 30 seconds. The song was first released in 1969 as part of a Kingsley solo album called "Music To Moog By." LINK TO: MOOGBY Then the First Moog Quartet, while on their nation-wide tour of college and universities, used "Popcorn" as their encore song.

In 1972, "Popcorn" was recorded by a group of musicians under the band name Hot Butter. Stan Free, who was a member of the First Moog Quartet, played the Moog on this recording. More information on the recording is available here.

The song quickly became an international hit, with cover versions sprouting up all over the world. It hit Number 1 on the German charts and sold over one million copies in that country alone.

And unlike so many pop songs, it has not faded into history. Not at all. Cover versions of "Popcorn" have continued to show up. Most recently, an English group called the "Space Penguins" have used the "Popcorn" melody in their tune "The Electrofunk." It is also featured in the soundtracks of two recent movies, "Dick" and "Detroit Rock City."

And Kingsley himself, with the help of Producer Dave Baron, has remade "Popcorn" for an upcoming compilation on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label. Sharing the CD will be Beck, Sonic Youth, Jean-Jacques Perrey and many others. See News. "

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 02 Jun 05 - 07:46 AM

I often find that a good way of getting rid of a stuck song is to write out the lyrics. This seems to satisfy the brain somehow. In my case the most recent was Carthy's rendering of the Swinton May Carol. but its gone now

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: mack/misophist
Date: 02 Jun 05 - 10:21 AM

IMHO, radio and tv are to blame. I used to have this happen as often as anybody. Not so since the mass media have been banned from my life.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 02 Jun 05 - 08:36 PM

I had 'sands of the shore' stuck for months. The chrous has a wonderful repetitive nature. I've not heard of writing it down to get rid of it. Sounds worth a try....


Chorus.
The sands o' the shore and the waves o' the sea;
When his back is turned, he's a stranger to me,
Aye, a stranger to me, and as strange as can be;
I care nae more for him than the waves o' the sea.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 08:22 AM

I have a theory about stuck songs.

I read in a medical book that when some part of your body is irritated, then it "does its thing" to excess. For example, when a hair follical (sp) is irritated, it puts out extra oil, causing seborrhea.

My theory is that when the nerves that store a song are irritated,then they play that song over and over. How does a nerve in your brain get irritated? Well, for one thing, allergies increase the pressure of cerebro-spinal fluid, and they could be a factor.

It would be interesting to correlate the occurrence of stuck songs with allergies, strange foods, lack of sleep, and other factors that might physically stress brain cells.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 08:38 AM

I was once stuck in front of the exhibit at Disneyland that plays "It's a Small World After All." If mechanics hadn't fixed the mechanism that drew the boat out of there I would have started smashing things. As it was an old nun the the boat ahead of me snapped and ran off screaming, "No more! No! Satan, I give you my soul!" (Well, maybe that last bit about the nun is a little exagrerated....)

I awakened this morning with the lines "...Roll out, roll out and see the show/TV soldiers in a row..." from in my head. Yesterday it was Phil Ochs' "I ain't a-marchin' anymore." I think that my awakening brain is an anti-war activist.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 08:39 AM

As a kid in West Africa I had 2 tunes that I didn't know what they were that would get stuck in my head. Turned out many, many years later to be the whistling from Andy Mayberry (which I didn't even remember ever watching, we didn't have TV) and Food Around The Corner For Me from, I think, Bugs Bunny.
I do find that if I have a song stuch it tends to be something I don't know all of, because if I can sing it all the way through it tends to get rid of it (and sometimes substitute the next one on the album). If I can't sing it all the way through, I'm stuck.

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 02:19 PM

Does anybody else ever dream entire songs being played? I often will have dreams in which entire songs play or are sung (sometimes by me) with full musical accompaniment.

I believe this is the fault of a friend of mine who is a neurologist specialising in researh. About 12 years ago he clued me into using Biofeedback to get rid of Migraines and to cure insomnia. He explained to me that I should listen to a piece of music I know almost by heart and listen to it over and over again until I could lower my herat rate and regulate the pain at will. I started using the Biofeedback machines but after a few lessons, its easy enough to do at home.

You aren't supposed to use music that is new to you because that requires active listening and interferes with the process. I've gotten so good at it that I can merely close my eyes now and just 'imagine' the music I use for the process. It has also worked so well that In sometimes hear entire movements of symphonies in my sleep. At least that music is soothing!

The odd part is I will sometimes wake up knowing I have hear a song in my dream that I don't believe I already know. I hear the whole thing usually., If I write down the lyrics, I can usualy find it is a real song and one I likely heard as a child. That seems to relate to what olver sacks was saying about music we hear in the first 15 years of life staying with us.

What's awful is, sometimes the music is so lovely, I resent being awakened!

Subject: RE: The Song Stuck in Your Head, Science
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 07:19 PM

This is very interesting, because it ties in directly to something that amused me a good few years ago.

We had a guy in the UK called Bob Harris who presented a show called "The Old Grey Whistle Test", and the reason for this very odd name was as follows.

Seems there was this recording company where the caretakers (janitors) wore grey dust jackets, and were known as "Old Greys". Now the management played all the new songs over the building's internal sound system, and waited till the following day.

If the caretakers were whistling a particular tune, the bosses would be sure it was going to be a hit, and would sign up the artist or group, because their music had passed "The Old Grey Whistle Test".

It's kind of frightening to think that, for years, they were subjecting people to deliberate "Stuck Tune Syndrome" effect, without even knowing it existed.

Still, it explains why so many terminally bad songs have topped the charts, and that's even more scary.

Don T.