a Plague of Earworms

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: PHJim
Date: 04 Jan 14 - 09:27 PM

I was hired to play guitar for a trio who sang Amazing Grace to the tune of the Animals' version of House Of The Rising Sun. I got this in my head, so tried some other tunes that worked for the same lyrics. When I sang Amazing Grace to my wife to the tune of Gilligan's Island, she said, "Don't ever do that again."

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Bert
Date: 04 Jan 14 - 02:30 PM

Hmmm, I must have missed this thread the first time around.

One sure way of getting rid of an earworm is to sing your own song list alphabetically; by the time you get to the R's the song should start to fade.

Of course, us old farts always keep a less irritating replacement handy.

"Brown Eyes, Why are you Blue...."

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Slag
Date: 04 Jan 14 - 02:59 AM

Princess Bride one of my favorite movies to quote from such as "life is pain, Highness, and anyone who says different is selling something." It is one of the movies I will watch over and over...especially if nothing else is on which is most of the time. But I had forgotten the song at the end! It has always had adds run over it or it gets chopped. I finally heard it again on a recent showing. It isn't genius poetry and the tune is simple but Knopf sings it with such passion and it has this slow meaningful march beat. So, if simplicity is the sole of genius, maybe it IS a work of genius. I could not find it in the digitrad or the music. I'm not sure if the music is original with the song. Any info?

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 04:07 PM

Not yet, but I'll keep an ear out. I'm not a massive Fado fan but I like a listen now and again.

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 02:40 PM

Ah the amazing Amalia. Have you caught up with the wonderful Mariza yet Steve?

JM

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 02:31 PM

My biggest ever earworm turned out to be Coimbra by Amalia Rodriguez. This tune was hanging in my memory from the 50s. I fixed it by setting other words to it.
There was a crooked man etc.

It wasn't till a year later and having spread it to hundreds of others that I found out what it was. The next stage was to buy the CD.

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Micca
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 12:55 PM

AAAAARRRGGGGGGHHHHH this afternoon on the bus it switched to "Roll, Alabama, Roll" bugger!!!

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: jacqui.c
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 09:11 AM

I've always got an earworm in there - lots of different songs, but there is never a time when there isn't something going around. there are times when I have to drive out an unwanted and put something more amenable in there.

The wierdest one was many years ago, when I had the tune "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To' rattling around in there for hours. That was a favourite of my parents, but I hadn't heard it in years. The tune would not go away. Then they played it on the radio when I was visiting an elderly lady who listened to Radio 2.

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 08:57 AM

For about the past week, I've woken up with Bob Coltman's "Sir Patrick Spencer" in my head -- both dreaming and awake. Sung by, whom? -- John Roberts or Pete Souza; the voices do a dance.

Last week I had three songs that I barely know (not even sure of at least one title) seguing into each other -- made me note their melodic commonalities that otherwise wouldn't have been noted.

Yeah, sometimes the best way to rid ones self of an earworm is to learn the song.

Linn

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Proogle
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 04:06 AM

Joy for Bellowhead and being allowed to listen to music for educational purposes in Media Studies lessons :)

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Morticia
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 03:49 AM

Now I'm stuck with Salonika, thanks bunches Barry. What is this, a family vendetta? It is at least replacing Lollipop ( lollipop oooh, lolli-lolli pop endlessly in case anyone wants it) so I suppose I should thank you.

I never, ever, don't have an ear worm, is that the case with everyone?

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Barbara
Date: 22 Oct 08 - 12:54 AM

Jayto, I think there are two different but related phenomena -- one is that dang tune that gets in your head and plays for days (and it can just be a rhyme like "tenser said the the tensor") and then then other related phenomenon is that our subconscious has a top forty that it plays for us -- a lot of us, anyway -- and if you pull up the background noise you will find that it tells you something about your current state of mind.
At least I hope so, because I was stuck with Little Gomez for about a week after I heard it on an Eric Bogle recording... a thoroughly irritating melody, and the words, well, gak, they're about a chihuahua in rut...
On the other hand, my subconscious routinely plays me "you don't know, you don't know, you don't know my mind..."
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Jayto
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 11:41 PM

I think it is more psychological. The song (if it is a lyrical piece) registers with you about some current issue. Therefore it stays in your head because of it's psychological impact. A psychologiacal resonance I guess. Melodically I think you may be right jeenia but lyrically I think it may relate to a particular mood or an issue that the person may be having at the time. Alot of times your choice of songs reveals your mind set at the moment not the other way around.

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 10:49 PM

Let us take a scientific approach. The song is stored in brain cells, and something is either stimulating or irritating those brain cells so that their synapeses are firing.

Allergies may be the cause. Allergies lead to high pressure in the cerebro-spinal fluid which bathes the brain and spinal cord. One known result of this high pressure is irritability. I am convinced that another result is pressure on the cochlea, which leads to sensitivity to sound. Maybe earworms are another, why not? Try a Claretin tablet or two and see if the earworm goes away.

If the cause is stimulation rather an irritation, then the answer is simple. Go on a nice vacation to a totally different environment.

See how simple?

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: ClaireBear
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 08:47 PM

Thanks to a quick skim of this thread, I now have a vivid mental picture of Tiny Tim singing "The British Sailor Andrew Rose." Thanks, guys...

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Barry Finn
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 06:51 PM

Micca, a sure cure for the earworm is to learn the song.

Not long ago I was at a singing session & someone started singing Salonika. Right away I knew the chorus & the song was so familiar but I hadn't heard it sung in mabbe 25 yrs, well maybe I haerd it sung twice since then. But I couldn't figure out why it was so familiar & I ended up sing all I knew, which was just the 1st verse & the chorus for 2 weeks. I swore I wouldn't learn the song because the guy, George, that sung it I see fairly often when I'm in Gloucester (USA). Finanilly it dawned on me that I recognized the song because I remembered that it was George that I used to heard sing it 25 yrs ago. Well the earworm got so bad that I decieded that the only way to get rid of it was learn it. I appoligized to George & told him the story & that I wouldn't sing when he was about. He was happy that I got rid of the earworm.

You're welcome Micca, always a pleasure to be on your mind. HaHa

If you'd like a sailor's parody to the song Salonika (Salonika that I sing is a parody) that I wrote you're wecolme to another earworm.

LOL
Barry

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 05:48 PM

Thanks Paterson, that's the nicest thing you ever said to me
¦¬]

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Micca
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 05:32 PM

Geeeeeez MacKenzie I could really come to Hate you!!!!
Bill d, I KNOW the tune for "Tenser said the tensor" I am certain it is self contained in the words!! and I hate it also!!

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 04:32 PM

...A blue trip slip for a two cent fare....

Mark Twain covered the subject fairly completely

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 04:10 PM

Replacement

¦¬]

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: GUEST,highlandman at work
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 04:02 PM

The only sure-fire way I have of getting rid of an earworm is to give it to somebody else. Evil, yes, but after 900 mental repeats of Shari Lewis' "Song That Never Ends" you'll do anything.
I actually have a favorite earworm, though: "Storybook Love," the theme song from "The Princess Bride."
-Glenn

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:44 PM

I was told to hum or sing God Save the Queen when I have an infestation. So far it has worked. What is really odd is that melody doesn't stick in place of the recently ousted one. For fun sing the Renn and Stimpy Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen Anthem to that melody.

Our country reeks of trees
Our yaks are really large
And they smell like rotting beef carcasses
And we have to clean-up after them
And our saddle sores are the best
We proudly wear women's clothing
And searing sand blows up our skirts

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Jayto
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:22 PM

Oh man Tiny Tim lol The first time I ever heard him was in Hopkinsville Kentucky in 1988. I was 16 and my best friend and I took his little nephew to the circus and Tiny Tim came out and was singing that song. I had no idea who he was. I came home and told my parents about him and of course they knew who he was. Funny how that has hung with me through the years. I don't remember anything else about the circus just Tiny Tim lol

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: SINSULL
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:21 PM

When you left Maine your earworm was Ashes On The Sea. What happened?


Oh I know:
The British sailor, Andrew Rose.

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: MMario
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:16 PM

or the smurf them song.

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:11 PM

Here's one that should get it out of your head, Micca, if you dare:

Tiny Tim singing Tiptoe Through the Tulips!**BG**

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Jayto
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:02 PM

I have that happen all the time. Sometimes I realize I am doing it and other times I am not and only realizee it an hour or two after I have been mentally "hearing" it. Songs are always going through my head. What I hate is when you get a song you can't stand stuck in your head. Something that you would never really listen to. Maybe you were jumping through the channels on the radio and heard a brief second of it and BOOM it is stuck in your head. Sometimes I have to think hard to figure out why a song is stuck in my head only to realize a car had passed by earlier and had it blaring out.

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 03:01 PM

a small explanation

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 02:59 PM

"Tenser said the Tensor,
Tenser said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension and dissension have begun.."*click*

Tenser said the Tensor,
Tenser said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension and dissension have begun.." *click*


no, don't bother to thank me....

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: Leadfingers
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 02:59 PM

But I bet he doesnt listen to YOU John !

Subject: RE: a Plague of Earworms
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 02:57 PM

Name dropper!
I listen to Beethoven to you know.

¦¬]

Subject: a Plague of Earworms
From: Micca
Date: 21 Oct 08 - 02:55 PM

Are you ever bothered by a persistant (and after a while irritating) tune jammed in your head? do you find yourself , deep in concentration on something important, humming a (or worse a part of)tune? usually one that you do not know very well?, if the answer to ANY of the above is yes, How do you get rid of it?

I ask because Thanks to Barry Finns wonderful rendition of it at the Getaway and especially at the Press Room Saturday I have "The British Sailor, Andrew Rose" firmly jammed in my ear and after 12 hours of it I am listening to Beethoven to (unsucessfully, so far) remove it!!!!

THANKS A BUNCH Barry!!!!