This is your brain. This is your brain with an ear worm...

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by RXMoore

I'm sure that there are a number of songs that would be worse, but at this moment nothing comes to mind.

And the winner is:

[NormanKliman]

Oh, what the hell, I’ll play: Lene Lovich “Lucky Number”

[gibpicker]

I had no idea there was a word (ear worms) for the insanity that I thought I was the only one who had this for most of my life, and only (mostly) songs that I can't stand. Very funny thread!

[FingahPickah]

Originally Posted by CoolerKing

I wonder if there is a good book about this phenomenon. I read Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks which touched on it a little, but I am fascinated by earworms.

When I finished grad school, I had Green Acres stuck in my head for two years, every day, about 20-30 times per day. I learned a few interesting things along the way, very limited research, but in my personal experience, there are a few commonalities.

1. Very catchy riff
2. Very repetitive riff.
3. Big difference between short term and long term. Short term is usually less than a day, go to sleep, next day gone. Long term weeks to years.
4. Cure for short term is usually sleep.
5. Only good cure for long term is
a) embrace it and make it a conscious funny part of your life
b) listen to a lot of music in hopes of
c) the only real cure being picking up another earworm.

Like I said, Green Acres plagued me for about two years. It had something to do with the cadence of my walk, because each time it happened I was walking down the corridor of my building. At the time I was also very very very stressed and getting almost no sleep, averaging about 115 hours of work per week. It required a move across country and a change in stress level for it to truly go away, and I think of it as a kind of benign stress-induced psychosis.

Good times!

"... Keep Manhattan. Just gimme that countryside.."

[Slothead56]

Originally Posted by FingahPickah

"... Keep Manhattan. Just gimme that countryside.."

I understand Arnold Ziffel is a frequent guest to the AGF but refuses to become a member...

[FingahPickah]

Originally Posted by Slothead56

I understand Arnold Ziffel is a frequent guest to the AGF but refuses to become a member...

At the risk of mud-slinging, Arnold is pretty pig-headed.... and such a ham... he'd probably hog all the posts anyway...

[FingahPickah]

Speaking of ear worms....

I recall a solo acoustic gig in a local pub years ago where after some rather insistent requests for an Irish tune... I turned on a wee bit of a brogue and started playing the theme to Gilligan's Island....

Everybody joined in at "..aboard this tiny ship" and finished the rest of tune with me.. One might argue I mass-implanted that ear worm ... but they asked for it.

[ghostnote]

When I get an earworm, I have this habit of riffing on the tune, or part of the tune, in my head. After a certain amount of time, I just start altering parts of it - I do this automatically as I go about my business, not really thinking about it. At some point, when I again realize that I actually have an earworm, I sometimes have to really think about what song it was that started the episode. It's a weird phenomenon: by the time my brain is done with the thing, the original earworm-causing riffs might have harmonies, counterpoints, lead-ins, outros, etc. - none of which were there before. If nothing else, I guess it's a good musical exercise - does anyone else do something like this, or am I the only oddball?

[Mbroady]

Originally Posted by Slothead56

Inexplicably I woke up this morning with “Sylvia’s Mother” stuck in my head.

I can’t recall the last time I heard this song, anything by Dr. Hook, any song with a similar message, the name Sylvia, thoughts about pay phones, trains or Galveston....and yet there it is stuck in my head.

Now you can enjoy it all day as well! You’re welcome!

I use to love that song. I was 2 years shy of being a teen when it came out. My folks almost always had the radio playing in the house (classical to rock) and Sylvia’s Mother was one of the those melodies that stayed with you. In fact, I now have earworm ( in a good way..thanks).
And (yep, I just looked them up), the lyrics are good, IMO. Dr John was a great songwriter.

[Jeff Scott]

Try and get this one out of your head.