Ear Worms or Whatever You Call Em.

[straps]

I've had an inexplicable song playing on constant rotation in my head for a day and a half. I have know idea why or when the last time I actually listened to the song was. A friend of mine calls this phenom an Ear Worm, or Ear Bug, or something.

Anyways, its "Loving Cup" by the Stones.

Anybody else experiencing this today (presumably with a different song) or know a better term for the experience?

[ScottW]

EARWORM - That is what I call 'em and when the song then plays on the radio when you turn it on what do you call it?

[straps]

Earworm
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Earworm may also refer to the Helicoverpa zea (corn earworm).
Earworm, a loan translation of the German Ohrwurm, is a term for a song stuck in one's head, particularly an annoying one. Use of the English translation was popularised by James Kellaris, a professor of marketing at the University of Cincinnati. His studies appeared to demonstrate that different people have varying susceptibilities to earworms, but that almost everybody has been afflicted with one at some time or another.

Some sufferers from earworm prefer the term "repetunitis", "stuck tune syndrome", "sound virus" or, if sufficiently acute, "melodymania".



Ok, so I guess earworm is a pretty popular term for it. It sounds half baked to me, but at least its only because we ripped the term off of Germany. I will refuse to say "melodymania", however.

As far as the radio thing, I think we have a good project on our hands. I've really got nothing that doesn't sound stupid. Like "ghostworm". See? Terrible.

[JoeVol72]

When I get one I just hum Boheimien Rhapsody and that seems to take care of it.

[annieO]

I've had "Matchmaker" from "Fiddler on the Roof" for a while now thanks to the Match.cohen freaks.

[ScottW]

I've had Comfortably Numb in my head all day - Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in there ... That's about all I hear.

[~Rumormonger~]

I've had Comfortably Numb in my head all day - Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in there ... That's about all I hear.

Due to the emptiness of your edit suite?

[binR Bishop]

When I get one I just hum Boheimien Rhapsody and that seems to take care of it.

Never, ever, ever tell my spouse you have an earworm. He will start singing the Rice-a-Roni song, which he says is guaranteed to drive everything else out of your brain.

Unfortunately, he's right.

[ScottW]

Due to the emptiness of your edit suite?
Well, other than Mike and Matt or Mutt and Jeff whichever you like, coming down and buggin me. Yeah, its been a slow day. Pretty bad when an all-hands meeting is the most excitement I've had.

[ScottW]

Never, ever, ever tell my spouse you have an earworm. He will start singing the Rice-a-Roni song

Me and the Missus play a game where we will try to get the other person humming along without them knowing and then we drop the GOTCHA!!

[JohnT]

Ooops. Dp.

[JohnT]

Ahhhhh, the sound of earworms....


Tell me what you want, what you really really want!
I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want!


Feeeeeeeeeeeeeelings! Whooooo-ooooooh-wooooooh, Feeeeeeeeeeelings!


...I write the songs of love and speeee-ee-cial things...


The hills are aliiiiiiiiive, with the sound of muuuusic!


And, you! You liiiiiiiight up my life! You give me hoooooope.... to carrrrry ooooooon! You liiiiiiight up myyyyyyy daaaaaaaays!

[jah]

Use of the English translation was popularised by James Kellaris, a professor of marketing at the University of Cincinnati. His studies appeared to demonstrate that different people have varying susceptibilities to earworms, but that almost everybody has been afflicted with one at some time or another.
I heard him talk about earworms on NPR a few years ago and thought it was a fantastic term. I get earworms very, very easily and very, very often.

The funny part about the story was when he talked about who gets earworms. Apparently, you're most likely to get earworms if you're a neurotic woman with some musical experience.

heh.

[~Rumormonger~]

...Meanwhile, back at the ranch, sittin' on the front porch a'swingin' with Blanche..

;~)

[JohnT]

~just a s'wingin'~

Ooohhh... that's a different earworm with the same theme. I was quoting the horrible John Anderson tune. My bad.

Here's one for everybody:

"Elvira! Elvira! My heeeeeaaaarts on fire, Elvira!"

[Bknox]

Me and the Missus play a game where we will try to get the other person humming along without them knowing and then we drop the GOTCHA!!


Yup. Fun game. I (we) call it "monkey." As in saying "monkey!" instead of gotcha. Do it in a large group sometime and keep count of how many mokneys you can covert.

[James]

Here's one that hs driven me crazy for 40 years, yet I'm probably the only one who remembers it:

Thumpin' good, thumpin' good
Cas Walker's melons are thumpin' good.
Red, ripe and ready to eat,
Cool delicious and so sweet.
Cas Walker's melons just can't be beat
Cause they are thumpin' good! Thumpin' good!

[JohnT]

Now you're bringing in commercials and TV tunes. That's a deeper circle of Hell altogether

"Doc Bruce Banner, pelted by gamma rays, turned into the Hulk! Ain't he unglamorous!
Wreckin' the town, with the power of a bull, ain't no monster 'cause: Who is that lovable?"

[spinetingler]

I have earworms* every minute that I'm awake, if I'm not listening to something.

*i.e., music in my head (damn, now I've got that Kings X song stuck)

[JohnT]

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'. We're gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there. We're east bound, and watch ol' Bandit run!

Ol' Smokey's got his ears on. He's hot on your trail.
And he ain't gonna rest 'til you're in jail.
So you've gotta dodge, you've gotta duck him... you've gotta keep that Diesel truckin'.
Just put that hammer down and give it hell!

Tragically, the above was from memory.

I feel so bad, I'm gonna go to church and light a candle. See ya tomorrow. ;)

[gypsy]

my earworms these days tend to come from children's television. the other day it was ernie singing "dance myself to sleep"

Well, I'm gettin' kinda drowsy

(Your sheep! Call them off, please! Hey!)

So the moment has come
To grab my rubber duckie

(Oooh, not outside! Please!)

While the sheep take my chum
Time to shuffle off to dreamland

(Not outside sheep! Errrrnie!)

Got a date to keep
We'll dance ourselves to sleep, oh yeah

[jah]

I've got "I've got that joy, joy feeling" stuck in my head as sung by the Flanders family.

[Pan]

I think I have an earworm playing for about 50% of my waking life. I'm far more likely to have jingles than songs playing.

Usually I can easily replace whatever I'm "listening to" (if I don't like it) with the DNA remix of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner". Thankfully, I don't know all the words to that song.

However, the number one jingle in rotation (on top of my charts for the last 20 years) is...

(ahem)

Smurfberry Crunch is fun to eat!
A Smurfy, fruity, breakfast treat!
Made by Smurfs so happily,
It tastes like crunchy Smurfberries!
It's fun to eat and tasty too,
in berry red and Smurfy blue!

(To the tune of the Nutcracker Suite)

My family was actually a beta-tasting family for several cereals including Smurfberry Crunch and Honey & Nut Corn Flakes (the subsequent jingle fragment I remember includes: "Can you see 'em? NUTS! RIGHT ON THE FLAKES!"). Of course, the boxes were plain cardboard with no graphics and usually not even a name yet. So, as a kid, I loved Smurfberry Crunch long before I ever knew what it was called. Which might be why the jingle is #1 in my earworm rotation.

[straps]

I was just getting caught up on this thread. You bastards had to go to comercials. They are genetically designed to be earworms. Damn, now I've gotten to think about it, I'm gonna have this stuck in my head:

Wamplers, Wamplers, it's great sausage,
from the hills of Tennessee.
Don't say sausage, Just say Wamplers
for the best in qual-a-tee.

I think I don't have the lyrics quite right, which is another type of earworm all together (should have another clever name, like the radio thing). The first verse is something to do with sausage frying in a pan in a cabin in the woods, its the best in the land on a sunday morning, ooh its gonna be a long workday.

[Randall]

I was just getting caught up on this thread. You bastards had to go to comercials. They are genetically designed to be earworms. Damn, now I've gotten to think about it, I'm gonna have this stuck in my head:

Wamplers, Wamplers, it's great sausage,
from the hills of Tennessee.
Don't say sausage, Just say Wamplers
for the best in qual-a-tee.

I think I don't have the lyrics quite right, which is another type of earworm all together (should have another clever name, like the radio thing). The first verse is something to do with sausage frying in a pan in a cabin in the woods, its the best in the land on a sunday morning, ooh its gonna be a long workday.

I get that one every now and then. I'm glad someone else understands. I think it goes like this:

Wamplers, Wamplers, it's great sausage,
made right here in Tennessee.
Don't say sausage, Just say Wamplers
for the best in qual-i-tee.

Oh, and the end: "Take HOME a package of Tenn-e-ssee pride."

[jah]

I always thought it was "Wamplers, Wamplers, makes great sausage, down on a farm in Tennessee."

Shows what I know.

[jah]

ok, we've got to get a consensus on this Wamplers thing. The only thing worse than having an earworm is knowing that you have the lyrics wrong.

[Randall]

ok, we've got to get a consensus on this Wamplers thing. The only thing worse than having an earworm is knowing that you have the lyrics wrong.

The Wamplers' website (http://www.wamplersfarm.com) doesn't help much, but it winks at you.

[Randall]

I get that one every now and then. I'm glad someone else understands. I think it goes like this:

Wamplers, Wamplers, it's great sausage,
made right here in Tennessee.
Don't say sausage, Just say Wamplers
for the best in qual-i-tee.

Oh, and the end: "Take HOME a package of Tenn-e-ssee pride."

My bad ... Tennessee Pride (http://www.tnpride.com/) is an entirely different brand. How embarrassing. You can listen to their jingle on the site, though. As recorded by Pine Mountain Railroad.

[straps]

Yeah, I tried to do search on the song myself. It seems the people of Wamplers are regretfully letting a piece of music history fade away. But what the hell was the first verse of the long version of the comercial? It was something like:

Waking up on Sunday morning,
sausage frying in the pan,
something something something Wamplers
its the best in all the land

Friggin sausage songs.

[Bknox]

Wamplers farm sausage starts sizzling in the pan...says good morning and HOWDY DO like no other sausage can!

That was part of it.

[straps]

Wamplers farm sausage starts sizzling in the pan...says good morning and HOWDY DO like no other sausage can!

That was part of it.

I don't recall that at all, but if it wasn't, it sure as hell should of been. I like a sausage that says HOWDY DO, especially when it can do so superlative to all other sausage.

[ScottW]

Rumor is a dirty bastard!!

[~Rumormonger~]

Scott W

Why did you edit your post?

I thought it wuz purdy dern funny ;~)

[JoeVol72]

Manah manah!Do doo da dodo!Manah manah!Do doda do!Manah manah!Do doo da dodo da dodo da dodo dada doo doo dodo do!Manah manah!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6300321513434302988

[straps]

Manah manah!Do doo da dodo!Manah manah!Do doda do!Manah manah!Do doo da dodo da dodo da dodo dada doo doo dodo do!Manah manah!

here ya go. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7vvdOGwPu4&search=muppets%20) I know I'm opening up the Pandora's box of earworms with this one. But Joe started it, that's all I'm sayin.

[JoeVol72]

I like BIG BUTTS and I cannot lie!All you other brothers can't deny.................

[Wombat]

I got Skirob with "My name is Luka" yesterday.

[skirob]

I got Skirob with "My name is Luka" yesterday.
Yes you did. And it took Mastodon to kill it.

[Gnaw Parker]

"She said heres your one chance fancy dont let me down
Heres your one chance fancy dont let me down"

[spinetingler]

"If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it"

[Hayduke]

I had The Doxology rattling around in my head the other day (the old-school one without all those damned hallelujahs), which was pretty weird for someone who hadn't been to church on purpose in 30 years. Only thing I can figure is I was catching up on some Garrison Keillor Writer's Almanac podcasts earlier and the tune was close enough to trigger the memory.

[Gray]

Wamplers farm sausage starts sizzling in the pan...says good morning and HOWDY DO like no other sausage can!

That was part of it.

Bingo. I get that stuck in my head from time to time.

[Gray]

Manah manah!Do doo da dodo!Manah manah!Do doda do!Manah manah!Do doo da dodo da dodo da dodo dada doo doo dodo do!Manah manah!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6300321513434302988

Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia, Lydia the tattooed lady?

[catpinw]

i keep singing the bertoli commercial song -

i make a lasagna
it takes all day
but nobody eats it anyway...

or something like that.
it's totally annoying.

and then chef screams "bertoli!"

[SnM]

A real earworm. (http://news.aol.com/the-rewind/article/worm-removed-from-womans-brain/258796) ick.

[fluffy]

ive been so bored at work today that ive been mentally performing Rock You Like a Hurricane as a ska song renamed Ska You Like a Hurricane, obviously.

[~Rumormonger~]

A real earworm. (http://news.aol.com/the-rewind/article/worm-removed-from-womans-brain/258796) ick.

Mmm...Mmm...Good!
http://www.hboasia.com/images/posters/378x195/how_to_eat_fried_worms.jpg

[~Rumormonger~]

A real earworm. (http://news.aol.com/the-rewind/article/worm-removed-from-womans-brain/258796) ick.

Oh, and...

The worms crawl in
The worms crawl out
The worms play pinochle
On your snout

[skirob]

I always thought it was "Wamplers, Wamplers, makes great sausage, down on a farm in Tennessee."

Shows what I know.

I thought it said the same thing. Hmmm, now I have to go find it.

edit: Yes, I do realize I'm replying to a post from 2 months ago. Some earworms never die.

[Hayduke]

Today at the Co-Op I started punching PIN digits too soon and it missed the first one. Said "jumped the gun" and the Beatles started bouncing around in my head (but I don't think it made it to my lips). The young lady working the register said, "Now I'm going to have the White Album in my head all day, thanks." A mind is a terrible thing.

[Hayduke]

I've had the Pomplamoose version of I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing stuck in my head for about three days now. Tried listening to it, not listening to it, listening to other things. None of it helps. Don't even remember what triggered it, but sometimes it just doesn't take much.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmENgrVOwgA&feature=related

[Raincrow]

It's been three days now. As of today, I started grabbing the dog and yelling at the poor thing: "he don't know what it means...!"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbgKEjNBHqM

[Sappho]

For me, it's usually Legend of a Mind, Moody Blues. But lately it's been Lady Gaga. Born This Way or Edge of Glory.
All it takes is for it to cross my mind. If I see her perfom it, it's there for days. Love it.

[JMG]

The only cure I've found that works, sometimes, is to start humming or singing some oddball song from the past like the theme from Green Acres or the Andy Griffith theme or the old Alka Seltzer jingle. Course then you gotta get rid of that.

[trancendyce]

have probably posted this before, yet anyway...
karma chameleon by culture club works extremely well as a remedy for earworms, however some might consider the cure worse than the disease.

[James]

karma chameleon by culture clubGee thanks. Perhaps the one most earwormiest earworm there is.

[Lee G]

Recently:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7JcbKNW_Zc

[spinetingler]

Surely I'm not the only one that has an earworm of some sort any time that he's awake?

(i.e., I hear music over my head all of the time).

[Hayduke]

Caught one forming: The teenager pulls a picture of himself as a kneebiter off the wall and asks, "who's this kid." I tell him he's supposed to say, "what child is this," which he starts singing, which is the same tune as Greensleeves which was not written by Henry VIII, and, well Herman's Hermits and Eunice is wondering why I remember the lyrics to a song recorded before I was born and I point out that the 2nd verse, same as the first.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsCeVdCDqjE

[straps]

Somebody, and it could have been me, brought up Margaritaville while 6 fellas were stuck in a van driving to Birmingham. Awful mind experience.
http://i2.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/draft_lens17629669module148178790photo_1297478622s tar-trek-demotivational.

[Hayduke]

Buddy of mine did a solo cross-country trip and handed me his Fleetwood Mack Tusk cassette when he got back. Said it was the only tape in the car and well, he wasn't going to feel the need to hear it again for a quite a while.

[trancendyce]

Gee thanks. Perhaps the one most earwormiest earworm there is.

well, this is a thread about earworms and you were warned. :) i like the song, but can understand why some might not care for its uber-pop catchiness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw&ob=av2e

[Keef Riffers]

Ivan meets GI Joe?

That one bob marley song.

Anything by Jandek

[Hayduke]

Alabama Rain, but not the Jim Croce original. For some sick reason my mind has dug up the cover by the (otherwise genrally excellent) contra band, Wild Asparagus wherein the line:
"Now and then I find myself thinking of the days..."
is exruciatingly rendered:
"Now and then I find myself. I had been thinking of the days."

WTF does that even mean? There are so many things wrong with that I can't start, but it aggrevated me so much at the time, maybe 15 years ago, that it's playing back (just that one line) over and over. In my twilight years when I've forgotten my friends' names and where I live, this and my old 5-digit home phone number will be all that's left.

[abalene]

this seems like a good place for something like this...
don't mess with nickelback.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/nickelback-respond-to-haters-on-twitter-20120123

[Hayduke]

Begin the Beguine has been bumping around my head all evening, but it keeps morphing in and out of Chicago's Colour My World.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps05TaQuYvc

[straps]

Begin the Beguine has been bumping around my head all evening, but it keeps morphing in and out of Chicago's Colour My World.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps05TaQuYvc

Yeah, but that stuck in my head just makes me feel classy with a bounce.

[ned ludd]

Begin the Beguine has been bumping around my head all evening, but it keeps morphing in and out of Chicago's Colour My World.....
There is a loop playing in my head in which Rocky Raccoon keeps transitioning to the March to the Scaffold movement of Symphonie Fantastique... Beatles to Berlioz

[Hayduke]

A while ago I had a bit of Don Giovanni morphing back and forth into The Lumberjack song, but now it's Moondance.

[t3p]

the new windchimes are hinting at Day Tripper

[The Pullet Surprise]

a bit of Don Giovanni morphing back and forth into The Lumberjack song

(now mentally trying to mash up "Requiem: Confutatis" and "Sit on My Face.")

[James]

roommate wanted to learn it so I learned the riff and now in my head for days:
"I'm getting closer to my home
I'm getting closer to my home
I'm getting closer to my home..."

Aghhhhhh!

[mar]

roommate wanted to learn it so I learned the riff and now in my head for days:
"I'm getting closer to my home
I'm getting closer to my home
I'm getting closer to my home..."

Aghhhhhh!

I like that song :-)

My ear worm from Tuesday was the goodnight song from Sound of Music. Not good.

[JMG]

Arrgh, It's been Good Day Sunshine all morning. Not a bad song but I'm ready to move on.

[Hi Top]

There was a Spongbob episode about Earworms that was fantastic. There was an actual worm is his head they had to get out.
Here's the song or part of it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJOAaBhrWRQ

[James]

I like that song :-)

My ear worm from Tuesday was the goodnight song from Sound of Music. Not good.Gee thanks. Now I'm hearing that little toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot melody after each kid peels off over and over.
Wait... "I'm your captain, yeah yeah yeah yeah!"

[Keef Riffers]

I think that the replacements "IOU" has something to do with Winona Ryder.

[mar]

gee thanks. Now i'm hearing that little toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot-toot melody after each kid peels off over and over.
Wait... "i'm your captain, yeah yeah yeah yeah!"

lol!

[Keef Riffers]

I just woke up at 2:30 in the morning with "dancing in the moonlight" in my head. When it first came on yesterday I thought it was the "wrapped up like a douche/deuce" song.

What a fine and natural sight...

[Hayduke]

Epona's Song from Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64. Haven't played that in forever. I recognized it as being from the game, but had to sing it to the resident teenager to find out which song it was.

[Keef Riffers]

Muzax been cranking out the "talking to you (is like talking to myself)" a lot lately. Last night at super saver and then of a mornin at home depots.

After seeing jfms links to Bruno mars, I figured it might be a Bruno mars song.

So since its not a Bruno mars song I have started a whitehouse.gov petition to force president Obama to address the fact that Bruno mars has not covered this song. Please take the time out of your busy day to sign this important petition

[abalene]

I just woke up at 2:30 in the morning with "dancing in the moonlight" in my head. When it first came on yesterday I thought it was the "wrapped up like a douche/deuce" song.

What a fine and natural sight...

haha... here, let's make it worse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lMQnGcS2cQ

[Apeville]

I'm working on a new record- so whatever I'm mixing before I go to bed is usually circulating in my head when I wake up. And right now.