# Ever racked your brain for hours trying to remember where a certain melody came from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728 "2009-03-08T12:46:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/1 "2009-03-08T12:46:22Z")
Have you ever had a snippet of a melody from a song come to you, randomly, and couldn’t figure out what it was? Maybe you fruitlessly racked your brain for hours, days, weeks even, trying to remember where the melody came from. Maybe you played every single song in iTunes trying to figure it out. Maybe you even attempted to sing the melody to friends, or play it on a piano, and ask them if THEY remembered it. And even after all that…you can’t figure it out. The melody remains a mystery. And then all of a sudden…out of nowhere…you remember it! That just happened to me over the past 24 hours or so…for reasons I don’t know, a certain hypnotic, trance like melody came to me, something that I had heard before but couldn’t remember the origins of. At first I thought maybe it was from Final Fantasy VII, so I downloaded every MIDI from that game and sifted through them trying to find that melody. But no luck. Then, five minutes ago, I’m lying awake in bed and all of a sudden, I remember where the tune is from. It’s [Old Man Willow,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC17RRpqAHk) by “Elephant’s Memory” - from the “psychedelic party” scene in _Midnight Cowboy._ THAT movie, of all places, was what I knew it from. (The opening synthesizer riff is the melody I’m referring to.) It’s an absolutely hypnotic riff. Has this happened to you? ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/2 "2009-03-08T16:00:53Z")
Yeah, that drives me crazy on occasion. I have the same issue with a snippet of lyrics that I can’t place. ---
**Author:** ![Lungfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@Lungfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lungfish)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/3 "2009-03-08T16:37:45Z")
From time-to-time. Last Monday I couldn’t get the lyrics “walk like a man, talk like a man?” out of my head. When I got home and googled the lyrics I found the name of the song the words belong to. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/4 "2009-03-08T17:09:38Z")
It happened to me last year. I could remember the melody but not any of the (Latin) words to a creepy-sounding choral work. Finally after a week or two of frustration, I discovered a couple of “query-by-humming” websites, one of which led me to Orff’s “O Fortuna.” I don’t remember which site finally did the trick, but it was one of these two: > **[Search for Music Using Your Voice by Singing or Humming, View Music Videos,...](https://www.midomi.com/)** > > midomi.com find and discover music and people. Use your voice to instantly connect to your favorite music, and to a community of people that share your musical interests. Sing your own versions, listen to voices, see pictures, rate singers, send... > **[with Microphone: Musipedia Melody Search Engine](https://www.musipedia.org/query_by_humming.0.html)** > > A search engine for tunes and musical themes and a collaborative music encyclopedia. Only the melody needs to be known to search Musipedia or the Web. The melody can be played on a keyboard or whistled or sung to the computer. The Musipedia... ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/5 "2009-03-08T17:17:44Z")
It happens quite often for me. Not too long ago I even started a thread on one that had me baffled. It wound up being some soundtrack music from Ocean’s Eleven. Something called [Rodney Yates](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRDqoAe4Jww). ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/6 "2009-03-08T17:37:18Z")
OK, I didn’t want to, but I have one that’s bugged me for years. I even whistle it, that bit and ‘Sunshine of your Love’ are all I ever whistle. It’s a classical piece, sometimes I think it’s Mozart, sometimes not. Round the Corner restaurants used to use it for it’s jingle. BUM,bum bum bum bum bum BUM bum. Thanks for reactivating my earworm, **Argent**. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/7 "2009-03-08T18:21:30Z")
This happens to me when I hear one song and am reminded of another song (but _which one?!?!_). Like, one song will have a particular chord change or scrap of melody that sounds really familiar, and I’ll obsess over where I could have possibly heard that moment before. This most recently happened with a song on Neko Case’s new album (and now I can’t remember which song) that had a particular chord change which (I finally figured out this morning) reminded me of a chord change in Simply Red’s “Stars.” (Yes, yes, I have listened to Simply Red.) Or, RJD2’s “Ghostwriter” sampled some humming that sounded incredibly familiar, and I went around humming it for days before remembering it was a snippet from Elliott Smith’s “I Didn’t Understand.” (ETA: I just found [this page](http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/2116/RJD2-Ghostwriter_Elliott%20Smith-I%20Didn%27t%20Understand/), where you can listen to the comparison yourself.) That stuff can drive one mad. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/8 "2009-03-08T20:12:14Z")
no ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/9 "2009-03-10T18:18:02Z")
[Yup.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508226) ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/10 "2009-03-10T19:07:55Z")
It happened to me. I kept singing to myself, “There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief.” [spoiler]Then I discovered I’m a Cylon. Weirdest thing. ;-)[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-racked-your-brain-for-hours-trying-to-remember-where-a-certain-melody-came-from/488728/11 "2009-03-10T21:04:09Z")
Also: [www.Songtapper.com](http://www.Songtapper.com) Has helpped me a few times. Simply use your spacebar to pound out the bassline. Most often though, I keep playing the same piece of the song I have in my head. after a while, I will come up with one or two more notes either before, or after the original piece I had I work on the entire piece now, and un cover a second additional set of notes. After a while, I get back to where I can tell you the song. Thats at least how I do it, most of the time. - And no, Im not musically inclined, I dont hit and miss by adding notes at random. It truly just comes to me out of the blue after a while.