# If you had to pick one earworm to hear for the rest of your life **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2018, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604 "2018-03-15T15:07:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Clothes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Clothes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothes)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/21 "2018-03-15T20:17:32Z")
John Lee Hooker with Canned Heat, Boogie Chillen No. 2. But I have tinnitus, so I’m stuck with Metal Machine Music, side 2. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/22 "2018-03-15T20:18:08Z")
Well there’s always ‘Honey Pie’ by the Beatles ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/23 "2018-03-15T22:27:25Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Fourth Movement of the Ninth Symphony by Beethoven (Ode to Joy), instrumental only, without the German shout-singing. I was thinking I would want one of the hymns set to the tune of Ode to Joy. As it is I can never remember the words so this would insure that would change! ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/24 "2018-03-16T00:05:28Z")
When all is well, and I am content, the waltz from [The Godfather](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPskYVBqdNw) runs through my internal speakers. It is kind of like the purr of a kitten. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/25 "2018-03-16T00:06:28Z")
[Pachebel.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i0c_fh_ETM0). Get all the musics. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/26 "2018-03-16T01:39:03Z")
Dancing Queen 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/27 "2018-03-16T03:13:06Z")
Vivaldi’s _Four Seasons_. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/28 "2018-03-16T03:47:43Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Obvious joke _too_ obvious… > > We have a poster here by the name of the piece I would choose: Mozart’s [K364](https://youtu.be/_0hTDZ0whpU), the Sinfonia Concertante. 1st movement, if I must. Good choice JohnT ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/29 "2018-03-16T10:31:10Z")
Mmm, hard one - possibly [Summoning of the Muse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J8mvTWceO8) by Dead Can Dance or [Finlandia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5zg_af9b8c) or some other Sibelius or [The Ghost Has No Home](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEWZEydUyrY) by the Cocteaus and Harold Budd or maybe [Strawberry Wine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6aQ9ttOSOc) by MBV (which I have listened to on repeat for 3 hours straight once - it just becomes pleasant background after the first hour, and you skate along the surface and dip in every now and then ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/30 "2018-03-16T10:49:20Z")
Donald Fagen’s _I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)_, but only this part: > [@](#): > > On that train, all graphite and glitter, > Undersea by rail. > Ninety minutes from New York to Paris. > Well, by seventy-six we’ll be a.o.k ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/31 "2018-03-16T11:45:02Z")
“Time” by Pink Floyd ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/32 "2018-03-16T15:21:59Z")
Going with Sublime. _Summertime…and the living is easy…_ ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/33 "2018-03-16T23:10:02Z")
It’s this one: [Inspector Clouseau (1968) ~ Main Title - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSnFICtYkJ0). It’s the Main Title instrumental theme to _Inspector Clouseau_, a not-very-good movie with Alan Arkin playing the inspector. My roommate in college had the soundtrack album and played it frequently. To this day I find I can play it in my head whenever I have a bad earworm, and this replaces it, and then goes away shortly thereafter, leaving me happy until the next earworm. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/34 "2018-03-16T23:47:45Z")
That would be a difficult toss-up between _Popcorn_ and [_My Pal Foot Foot_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR9d4ESlpHY) ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/35 "2018-03-17T01:24:54Z")
I’d go with the first movement of JS Bach’s second violin concerto. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/36 "2018-03-17T14:06:01Z")
What? No votes for Alice’s Restaurant? I’d go with Annie Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/37 "2018-03-19T10:49:13Z")
I’ve auditioned one. Back in my retail days, we had to listen to the corporate-sanctioned playlist, using a player whose library was updated every so often. Given the frequency of the updates and the size of the memory, I worked out that there would always be a block of 86 songs which had been there for 10 months. And when you work full time, you can get pretty fucking sick of anything when you hear it at that level of immersion. Even favourite songs by favourite artists make you gnash your teeth after a while. Except for Breakeven by The Script. Every time it came on: “Oh…this…yeah, I quite like this.” If it’s got to be for _ever_, I’ll take “quite like this”! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/38 "2018-03-19T11:11:40Z")
Starship Trooper by YES. Live at the L.A. Forum in 1978. That’s the cut. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/39 "2018-03-19T11:25:14Z")
Dave Brubeck Quartet [Take Five](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs) at the moment. I have been listening to it several times a day since it popped up on Spotify, weeks ago, while I was at work. Absolutely hypnotic and I just keep eagerly waiting for Joe Morello’s drum solo. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604/40 "2018-03-22T13:20:16Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Dave Brubeck Quartet [Take Five](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs) at the moment. I have been listening to it several times a day since it popped up on Spotify, weeks ago, while I was at work. Absolutely hypnotic and I just keep eagerly waiting for Joe Morello’s drum solo. You can smell cigarette smoke when you listen to this track. Especially with good headphones, I agree it’s mesmerizing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-one-earworm-to-hear-for-the-rest-of-your-life/810604.md?page=3)