Way back in pre-history when I was a kid we read a story in class. The idea behind the story was some kid read the lyrics to a song in a book and it got stuck in his head. The only way to get rid of it was to sing it to someone else. Then it was stuck in their head until they passed it on the same way. (this could all be wrong, because I read the story around 30 years ago.)
The song went something like this…
In a whole donut, there’s a nice whole hole.
When you take a big bite, hold the whole hole tight.
If a little bit bitten, or a great bit bitten.
It’s a holey whole hole, with a hole bitten in it.
The fact that I can still remember it 30 years later attests to its earworminess.
“Pie and Punch and You-Know-Whats” from Centerburg Tales, the sequel to Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. The trick in McCloskey’s story is that even once you pass the tune on, you’re still stuck with it, so the number of the afflicted grows and grows. Homer breaks the spell by reciting the ditty from “A Literary Nightmare,” the Mark Twain story Cecil cites in the column. As in Twain’s story, once you’ve passed “Punch Brothers” on to another person, you’re free of it yourself.
For my money, “Punch brothers! punch with care!/Punch in the presence of the passenjare” is the more earwormy of the two. On the other hand McCloskey’s illustration of the Centerburg library in chaos as Homer and his friends ransack the shelves in seach of the story is priceless. Would that McCloskey had been as prolific as Twain.
*This is the song that never ends
Yes it goes on and on, my friends
Somebody started singing it not knowing what it was
And they continued signing it if only just because…
I used to have fun inducing this in other people. In a college study hall I would start whistling the theme from Disney’s Robin Hood[about 55 sec in]. After planting the seed, I would wander off for a few minutes and when I returned someone would be whistling this softly.
When I used to listen to music constantly on a cassette player or an MP3 player that started with the last song you listened to, I would find that very often, when I turned it on, the song it started with would be a song that I already had stuck in my head, which makes me suspect that a trigger for me is hearing a familiar song played only partway through.
Oh, great…now I have Achy Breaky Heart stuck in my head!
I can attest to the veracity of the least favorite song claim. I have the peculiar ability to learn songs very quickly, often after only a repetition or two. I call it THE CURSE, because unbidden, the very worst of pop music burrows into my head. Some of the most vicious earworms include, in no particular order: “Muskrat Love” by Cap’n & Tenille, “Gypsys Tramps & Thieves” by Cher, “Buena Festa” the birthday song sung by waiters in Olive Garden Restaurant (learned in entirety after a single involuntary exposure to the song as it was sung to a neighboring party) and “Get Up & Get Behind a Mule” a delta blues tune. In addition, I know almost all the advertising jingles I have ever heard, especially from the sixties…Mr. Clean, Coppertone, all three verses of the Rice Krispies song. I’ve spent days on end singing “Meet the Swinger, Polaroid Swinger…” or “Tide was designed with mothers in mind…” I also get classical instrumentals stuck, but they are not nearly as persistent as vocals, especially obnoxious vocals. For the last five years or so, I have been singing
Look for the union label
When you are buying that coat, dress or blouse.
Remember somewhere, our union’s sewing…
All I can say is that I hope some researchers somewhere are working towards a cure…I will volunteer for any experimental protocols on offer.
I’m surprised that nobody has yet mentioned Arthur C. Clarke’s short story The Ultimate Melody published in 1957 in the collection Tales from the White Hart. (The White Hart is a pub where scientists and writers meet and tell tall tales.)
In this story a scientist discovers the the ‘ultimate melody’ which is completely unforgettable.
"goddessodd I’ll take GT&T or even Half-Breed over the Partridge Family. "
You say that now…wait until you’ve spent a couple of days with “the best of Cher” endlessly looping through your head. The strangest thing about most of my earworms is that until they get stuck, I never even know that I know them…I mean, had you just asked me “do you know all the words to GT & T or Muskrat Love?” I would have immediately answered no, but just answering the question would probably be enough to trigger the worm, and it would turn out that yes, yes indeed I know all the words…also all the words to Bang Bang He Shot Me Down…Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, near chitty far chitty in your motor car chitty…oh god make it stop!
You understand!!! When I change “channels” I even play a little static between them, so it feels like I am tuning a real radio. (It also helps to separate the various songs)
I love earworms! I seem to have the ability to recall songs heard years ago and “replay” them in my mind with perfect audio quality.
Usually it takes me a minute or two before I can “hear” it at full quality, but I have discovered some songs that can trigger the full sensation earlier.
Theme to “The last starfighter” (seems to jump start this ability at the musical climax)
Theme to “MASH” (slow starting, but very real at the end)
1812 Overture (The cannons really KICK!)
I find it fascinating that people dislike this wonderful gift, I don’t need to carry an Ipod or any other device, I simply remember the song I want to hear and play it through.
When I was a kid I would focus on individual instruments in any musical piece, and I could listen to just the vocals, drums, guitars or pianos without “hearing” the other music.
I can usually remember songs after listening to them a few times, and I can even recall the memories of things seen at the same time that I heard the recalled songs. I have my own time machine to my past, earworms are my friends! It also helps me sleep, I usually only need to go through a song or two before I am unconscious.
I wonder if I could try to store data by using specific programmed melodies? I wonder how much data could held within one modified song.
It’s a small world could contain the top secret launch code!!!
Don’t be hatin’ on the earworms, them’s yo friends.
I enjoy the “gift” when it applies to music that I like…I abhor the gift when it involves dreadful tunes and advertising jingles. Yes, I can also “change channels” but as soon as my attention is diverted, I find myself back to
On a related note, as I have recently returned to school, I find that I can easily retain complicated information and statistics if I set them to music, a la “The Battle of New Orleans” genre…
“Doll Parts”, by Hole, is an odd earworm. It is not good when you sing it at work. Its even worse when you absently say to a co worker…“I want to be the girl with the most cake”
Instead of whatever else you were going to say.
The thing is, I am not particularly a fan of Courtney Love, Hole, or Nirvana. I like them enough, I had friends who were fans, but why should I suddenly remember the full lyrics to an album I haven’t listened to, for oh a good 10 years or so?
