# The Care and Treatment of Acute Ear Worms **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [October 4, 2022, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690 "2022-10-04T12:26:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/21 "2022-10-04T16:09:46Z")
Topical hexachlorocyclohexane once a day for 10 days ought to do it. Follow up with “Another Look at Harmony” by Philip Glass if necessary. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/22 "2022-10-04T16:25:09Z")
I’ve found I’m particularly susceptible to the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street.” I don’t do anything about it. Just ride it out, and it’ll get tired and go away after a couple of hours. Well, well, well. You can never tell. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/23 "2022-10-04T16:30:47Z")
The best advice I’ve seen is to think of a short ad jingle like “By Mennen!” or “Plop plop fizz fizz”. Because of their short duration they don’t become earworms themselves but rather helps focus your brain elsewhere whenever the earworm pops into your brain. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/24 "2022-10-04T17:17:00Z")
[It’s Corn!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_caMQpiwiaU) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/25 "2022-10-04T21:43:31Z")
The cure I use is to sing a song to myself from a completely different musical tradition. Personally, I usually use the Dakota hymn “Many and Great”, but something from Asia or Africa would probably work, too. It dislodges the original song, but it’s enough different from most of what I’m used to that it doesn’t get stuck in its place. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HAR0XexCc98/maxresdefault.jpg "DAKOTA HYMN (SATB Choir) - arr. Heather Sorenson") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAR0XexCc98) ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/26 "2022-10-04T21:52:54Z")
I consciously replace it with one I don’t mind so much. My go-to is Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love”. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/27 "2022-10-04T22:07:48Z")
The worst earworm I ever had lasted for about eight months: I had stuck in my head “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, except set to the tune of “Stairway to Heaven”. No idea what put that in my head. Then, one night, I woke up from a dream, with a tune in my head from the dream, and thought to myself “There’s no way I made up that tune myself; what am I remembering it from? Oh, yeah, that’s the real tune of ‘Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’!”, and just like that, the earworm was gone. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/28 "2022-10-04T22:15:09Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Have you ever found a way to ‘treat’ an ear worm, that is, do something to get it out of your head? I manufacture a big, splashy, broadway-style ending for the song in my head. Giving it a super-definitive end seems to help my brain plunk it into the “all done now” category. If somebody already posted something like this, I didn’t read it because the contents of this thread are undoubtedly a horrifying minefield (mindfield?) of earworms. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/29 "2022-10-04T23:07:04Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Usually for me it’s just the chorus or otherwise some short snippet of a song. Listening to the whole thing provides some resolution and often helps. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, this is usually the way it happens. I have to listen to it often enough to finally memorize the song befire it’s willing to let go. Looping snippets are worse than whole songs. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/30 "2022-10-05T05:49:01Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The only cure for me is to replace it with another ear worm. Like others, that’s me too. There’s a local car dealership, Envision Honda, and also Envision Toyota, and their radio jungle is annoying but catchy, and it’s also very annoying. Did I say that already? It’s a looping snippet, and like @Yllaria said, those are really bad. That ear worm gets so bad I have to sing _It’s a Small World_ to flush it out of my brain. That’s bad. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/31 "2022-10-05T12:21:39Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Oh, great, an earworm about child abuse. Just what my Tuesday ordered! 😋 Well, the point is that it seems to not only _ **not** _ become an earworm, but cure your current earworm. Who knows, maybe the harshness of the subject matter has something to do with it, resetting your brain and clearing out the earworm. It only takes the first verse / chorus to work for me. > [@Chronos](#): > > The worst earworm I ever had lasted for about eight months: I had stuck in my head “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, except set to the tune of “Stairway to Heaven”. Damn you, now I’m trying to do this in my head. 🙄 Reminds me that the lyrics of “Amazing Grace” can be sung to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” and vice versa: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XjPG7hJcAqM/maxresdefault.jpg "Blind Boys of Alabama, "Amazing Grace to tune House of the Rising Sun" (Nashville 12 September 2017)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjPG7hJcAqM) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/32 "2022-10-05T12:40:13Z")
Whatever you do, don’t click play! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/iDjX4-LKqCA/maxresdefault.jpg "The Good Place (Episode Highlight)- Marc Evan Jackson sings 1 877 Kars for Kids") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDjX4-LKqCA) I warned you! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/33 "2022-10-05T16:26:31Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > That ear worm gets so bad I have to sing _It’s a Small World_ to flush it out of my brain. Deep in my closet, I have the LP of _It’s a Small World_. Good to know that it has a use besides torture. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/34 "2022-10-05T16:32:03Z")
I’m going to double post this in both threads, but do we now have duplicate, competing threads? > [@Quick, what's your current earworm?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-your-current-earworm/721433): > > Bonus point awarded if you can identify why and when it burrowed itself into your ear. Mine is “Good Morning” from ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. I think I heard it in a television commercial a few days ago and it has latched on pretty tightly. mmm > [@The Care and Treatment of Acute Ear Worms](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690): > > Perhaps it’s the song Baby Shark, or maybe it’s a Beatles tune. The source doesn’t matter, but at some point many of us suffer from ear worms. You know, those times when you get a (usually) catchy tune stuck in your head for extended periods of time and can’t get it to leave. What are some songs that you’re particularly susceptible to to get ear worms from? How long do ear worms typically last for you? Any particularly long episodes? Have you ever found a way to ‘treat’ an ear worm, that is, … ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/35 "2022-10-05T20:39:37Z")
These days it seems that almost all my earworms are good ones; and they don’t stay for too long. So that makes them a trivial and self limiting condition (which is a splendid phrase I came across - in the context of fairly aggressive treatment options - describing the common cold). Like many others here, if I have to get rid of one it’s a matter of replacement rather than removal. I prescribe myself a course of [Hunky Dory](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a_hBAx3ioE) - that’ll fix it. j ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/36 "2022-10-05T21:21:31Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The only cure for me is to replace it with another ear worm. My wife says she can get rid of one by listening to the song all the way through a couple times. I am that way. My go to earwormicide is [Danse Macabre](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyknBTm_YyM) by St-Saens. > [@Cardigan](#): > > It’s uncommon for me to get an ear worm that consists of music that I would consider particularly good. The old Bumblebee Tuna jingle - reinforced by the beat matching up with the bounce of the boat on the wavelets. Sigh. > [@JohnT](#): > > Oh, great, an earworm about child abuse. > [@JohnT](#): > > Oh, great, an earworm about child abuse. I walked around the submarine base hospital once absentmindedly humming the Soviet National Anthem … and once Deuschland Uber Alles … _sigh_ My friend Matthew loved setting me up with earworms. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/37 "2022-10-05T21:21:59Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Reminds me that the lyrics of “Amazing Grace” can be sung to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” and vice versa: All four of those songs are part of the same (very large) song family, which also includes the Gilligan’s Island theme and every Emily Dickenson poem. Any of them can be sung to the tune of any of the others. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/38 "2022-10-05T21:52:46Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I’m going to double post this in both threads, but do we now have duplicate, competing threads? > > [Quick, what's your current earworm?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-your-current-earworm/721433) > > [The Care and Treatment of Acute Ear Worms](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690) Well, this one was started October 4 and has 37 replies. The other was started June 15 and has 1242 replies. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/39 "2022-10-05T21:59:35Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > The other was started June 15 and has 1242 replies. That would be June 2015. Isn’t that right Discobot? ---
**Author:** ![discobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/discobot/32/570_2.png) [@discobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/discobot)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/40 "2022-10-05T21:59:37Z")
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