# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**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, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/41 "2022-10-05T22:02:20Z")
Let’s try that again. 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, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/42 "2022-10-05T22:02:21Z")
> 🔮 Very doubtful ---
**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, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/43 "2022-10-05T22:17:37Z")
The other thread is about the earworms themselves. This one is about how to cure them. There’s bound to be some overlap, and this discussion could have been had in the other thread, but the subject matters are different enough that I don’t think a merge is necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/44 "2022-10-06T00:05:34Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@Cardigan](#): > > > > Have you ever found a way to ‘treat’ an ear worm, that is, do something to get it out of your head? > > Mrs. solost, back when we were dating said to sing (either out loud or in your head) the Suzanne Vega song “My Name is Luka”. It’s a good enough song to remove the current ear worm in your brain, but not so catchy that it will become a new ear worm. It seems to work! That’s my strategy. I’ve found that a judicious application of the Violent Femmes will drive out, but not replace, any earworm. “Add It Up” and “Blister In The Sun” do the job nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/45 "2022-10-06T03:17:18Z")
> [@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”. Also highly dangerous - [the mashup earworm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR3uz8rq4ng). There was a fabulous one "Chemical Warfare (Don’t It Feel Good) that gave me Katrina & The Waves brain reverberations for far too long. There is no cure - but there _is_ hope. ---
**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 6, 2022, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/46 "2022-10-06T04:25:49Z")
I am envious of you creative people who get mashup ear worms. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/47 "2022-10-06T10:40:52Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > It’s uncommon for me to get an ear worm that consists of music that I would consider particularly good. Usually, yeah. But for the first half of this week, I was stuck with Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” That one, I didn’t mind so much. Annoying on repeat, sure, but still a great song. ---
**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 6, 2022, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/48 "2022-10-06T12:05:38Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > That’s my strategy. I’ve found that a judicious application of the Violent Femmes will drive out, but not replace, any earworm. “Add It Up” and “Blister In The Sun” do the job nicely. I don’t know, if those two VF songs work for you, great, but to me they’re both violently catchy potential earworms in their own right. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/49 "2022-10-06T12:59:10Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > > That’s my strategy. I’ve found that a judicious application of the Violent Femmes will drive out, but not replace, any earworm. “Add It Up” and “Blister In The Sun” do the job nicely > > I don’t know, if those two VF songs work for you, great, but to me they’re both violently catchy potential earworms in their own right. Well, if you’re gonna have a song stuck in your head, better a good one, eh? YMMV, of course, but neither of those songs has a sufficiently melodic “hook” to get stuck in my head the way a cheesy pop song can. ---
**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 6, 2022, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/50 "2022-10-06T14:57:25Z")
This was a triumph I’m making a note here; “Huge success” It’s hard to overstate My satisfaction ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2022, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/51 "2022-10-12T23:22:59Z")
Has anyone had an earworm regarding a song they hated, which eventually turned into a song they liked? Such was the case of Billy Paul’s _Me and Mrs Jones_, a song which was a big (and hated) earworm when I was 11ish and now is a belt-along favorite. ---
**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 21, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690/52 "2022-10-21T20:45:56Z")
This is bothersome. I am currently afflicted with a mashup of Tulane and Johnny B Goode. I am attempting treatment by repeat listening to Johnny B Goode. If I can drive out Tulane, I think I can probably deal with JBG using my usual dose of Hunky Dory. j [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-care-and-treatment-of-acute-ear-worms/972690.md?page=2)