# The worst kind of earworm **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964 "2010-01-29T23:44:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/1 "2010-01-29T23:44:54Z")
I have an earworm, and it’s not a nice, normal “finding myself singing a particular song” earworm. No, this is an incessant loop of about 30 seconds of music, the chorus from Queensryche’s “Silent Lucidity,” to be specific. It won’t go away. IT WON’T GO AWAY. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII will be watching over yououououou _sob_ Someone get a hatchet. It’s the only way to get that song out of there. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/2 "2010-01-30T00:03:49Z")
Look it up on YouTube, listen to the whole song - that ought to purge it from your brain. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/3 "2010-01-30T00:12:20Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Look it up on YouTube, listen to the whole song - that ought to purge it from your brain. I’ve listened to it about ten times. ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/4 "2010-01-30T00:15:02Z")
The worst kind is when you don’t even really know the words but are stuck for days singing “blah, blee-blee-blee blah, doo and I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT dee-deep and doodah IN THIS WORLD.” I hate that. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/5 "2010-01-30T00:22:22Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I’ve listened to it about ten times. Hmm. Try the nuclear option? It’s a small world, after alllll… ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/6 "2010-01-30T00:27:05Z")
> [@Proudest\_Monkey](#): > > The worst kind is when you don’t even really know the words but are stuck for days singing “blah, blee-blee-blee blah, doo and I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT dee-deep and doodah IN THIS WORLD.” > > I hate that. This one sorta started that way, I just had the jangly guitar riff in my head and I couldn’t really think what it belonged to, but it has gradually extended out to the whole chorus. And every time I hear the “IIIIII” parts, I think it sounds so much like a Pink Floyd knockoff. GAH. Ferret Herder, you are an evil person, but I’m willing to try anything at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/7 "2010-01-30T02:31:34Z")
Nah, I think the WORST kind is when you don’t know who the artist is and you don’t even have any lyric fragments to give you a clue where to start looking. This happens to me a lot with classical pieces. Just this past week I’ve had snippets of a solo piano melody running through my head that I THINK are from the same piece but I have no way of knowing for sure. It may or may not be a piano sonata and it’s dark and moody in a way that reminds me of the opening phrases from Rachmaninov’s (sp?) Piano Concerto No. 2 but, other than that, I’ve got nothing. Oh well, there’s probably only several thousand solo piano pieces from that era so I’m sure I’ll stumble upon the right one sometime before I die. Maybe. It’s a small world after all… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/8 "2010-01-30T02:42:30Z")
[Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5C6X9vOEkU). ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/9 "2010-01-30T03:10:38Z")
Second verse - same as the first! ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/10 "2010-01-30T03:13:14Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ccenFp_3kq8/maxresdefault.jpg "Daryl Hall & John Oates - I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccenFp_3kq8) ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/11 "2010-01-30T03:18:24Z")
I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again You’re never gonna keep me down …better? same? worse? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/12 "2010-01-30T06:37:40Z")
The worst earworms have to be classic sitcom theme songs. They’re only a minute long and have only the most immediately recognizable parts of a full song–they were meant to be earworms. Which is why I’ve got the [theme to “One Day at a Time”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M82CUd6isyY) stuck in my head for a week though I haven’t seen the show in a decade. The only thing that could kick it out was this: [San Diego Chargers fight song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDiCxhtGMhc) ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/13 "2010-01-30T08:26:04Z")
What I hate is when you have a particular passage from a particular song stuck in your head…but upon listening to the actual song later, you find that what you had stuck in your head was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/14 "2010-01-30T18:19:40Z")
Day 3 of Silent Lucidity has begun. It’s a bit funny considering I’m not really silent OR lucid at this point. ARRRGGGGHHHH! ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/15 "2010-01-30T19:38:14Z")
Hot child in the city Runnin wild and lookin pretty… ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/16 "2010-01-30T20:39:50Z")
Every heart beat belongs to you. Baby baby. (I’m sure Amy Grant is a lovely person.) ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/17 "2010-01-30T20:45:00Z")
Loosen up my buttons babe But you keep frontin’ Sayin’ what you gonna do to me But I ain’t seen nothing (Pussycat Dolls song I’m listening to right now) ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/18 "2010-01-30T21:08:30Z")
The only way I’ve been able to get rid of one is to pass it on to someone else. You tell someone that you have a song stuck in your head and what it is. If they know the song, then it’s theirs and you are free. If they don’t know it, sorry to say, you have to keep it until you find someone who knows it that you can pass it to… 😃 By the way, I can’t help you with this one, because I don’t know your song… ummm… and NOT going to look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/19 "2010-01-30T23:17:11Z")
No, the worst kind are the commercial jingles. Thanks to the Something Something Darkside feature, I had the Juicy Fruit jingle in my head for DAYS. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964/20 "2010-01-30T23:19:20Z")
**Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-kind-of-earworm/526964.md?page=2)