Ear worms

Emp_Fab · September 2023

The past week or so I have been unable to get Olivia Rodriguez's "Vampire" out of my head. It's driving me mad!
However, I now seem to be also developing ear-worm words that keep appearing in my head, and for some reason I keep thinking "Dildonious Metatarsal". It's one or the other though.... not both at the same time.

Tannin · September 2023

At this time of year, I have to spend many hours spraying a massive weed infestation. (It's foxglove, which for some reason goes absolutely ballistic in Tasmania and kills almost everything else unless you deal with it.) I use a variety of chemicals (it is basic good practice to use different ones from time to time to prevent resistance building up) but the number one go-to is MCPA (4-Chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid - and yes, I had to look that up). For obvious reasons, it is always just called MCPA.

And every damn time I use it, this happens to my ears::(

stufisher · September 2023

Nice one @Tannin ; ... I'm a chemist!

stickyfiddle · September 2023

Without wanting to open up the other conversation about old musicals again, I did spend all of my finals with the Bare Necessities stuck in my head. I still have flashbacks every time I hear it...

DavidR · September 2023

Interesting subject @Emp_Fab . I have found earworms really annoying over the years and they are, unfortunately, directly proportional to how intensely I am playing or trying to learn a piece. Problem not helped by the fact that a lot of the Blues and Ragtime I tend to concentrate is extremely catchy!

Broca's Area of the brain is the area responsible for processing music (and speech) and then the Hippocampus in the Medial Temporal Lobe is involved in remembering tunes. So it's known where this all goes on but the rest, like a lot of neurophysiology, is still poorly understood and subject to intense research. Not a lot of help from Science here then. Only, perhaps, the empirical experiences of others. So interesting +++ to see what others do.

All I do is give the piece I am concentrating on a rest, play or listen to something else and just generally take a break. Sometimes takes a day or two for annoying earworm to go. I think as well that over the years I now play a variety of things in a session and not just concentrate intensely on one piece of music I want to nail. Otherwise it's all a bit less fun than it's supposed to be!

Play Guitar. Drink Beer.

Brio · September 2023

Tannin · September 2023

DavidR said:
Play Guitar. Drink Rajika.

^ Fixed your sig for you.

Offset · September 2023

Ear-worms are the absolute bane of my life and those of the people around me. I whistle or hum whatever my current fixation may be without realising it and that can last for many weeks (if not months) until I move on, unbidden, to something else.

I have two I can't shift at the moment: 'Turn It Down' by Sweet and 'Shine Silently' by Nils Lofgren. The odd thing is that once the current ear-worm has been supplanted by another, it disappears almost totally from my consciousness until I accidentally stumble across it ages later.

Emp_Fab · September 2023

I have read that one way to possibly stop them is to sing/play the song in your head right to the end. Don't just keep yourself stuck on a memorable few bars.... Resolve the entire song.

crosstownvamp · September 2023

I get them for days sometimes and it's usually worse when I'm spending long periods mixing our random jams.

One thing I've noticed is they can start to mutate into some other song, and if I spot the bit where they cross over it can make me wonder if 'x' listened to 'y' and picked up part of the hook or chord changes.

Damn, I remember as a kid that bloody looping rhyme "There was an old man called Michael Finnegan..." that could get stuck for hours.

Offset · September 2023

Emp_Fab said:

I have read that one way to possibly stop them is to sing/play the song in your head right to the end. Don't just keep yourself stuck on a memorable few bars.... Resolve the entire song.

I don't remember them right to the end :-)

thumpingrug · September 2023

Ive been noodling around with a very simple chord sequence recently - Am, C D G. Played this a number of ways but stumbled across the opening riff to Owner of a Lonely Heart. Now I cant get Jon Anderson out of my head.

Winny_Pooh · September 2023

Emp_Fab said:

I have read that one way to possibly stop them is to sing/play the song in your head right to the end. Don't just keep yourself stuck on a memorable few bars.... Resolve the entire song.

Same, only listening solves it.

fretmeister · September 2023

https://youtu.be/tA6GwfeDYyA?si=9724Q_a64ua0_YU7

ElectricXII · September 2023

I've been revisiting my youth, and I can't get "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" by Divinyls out of my head. I woke up this morning singing it. The live versions on YT are great too.

Nitefly · September 2023

Get rid of your ear-worm by singing "The Best" by Tina Turner - it then becomes your new ear-worm

the_jaffa · September 2023

Having just come back from holiday and having two young kids, my head is filled with Baby Shark, Chi Chi Wah, Soco Bate Vera and other annoyingly catchy mini disco songs

Schnozz · September 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsyUa63NM1E

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