Ah, the earworm: a horribly catchy jingle that wiggles its way between your ears and latches permanently to your brain. Kind of a weird phenomena that certainly falls into my A to Z theme of the Music-Fan Connection.
Spongebob – “Musical Doodle” video courtesy of YouTube
I love some of the definitions listed for ‘earworm’ on that pillar site of reference, urbandictionary.com:
“A song that sticks in your mind, and will not leave no matter how much you try.
The best way to get rid of an earworm is to replace it with another. Be prepared to become a jukebox.”
“A song that won’t go away, and gets stuck in your head. Makes you want to tear your ears out; unfortunately, deafness can’t cure it because it’s in there for good.”
“A catchy song that gets stuck in your head a lot. Sometimes one you don’t know (evil), don’t like (evil), or you know and like (happy!)”
Regular Show – “Summertime” video courtesy of YouTube
I had a friend in college who claimed he had a “cure” for any song that got stuck in your head. It involved singing Barry Manilow’s ‘Copacabana’ at the top of his lungs, making you forget (and long for) the original earworm you walked in with!
What earworm plagues you the most? Feel free to share it in the comments. Don’t worry about our sanity…everyone just stay calm and repeat after me: “Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl…”
From the 1990’s Tops supermarket ad, “Tops never stops, saving you more, Tops never stops look what’s in store!” That drove me NUTS!
And I think they STILL use that! Aren’t you glad you moved away? TOPS NEVER STOPS!
What’s New Pussycat? By Tom Jones does it to me…
Whoa, woe woe! (Thanks – now it’s in my head)
The SpongeBob video is perfect! I remember watching that episode with my daughter, and Musical Doodle was stuck in my head the rest of the day.
Thanks for popping by, Kieron. Ah yes, the musical doodle. After I wrote this blog post, it came back with a vengeance!
This was a cute post for the letter E. I think we all have those moment where the song won’t leave. For me it was during the summer olympics this past summer and when they were showing the music video the swim team made to “Call Me Maybe.” I couldn’t get the lyrics out of my head for days.
Oh goodness, that is a doozy of a song to get stuck in your head – my daughter’s school faculty performed a crazy version of it at their school’s talent show, where they turned it into spoken word! Still an earworm…even without the poppy tune!
Now I have Copacabana in my head. 😉
Certain techno dance songs can be earworms. Even if I don’t enjoy the song, the beat somehow inbeds itself into my head.
Very true, Cynthia. It’s that continuous loop thing that kind of puts you in a trance!
Someone had a post about the old TV show, Ducktales. Can’t get it out of my head now despite driving for hours today with the radio on.
Oh dear! Thankfully, I don’t know that one, LOL. But I feel for you. Start singing Barry, he’s fool-proof. 😉
Currently… Thrift Shop. Yup. Ack.
Happy A-Z’ing! You’re almost done with the first week!
AJ Lauer
#atozchallenge helper minion
Twitter: @ayjaylauer
Thanks for stopping by, AJ. Dare I look up Thrift Shop? Hmm, judging from your reaction…it sounds like an earworm to avoid! Yay, 1 week down…and a few more to go!
It’s actually a pretty fun song! I recommend it 🙂
I love this definition! never heard of it before, when I saw “earworm” I thought you’d be discussing poor Chekov in The Wrath of Khan ;-p
Current earworm — stupid annoying jingle for local auto repair shop.
Oh wow, I forgot about the Star Trek reference – yikes! Hope your jingle gets replaced with a better tune soon!
I have trouble with GNRs “Patience” I always want to whistle it… and I do it a lot.
Oh yeah, that whistle is definitely addictive, and you want to do it right on pitch, without taking a breath…!
I happen to LIKE Copacabana so I guess I need another one. But your right, now “Copa” is all I can think about. Maybe “The Worms crawl in, the worms crawl out….”
Ha, that’s another good – and appropriate – earworm! I don’t mind a little Barry every now and then either. Love that video – he’s so flash!
Haha! I love the Copacabana trick! I’d definitely want the earworm back!
Happy Friday. Thanks for stopping by my blog. ☺
“Miss You” by the Stones…the first few bars have been driving me nuts since 1978.
That’s a long freakin’ time, Fran! Now I can hear Mick “ah”ing his way through that song…!