|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Earworms - again!
|
Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
|
Posted
I think we seem to have one of these threads every year or two - if the last one was recently and I missed it then apologies to Hosts and please feel free to close this.
Anyway, on my cycle ride this morning I was suddenly humming the execrable Don't cry for me, Argentina - I know, things can be pretty awful sometimes, even here in Paradise.
However it did remind me of one of those Missed Consonants cartoons in The Observer with a sketch of Andrew Lloyd-Webber sitting at the piano and the caption:
quote:
Andrew Lloyd-Webber writes another hit musical.
It took me a few minutes but I got there in the end.
--------------------
I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
I can't hear Don't Cry for Me, Argentina without going a bit fuzzy round the edges remembering my first trip to Norway (a school exchange trip in 1978). There was much snuffling going on as we all said goodbye, until one of the Norwegian boys started singing that song, which sort of lightened the mood.
**sigh** ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
I can't hear "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" without remembering that was the last song my father and I listened to back in 1978 before he died. On another note, that was of course the theme for Scotland's World Cup venture that year ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Anyhow, earworms, I've had a whole bunch of Christmas carols running continuously through my head for the past couple of weeks. Who needs in-store muzak? There's a particularly perky one that's annoying me at the moment, and I can't put a name to it.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
Prompted by God knows what, this little bit of godawful was running through my head for about a half hour last night. Rossweisse had to throw the the Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 at me to help me purge.
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
|
Posted
I have a friend who was a monk in Argentina at one point in his life. He said that the Weber song "Don't Cry for me Argentina" was based on an Argentinian folk song "Eve mother of Mary intercede for us now". You could try those lyrics when you get the earworm, the mismatch between the translation and the melody help me short circuit the loop.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
|
Posted
Thanks for the flashback Kelly. 25 years ago the orchestral Muzak version of that was on the one hour tape loop that played at my health club endlessly. I'm not only getting the banal arrangement but I can smell all the surface sanitizers and toxic carpet... aaargh
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
It's not an earworm but on that note, Olivia Newton John singing "Xanadu" will always remind me of that 10-hour car journey I made to Devon one summer with my little cousin singing the same two lines tunelessly, over and over again as we sat in an endless traffic jam. Punctuated by her breaking off to ask "Are we nearly there yet?"
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
|
Posted
I wake up to an endless variety of earworms but can't imagine why 'Shall we gather at the river?' crops up from time to time.
GG
--------------------
The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
Currently, for some reason (a radio advertisement is using the opening of it, I haven't seen the film) I have "Let it Go...". It won an Oscar? Alternating with it, my internal playlist varies with "The weather outside is frightful---Let it Snow".
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Palimpsest:
I have a friend who was a monk in Argentina at one point in his life. He said that the Weber song "Don't Cry for me Argentina" was based on an Argentinian folk song "Eve mother of Mary intercede for us now". You could try those lyrics when you get the earworm, the mismatch between the translation and the melody help me short circuit the loop.
I thought it was based on Bach's Prelude in C from The Well-tempered Clavier, Book 1. There's a song by comedy singing duo Kit and the Widow to that effect - "You too can write a great West End score / Steal it from somebody else." (They also suggest that "I don't know how to love him" from Jesus Christ Superstar is the slow movement from Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.)
For those wishing to avoid earworms, never watch a rerun of the 1970s/80s legal comic-drama Rumpole of the Bailey. That theme tune on the bassoon can get stuck in your head for days.
--------------------
"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
|
Posted
The trouble with liking Half Man Half Bicuit is you find yourself humming/whistling/singing really, really obtuse lines like "And why is my girl getting married to a plasterer from Bacup?"
AG
--------------------
"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
|
Posted
Eurovision may have lots of schlock, but some of it, like mud, sticks. About once a month, I get a loop of this rather inane ditty .
Fortunately, the Babushki from the previous year weren't quite so "loopy"!
--------------------
It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
|
Posted
The earworm for most of the last 6 months has been "The Night" by Frankie Valli. It is a storming tune, really cool, but utterly ear-worm-y.
--------------------
Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
|
Posted
Our Christmas cantata was last Sunday, so I've been having earworms from that for...oh...four months?!
The most frequent is "Ding Dong! Merrily on High!" There are worse ones.
--------------------
Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
The Rogue
Shipmate
# 2275
|
Posted
When I'm Cleaning Windows.
--------------------
If everyone starts thinking outside the box does outside the box come back inside?
Posts: 2507 | From: Toton | Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
|
Posted
I've had a number of beautiful ecards with the awful "O Holy Night" as the accompanying music, Earworm, earworm.
--------------------
"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
Olivia got drowned out by this yesterday.
I love this video, btw-- it's what I hope Heaven is like. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
|
Posted
Radio Canada 'Espace Musique' (French language radio) has been playing the Hallelujah Course from Messiah by Handel every morning this week.
We went to a performance of it live with mass choir, 4 solists and chamber orchestra (in a stately church in which I had last set foot 20 years ago). The performance brought tears to my eyes; I've seen it 3 times now, previously in 1995, 1986 (I know, because the tickets are in my copy of the score). The radio doesn't bring the water to eyes, and I am trying to hard to replace the earworm with "I know my redeemer liveth", the tune of which is one of the most wonderous and wonderful to mine ears.
--------------------
Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Rosa Winkel
Saint Anger round my neck
# 11424
|
Posted
I have been working my way through the Star Wars films, and one song, that played in the bar, "the cantina scene", where an alien band plays a jazz song (in the same scene Obi-Wan Kinobi cuts off some guy's arm). That got in my head last weekend, and I've infected my wife with it. I dare anyone to look up the song.
--------------------
The Disability and Jesus "Locked out for Lent" project
Posts: 3271 | From: Wrocław | Registered: May 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by St. Gwladys:
I've had a number of beautiful ecards with the awful "O Holy Night" as the accompanying music ...
I think that's what the "mute" button is for.
![[Projectile]](graemlins/puke2.gif)
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
|
Posted
I have found that the best way to remove an earworm is to start singing another equally irritating song. The Birdie Song is especially effective,or Tony Christie singing Is this the Way to Amarillo.
--------------------
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
Absolutely the worst earworm I ever had was after watching "Brief Encounter", which comes with Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2. In fact, that's the only piece of music played throughout the entire film.
It lasted me for at least two whole weeks. It was there as a wake-up tune, throughout the day and into the evening. I haven't been able to listen to the piece since and am wondering whether it might be better to watch the film with the sound off and subtitles on next time.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
|
Posted
OH NO!!! Reading about earworms has just brought "Karma Chameleon" to mind. AAAARRRGH! ![[brick wall]](graemlins/brick_wall.gif)
--------------------
"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
|
Posted
There must have been a time in the late 1980's when half the planet had "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles in their heads. The eighties were a weird time and that didn't help.
--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
|
Posted
This year's Lego Movie had one of the worst earworms going, "Everything is Awesome." The only way to get that one out of your head is Disney. "It's A Small World" is sovereign.
--------------------
Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
| IP: Logged
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by St. Gwladys:
OH NO!!! Reading about earworms has just brought "Karma Chameleon" to mind.
It could be worse - you could be having O holy night again. ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
If I'm honest, the best cure for a bad ear-worm is a good one - at this time of year I'd recommend the Praetorius Christmas Mass sung by the Gabrieli Consort.
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
Two short quotes from Wikipedia's article on earworms for you:
"Scientists at Western Washington University found that engaging the working memory in moderately difficult tasks (such as anagrams, Sudoku puzzles, or reading a novel) was an effective way of stopping earworms and of reducing their recurrence."
"An article by ZME Science identified the following as factors of a song being catchy: longer and detailed musical phrases; higher number of pitches in the chorus hook; male vocalists; and higher male voices with noticeable vocal effort. Using these factors, it was concluded that British rock band Queen's "We Are The Champions" is the catchiest song in history."
YMMV. I'm currently stuck with "So this is Christmas", thanks to in-store muzak earlier this week. Sudoku and novels have so far only knocked it out for the duration.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
|
Posted
I heard "Fum, Fum, Fum" on my car radio driving home a little while ago. It's now stuck in my head, and since I don't know the words (except "Fum, Fum, Fum") it's even more annoying than most earworms.
"La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, Fum, Fum, Fum" -- repeated over and over and over...
![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
|
Posted
My current earworm is the tenor line from the last page of Herbert Howells' A Spotless Rose: while the effect with the other parts singing too may be sublime, on its own it sounds pretty weird.
--------------------
Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
What a high-class earworm!
I've currently got Poulenc's Hodie Christus natus est, which we're singing at the carol service next Sunday; we had a quick rehearsal of it in the choir-stalls after Evensong, and discovered it was much easier to sing there than in the song-room where we rehearse.
That's just as well ...
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Fredegund
Shipmate
# 17952
|
Posted
With respect, Piglet, I wish you hadn't mentioned the Poulenc. It'll be following me all day now.
I have one that meets me at New St Station every evening - but not the morning. O fortuna from Carmina Burana. Imagine that at rush hour at this time of year. It stops one I hit platform 2/3
--------------------
Pax et bonum
Posts: 117 | From: Shakespeare's County | Registered: Jan 2014
| IP: Logged
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Fredegund:
... platform 2/3
Is that anywhere near Platform 9¾?
Of course the real question is, when you hear O fortuna, do you think of Old Spice aftershave, or of Rickards Red beer?
PS Sorry about the Poulenc ...
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
|
Posted
There is one sure cure for any earworm. But it comes at a terrible price.
(There's a ten-minute version. But don't. Just ... don't.)
--------------------
"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
|
Posted
Currently it's an instrumental version of Gaudete, played at the theatre last night, and I'm hanging on to it, thank you very much Adeodatus.
--------------------
Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
The Rogue
Shipmate
# 2275
|
Posted
My cycle ride home gave me DW Washburn by the Monkees. One of the worst bits (and this may be part of the definition or earworm) is that I don't know any of the words except DW Washburn.
--------------------
If everyone starts thinking outside the box does outside the box come back inside?
Posts: 2507 | From: Toton | Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Rogue:
When I'm Cleaning Windows.
I had that last week, too. Were you, too, listening to the Radio 3 Decameron stories podcast, which was introduced by When I'm Cleaning Windows in Italian, on mandolin?
[ 23. December 2014, 10:31: Message edited by: Albertus ]
--------------------
My beard is a testament to my masculinity and virility, and demonstrates that I am a real man. Trouble is, bits of quiche sometimes get caught in it.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
|
Posted
Try Perry Como singing Magic Moments...
I think that beats your Karma Kameleon ...
--------------------
Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Albertus:
quote:
Originally posted by The Rogue:
When I'm Cleaning Windows.
I had that last week, too. Were you, too, listening to the Radio 3 Decameron stories podcast, which was introduced by When I'm Cleaning Windows in Italian, on mandolin?
Me three. Been humming it off and on ever since, interspersed with snatches of carols and Bugsy Malone.
--------------------
'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Rosa Winkel
Saint Anger round my neck
# 11424
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
There must have been a time in the late 1980's when half the planet had "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles in their heads. The eighties were a weird time and that didn't help.
Unfortunately this is a standard song to sing for my client group (people aged 18-30 from across Europe) ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
--------------------
The Disability and Jesus "Locked out for Lent" project
Posts: 3271 | From: Wrocław | Registered: May 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by St. Gwladys:
I've had a number of beautiful ecards with the awful "O Holy Night" as the accompanying music, Earworm, earworm.
A recent performance of that has successfully erased all recorded variants from my memory.
--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
Went to get tacos. Salsa was playing on the sound system. Now I have this stuck in my head.
bilimamamiye'e... Bilimamiye'e...
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Try Perry Como singing Magic Moments...
I've had Magic Moments as a regular earworm for twenty odd years ever since a colleague, good Catholic upbringing and all, taught me new words with:
I'll never forget,
the smell of the sweat
from under your armpits
My father thought that was a tad course, even for me - he didn't know the other version that some of us had created, just slightly amending those words!
--------------------
I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
I blame in-store music. I've had a whole bunch of fragments of Christmas songs for days.
I was wondering what kind of earworms people had before music-on-demand was available, when the only music available was the occasional live music from a street performer or the piano piece you had just been practising - other than that, fragments of rhymes, poems, bits of speech, I suppose.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
Mark Twain worte a story about it...
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
That story's a bit scary - like the demon leaving that bloke and entering the Gadarene Swine.
I always thought that story was a bit hard on the piggies ...
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
It was. On the other hand, I always thought that story demonstrated the high intelligence of the pigs, who decided they wouldn't live another moment with such creatures aboard. ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Try Perry Como singing Magic Moments...
I think that beats your Karma Kameleon ...
But, but...
... the Perry Como earworm always has the wrong words.
"I'll never forget, the smell of the sweat
From under her armpits."
--------------------
Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Printer-friendly view
![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif)
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
