There’s a tune in my brain
Which will drive me insane
Cos I can’t seem to rein
in my thinking
And it’s solace I seek
Cos it’s been there all week
Like my head’s sprung a leak
and it’s sinking
It’s just musical fluff
Though it’s catchy enough,
And an ear-worm is tough
to dismember
But I’d love to take aim
Cos it isn’t a game
And it burns like a flame
or an ember
I’ve been thinking it through
And I know what I’ll do—
I’ll just share them with you
in my writing
And I hope you’re inclined
Not to think me unkind,
Cos I hope that you find
them exciting
So I tell you, my child,
Here’s a list I’ve compiled—
Though my thoughts have gone wild,
this will tame me
My relief is my goal—
If these songs hurt your soul
They’re not mine to control…
so don’t blame me!
More, after the jump!)
NPR has a new piece up, on earworms–those songs that get stuck in your brain and refuse to dislodge. I had this (click at your own risk) going through my head for over a week, until I replaced it with this (ditto; don’t ask).
Don’t read NPR’s comments unless you are prepared to be bombarded by dozens of potential earworms. If you do choose to do that, and you regret having done so, my earlier posting of this verse included three songs that had been stuck in my own skull, but which are really good songs, so if you need a *good* earworm, here ya go. So don’t blame me if you read the NPR comments–I warned you, and gave you an antidote!
“Punch, brothers, punch with care…”
Not everyone knows that replacing one ear-worm with another is a viable strategy; another is to infect as many people with your ear-worm as possible – not a cure but why should you have to suffer alone?
Cuttlefish (and all), the trick I learned years ago on how to survive earworms is: re-write the lyrics to something you can live with. Like I did when I turned It’s a Small World (after all) into It’s the Third World (after all). Oh yeah, makes those earworms FUN to have stuck in yer brain!
Norwegian Wood is the one that will drive ANY other out of my brain . . . so that’s the one that’s most often there. Fortunately I like it; a LOT.
Thanks for posting the first one (haven’t looked at the second).
It’s hilarious. Not a bad earworm to have, compared with some.
My worst earworm years ago was the awful Cinderella Rockefeller.
Much later, the even worse one which goes “C’mon Barbie let’s go party…”
So, now I’ve had my revenge….
Want earworms? Take “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. Please. All I had to do was read the post title and it inserted itself.
And (off topic, of course) I can scarcely wait until 10:00 or so tonight for the next Sailor Twain!
This poem…I got to “dismember” and my brain went CLICK and now I’m stuck with it. Damn you, Cuttlefish! ::shakes fist impotently::
Some earworms are just too good not to enjoy them.
http://www.fugly.com/flash/641/late_Night_Shopping.html
It’s only a problem if it’s a song you don’t like. ^_^