Friday Five: Music and Earworms
Mar. 29th, 2026 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereSeen via teratornis and it seemed like a fun post to make.
1. What is a common ear worm that you get?
Mostly this changes through the years. A lot of the torments of Disney music faded by the time I was in my twenties and the barren stretches of classic rock/alternative radio did the same once I got YouTube music and could tailor what I heard. Without frequent involuntary repetition, many of the songs I found deeply annoying have lost their purchase on my memory bank (or, like Happy Together, have ceased to bother me when they resurface).
However, I have never escaped Paula Abdul. If I hear anything tangentially similar to her musical style, or using phrases such as "love me forever" or "hit and run" or "straight up," I will get blasted by this song I have not actually heard in over five years. I no longer have the slightest concept of how the verses go, but that chorus seems set to chase me with its demands to know where our relationship stands like a crazed stalker until I am 80. Caught in a hit and run? I wish.
This is not to say that all earworms are bad or detrimental to the song, and indeed, one thing I've realized on being prompted by this topic is that one person suffering such repetition can become another's treasured memory if singing is involved. Some of the songs my dad would incessantly sing while making dinner included very early Bowie (Love You Til Tuesday), Al Dexter's Pistol Packin' Mama and The Patty Duke Theme. David would sometimes sing the chorus of Waylon Jennings' Luckenbach, Texas or the central verse of Janis Joplin's Mercedes Benz while driving. Whether or not these wore out their welcomes with their singers, the memories attached definitely make me smile.
2. How long do they last?
The worst hit I actually took was fairly short in duration, but such a tiny soundbite it was maddening, as I got the tail end of Patti Smith's Dancing Barefoot ("oh god I fell for you") caught on an endless loop while I was trying to fall asleep, and it was still playing the instant I woke up again. It remained stuck for about a week, and I ended up anxiously trying not to think about it while falling asleep, lest it regain purchase. The song never did that to me again, so I can freely listen to it now, but it instigated a long avoidance.
3. What do you do to get rid of them?
Sometimes I'll play the actual song (if I like it). Mostly I just keep a steady input of music from day to day, so it's rare for a song to get stuck for any length of time. I have lots of YT playlists for work, and driving, in various different genres. I also listen to a lot of CDs. The easiest way to keep a given song from overstaying its welcome is to keep up a frequent shuffle so my brain can latch on to other material, and that's my modus operandi. I will make a beeline for familiar, catchy songs and go from there.
4. What is the worst ear worm you've ever had?
Aside from Paula Abdul, the danger zone is a capella material, especially when it features a pernicious, circular melody that never actually resolves. I heard Alison Krauss' lovely Down to the River to Pray, was impressed, added it to my acoustic playlist, and found it SO tormenting that I only actually heard it twice before I was ready to kill it with fire. It is no longer on my acoustic playlist, and just thinking about it makes it start looping its unresolved melody through my brain. I will never listen to it again, probably.
5. Do you get some guilty pleasure in passing the ear worm along?
I don't even remember what song it was that I casually mentioned I had stuck in my head. About an hour later, David said it was now stuck in his head, and I was profusely apologetic. We did eventually settle upon a mutually agreed overly-catchy song that we would deliberately use to defeat any of the bothersome interlopers either of us suffered, that being: Jilly's on Smack (live at Bonnaroo) by Primus. Worked like a charm. One time I even heard him get up in the middle of the night, quietly singing it to himself. That's a song with enough interesting components that it never becomes annoying and it is still my go-to when something is outstaying its welcome.
teratornis and it seemed like a fun post to make. 1. What is a common ear worm that you get?
Mostly this changes through the years. A lot of the torments of Disney music faded by the time I was in my twenties and the barren stretches of classic rock/alternative radio did the same once I got YouTube music and could tailor what I heard. Without frequent involuntary repetition, many of the songs I found deeply annoying have lost their purchase on my memory bank (or, like Happy Together, have ceased to bother me when they resurface).
However, I have never escaped Paula Abdul. If I hear anything tangentially similar to her musical style, or using phrases such as "love me forever" or "hit and run" or "straight up," I will get blasted by this song I have not actually heard in over five years. I no longer have the slightest concept of how the verses go, but that chorus seems set to chase me with its demands to know where our relationship stands like a crazed stalker until I am 80. Caught in a hit and run? I wish.
This is not to say that all earworms are bad or detrimental to the song, and indeed, one thing I've realized on being prompted by this topic is that one person suffering such repetition can become another's treasured memory if singing is involved. Some of the songs my dad would incessantly sing while making dinner included very early Bowie (Love You Til Tuesday), Al Dexter's Pistol Packin' Mama and The Patty Duke Theme. David would sometimes sing the chorus of Waylon Jennings' Luckenbach, Texas or the central verse of Janis Joplin's Mercedes Benz while driving. Whether or not these wore out their welcomes with their singers, the memories attached definitely make me smile.
2. How long do they last?
The worst hit I actually took was fairly short in duration, but such a tiny soundbite it was maddening, as I got the tail end of Patti Smith's Dancing Barefoot ("oh god I fell for you") caught on an endless loop while I was trying to fall asleep, and it was still playing the instant I woke up again. It remained stuck for about a week, and I ended up anxiously trying not to think about it while falling asleep, lest it regain purchase. The song never did that to me again, so I can freely listen to it now, but it instigated a long avoidance.
3. What do you do to get rid of them?
Sometimes I'll play the actual song (if I like it). Mostly I just keep a steady input of music from day to day, so it's rare for a song to get stuck for any length of time. I have lots of YT playlists for work, and driving, in various different genres. I also listen to a lot of CDs. The easiest way to keep a given song from overstaying its welcome is to keep up a frequent shuffle so my brain can latch on to other material, and that's my modus operandi. I will make a beeline for familiar, catchy songs and go from there.
4. What is the worst ear worm you've ever had?
Aside from Paula Abdul, the danger zone is a capella material, especially when it features a pernicious, circular melody that never actually resolves. I heard Alison Krauss' lovely Down to the River to Pray, was impressed, added it to my acoustic playlist, and found it SO tormenting that I only actually heard it twice before I was ready to kill it with fire. It is no longer on my acoustic playlist, and just thinking about it makes it start looping its unresolved melody through my brain. I will never listen to it again, probably.
5. Do you get some guilty pleasure in passing the ear worm along?
I don't even remember what song it was that I casually mentioned I had stuck in my head. About an hour later, David said it was now stuck in his head, and I was profusely apologetic. We did eventually settle upon a mutually agreed overly-catchy song that we would deliberately use to defeat any of the bothersome interlopers either of us suffered, that being: Jilly's on Smack (live at Bonnaroo) by Primus. Worked like a charm. One time I even heard him get up in the middle of the night, quietly singing it to himself. That's a song with enough interesting components that it never becomes annoying and it is still my go-to when something is outstaying its welcome.
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Date: 2026-03-30 03:25 am (UTC)That's okay, it's a beautiful song. When I get sick of it I'll go find a sea shanty to listen to. :P
It occurs to me you're right about the singing thing. I don't remember much of that from my parents or my childhood (which is a shame, my dad could sing), but sometimes my coworkers will get songs stuck in their head and start singing them, and that's always fun. Especially if it gets passed on to other coworkers, and then everyone's singing.
Also hell yeah Primus. 🤘