Evil, Insidious Earworm

And to rescue me from its clutches, Altan just came on Pandora with their superb rendition of The Ookpik Waltz.

First Task of the Day: Banish the Earworm!

In this case, every Irishman's favorite, Star of County Down.

*turns on Pandora*

Ah. Adew, Sweet Amarillis, a madrigal by John Wilbye.

That's better.

You Think YOUR Life Is Hell?

Imagine having the song "How Much Is That Doggy In the Window?" in your head as an earworm for THREE YEARS.

Damn, after just a month I'd be like this:

Tonight's Entertainment

Go here.

h/t Breitbart.


Update: Ling says STOP!

Mysterious Earworm

Mysterious as in "How does a particular earworm attach itself to our brain? Most often, I think, it's because you hear it somewhere; a radio, on the television, or even someone singing/humming it.

Why, then, when I don't watch TV or listen to soft rock on the radio, would I be plagued by Rick Springfield's Jessie's Girl upon awakening at 2:00 a.m. with a full bladder? More particularly since I've never been a Rick Springfield fan, and even in high school I'd see a copy of Working Class Dog in the record stores and think That's sooo stooopid! (It should be noted that I'd walk out of the store with Hank Williams Jr. cassettes, so I can't claim any profound musical taste, myself).

Wikipedia has an entry for earworms, believe it or not. Looks like some famous people have written about them.

Incidentally, to get rid of the Jessie's Girl earworm, I'm currently earworming Man In the Rain by Mike Oldfield.

Today's Earworm...

is from that genius multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield:



This one sticks in my head in a good way, I like it there. It's a comfortable earworm. I imagine hiking somewhere with a staff in my hand, listening to it.

I'd guess he probably played everything in this cut except the uillean pipes, he probably got Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains to do that for him.

Funny factoid: when my son was an infant, I'd often play Oldfield's LP's Ommadawn and Five Miles Out on the stereo, and my son would screw his face up and start screaming his head off when uillean pipe solos by Moloney would play. Weird.

Today's Earworm...

...is from Ennio Morricone:



(I used it in a blog comment and liked it too much to not post it on my own blog, just because it's such a good earworm. Not all earworms are evil.)

Update: I can whistle the theme on the low octave, but not the high octave. How about the rest of you? Give it a try and let me know how you do.

Random Thought

I don't mind earworms so much, but why does it have to be the theme song to The Beverly Hillbillies?

If You're Going To Be Plagued By An Earworm...

...it might as well be a good one. Here's Connie Dover doing La Fontaine.