Help Please! Brainworms

[Marc Joan]

How long do they normally last? I've had one in my head for four days now! Four days!! It's there from when I wake up to when I fall asleep tearing at my own ears with my own gnawed fingernails! How do you get rid of the damn things?

 

[Barbara]

By brainworm, I'm assume you mean a song that's stuck in your head? (Excuse the quesion, but as you know, I'm not English. I suspect a brainworm is what we call an Ohrwurm, or earworm in German.)

Sing it. Sing it loud. And dance to it. If nothing else other people will join you and you all have something to talk about which might distract you.

Or listen to an even more anoying song.

Or listen to the Birdie Song. Try the national anthem. Or the Boehemian Rapsody to go with the movie.

Which one are you stuck with?

 

[Carol Rose]

Here's a replacement for you... *snicker*

 

[Nikky Lee]

Or listen to an even more anoying song.

Possibly the most earwormy song I've ever encountered.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I've long been fascinated by earworms, mystified by how fragments of a song beam in from the universe to slither through my brain. Sometimes, there's an obvious cause, such as a lyric being appropriate for a situation, but why guitar riffs should insert themselves into my thinking is less clear.

I live in a noisy location, so play music through earbuds to allow me to work, choosing from 400 albums saved on my hard drive. Some mornings, as I wake a song suggests itself to me to start the day, as if my subconscious has been sifting through a playlist without me knowing.

https://colony.litopia.com/threads/playlists.3223/#post-39417

Earworms have been extensively researched, with suggestions made that they're a form of hypnosis or even an auditory hallucination. If so, one pernicious earworm was that which encouraged a rejected woman to kill her ex-lover in the notorious Scarsdale Murder. She claimed the song Put The Blame On Mame stopped playing the moment she killed him!

PsyArt: An Online Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts

 

[Susan]

I have an earworm right now! It’s brutal. A few lyrics from a mysterious song came into my head first thing yesterday morning, minus the chorus, and still won’t go away:

Oh how you brought me down (down, down)
All you did was run around (round)
You’ll never know how much I loved yoo-ooo

Eventually I Googled them, and they turned out to be ... ‘Frankie’ by Sister Sledge! What on earth? Haven’t heard or thought of that song in at least a couple of decades. But I’m reading The Long Goodbye by Richard Chandler and there’s a character called Candy (which to my brain sounds like Frankie). It’s the only conceivable explanation.

What’s the cure?! Now, in addition to the above lyrics, I’ve got the chorus too.

 

[Leonora]

I tend to get them as a mantra, especially when I'm doing something physically absorbing, like throwing a pot which I do quite often. One line will stick. I also find the less words I know, the more it will stick. But my sin is singing them aloud to the despair of my family. Quite a good motive for murder.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

I'm not sure anyone of us are helping you @Marc Joan Soz. You got us triggered. And now you've reminded me of this one. Diabolical.

Wait for the snake.

If you can stand to.


Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Snake

 

[Amber]

How long do they normally last? I've had one in my head for four days now! Four days!! It's there from when I wake up to when I fall asleep tearing at my own ears with my own gnawed fingernails! How do you get rid of the damn things?

I don't think you get rid of them. It's probably best to put your affairs in order. You're about to become a zombie.

After your transition, try and remember .... be the best zombie you can be.

 

[Marc Joan]

By brainworm, I'm assume you mean a song that's stuck in your head? (Excuse the quesion, but as you know, I'm not English. I suspect a brainworm is what we call an Ohrwurm, or earworm in German.)

Sing it. Sing it loud. And dance to it. If nothing else other people will join you and you all have something to talk about which might distract you.

Or listen to an even more anoying song.

Or listen to the Birdie Song. Try the national anthem. Or the Boehemian Rapsody to go with the movie.

Which one are you stuck with?

Yes, ear-worm, sorry, I've heard them called both things. Which one? 'Little Bird', by Annie Lennox. Don't ask me why,

 

[Marc Joan]

Here's a replacement for you... *snicker*

Grrr.

Possibly the most earwormy song I've ever encountered.

Aaargh!

 

[Marc Joan]

I have an earworm right now! It’s brutal. A few lyrics from a mysterious song came into my head first thing yesterday morning, minus the chorus, and still won’t go away:

Oh how you brought me down (down, down)
All you did was run around (round)
You’ll never know how much I loved yoo-ooo

Eventually I Googled them, and they turned out to be ... ‘Frankie’ by Sister Sledge! What on earth? Haven’t heard or thought of that song in at least a couple of decades. But I’m reading The Long Goodbye by Richard Chandler and there’s a character called Candy (which to my brain sounds like Frankie). It’s the only conceivable explanation.

What’s the cure?! Now, in addition to the above lyrics, I’ve got the chorus too.

I may have come across a cure. Mr Google suggested humming the UK National Anthem. So I did. And it worked. Kind of. Now I have 'Send her victorious' wailing through my head. Sigh.

 

[Marc Joan]

I'm not sure anyone of us are helping you @Marc Joan Soz. You got us triggered. And now you've reminded me of this one. Diabolical.

Wait for the snake.

If you can stand to.


Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Snake

No!!!

 

[Marc Joan]

I don't think you get rid of them. It's probably best to put your affairs in order. You're about to become a zombie.

After your transition, try and remember .... be the best zombie you can be.

Thank you, Amber, very helpful and encouraging.

 

[Marc Joan]

one pernicious earworm was that which encouraged a rejected woman to kill her ex-lover in the notorious Scarsdale Murder. She claimed the song Put The Blame On Mame stopped playing the moment she killed him!

PsyArt: An Online Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts

Nowt so strange as folk. I'm not about to shoot anybody, but I did give the cat a hard stare.

 

[Andrew Okey]

My wife is a singer, and has the perfect, absolute cure for ear-worms: I have tried this, and IT WORKS.

When assailed by an ear-worm sing (at least in your head, perhaps preferably out loud if you can) the British** national anthem. This will smother the other piece of music but, as its one of the dullest tunes every written and the lyrics are trite nonsense, it will not, in turn, get stuck in your head. Really, this always works for me.

** And apologies to Scots and Welsh folk - I know that "God save the Queen" is actually really only the English anthem and you have your own preferred (and far better) tunes, but I went with the technical appellation.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

And Durham University supports Andrew's suggestion, plus a couple of other things to try

Mind you, they did a bit of a mean experiment on me when I was 4 , their psychology department, so are they to be trusted.

Music : How to get rid of an earworm - Durham University

 

[Leonora]

And Durham University supports Andrew's suggestion, plus a couple of other things to try

Mind you, they did a bit of a mean experiment on me when I was 4 , their psychology department, so are they to be trusted.

Music : How to get rid of an earworm - Durham University

???!!! Please elaborate.

 

[Rachel Caldecott]

I've long been fascinated by earworms, mystified by how fragments of a song beam in from the universe to slither through my brain. Sometimes, there's an obvious cause, such as a lyric being appropriate for a situation, but why guitar riffs should insert themselves into my thinking is less clear.

I live in a noisy location, so play music through earbuds to allow me to work, choosing from 400 albums saved on my hard drive. Some mornings, as I wake a song suggests itself to me to start the day, as if my subconscious has been sifting through a playlist without me knowing.

https://colony.litopia.com/threads/playlists.3223/#post-39417

Earworms have been extensively researched, with suggestions made that they're a form of hypnosis or even an auditory hallucination. If so, one pernicious earworm was that which encouraged a rejected woman to kill her ex-lover in the notorious Scarsdale Murder. She claimed the song Put The Blame On Mame stopped playing the moment she killed him!

PsyArt: An Online Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts

I had Put the Blame on Mame for a while some years ago, didn't kill anyone though. Now I've got Queen's Love of My Life running in my head since I saw the movie on Tuesday.

 

[Allan Hunter]

you're quite welcome

 

[Marc Joan]

And Durham University supports Andrew's suggestion, plus a couple of other things to try

Mind you, they did a bit of a mean experiment on me when I was 4 , their psychology department, so are they to be trusted.

Music : How to get rid of an earworm - Durham University

And what did they find about your inner workings, KTLN?

 

[Amber]

Thank you, Amber, very helpful and encouraging.

Right.
No reason to be sad,
Just because you're walking dead.

... it almost rhymes.

 

[Emily]

You are on a roll today, Amber!

 

[Tim James]

The one that really bugged me for a while was Kyle's "Can't get you out of my head."

 

[Katie-Ellen]

@Tim James It's that na na na, na-na-na-na-na bit that does it, I find

@Marc Joan...they found out nuffink common sense could not predicted, and my parents felt bad about it afterwards.

I was filmed, shut alone inside a lift and left there, with a life size mannequin sitting propped in one corner, head slumped, dressed like a man.

I was immediately uneasy. 1) small space 2) shut in alone 3) weird object They watched me staring, then frowning, then the lip started to wobble, the face creased and then tears and then sobbing. I wasn't sure whether or not it was a person. If it was a person, there was something terribly the matter with him. If it wasn't, then what was it, and why was it there, and what if it suddenly started moving? Homunculus syndrome. Huge, sinister dolly. Agh....primal terror!

 

[Marc Joan]

Very interesting. The dummy / doll thing is one of the key ways of triggering feelings of horror, according to Freud
The Uncanny - Sigmund Freud - CommaPress
Alternatively, perhaps you're just a bit of a nutter.
But yes, it does seem a bit pointless.

 

[Leonora]

I spent my oldest son's childhood avoiding all life-sized puppets, after inviting a massive Postman Pat (our neighbour) to his third birthday party.

 

[Leonora]

But what a horrible experiment. I wonder if they'd do that today? Doubt it.

 

[Emily]

@Katie-Ellen Hazeldine , what an horrific thing to do to a four year old My four year old would be traumatized. Like @Leonora says, I doubt, and sincerely hope, they wouldn't do anything like that today. That gives me the willies, even thinking about it. Are you still nervous of lifts? I would be!!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Nutter. @Marc Joan? Moi? I should like to gather nuts in May, she cackled, stirring chestnuts into the cauldron stew. And add a splash of marsala...in it goes...maybe two splashes...

Where be that poppet I made?

Nah @Rainbird I'm OK with lifts....but I think many if not most children would have reacted that way, if not had outright hysterics.

@Leonora I don't imagine they would. The people were friends of my parents, but I never discovered the wider study of which I expect this was part.