h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I should be so lucky to get 'Across the Universe' as an ear worm. But sadly this never seems to happen. Just like now, am listening to Tom Waits 'Cold cold ground'. I could happily listen to that all day long.

Perhaps there is some sort of anti-ear worm mediation one can do (other than the Girl from Ipanema - though I do love that tune it is starting to wear thing over these past few days . . .) Like, get a mental soundtrack going - somehow - that one can click into whenever necessary. Kind of a mental jukebox. Maybe?

az

oops. 'wear thin' not 'wear thing'. Well obviously. But just in case . . .

My soundtrack gets triggered by things that happen in my life rather than the actual music I'm listening to. Sometimes I try to keep something in my head as an ear worm if I've just heard it and think it's rather splendid. Today I sat down and pondered, at which point the instrumental introduction to "I am the Walrus" popped into my head as its a very pondersome piece of music - as is Barbers Adagio for Strings. Then after my ponder it was "You were Right" by badly drawn boy... which reflected my thoughts at the time... its all very bizarre!!

It would seem that most ear worms are pop songs with 'hooks', which is also what makes them so annoying and hard to get rid of. Hence one is more likely to get M-M-M-My Sharona stuck in one's head than something more complex and interesting, like a Bach piano concierto.

Not sure about ear worms reflecting one's thoughts. In fact, I hope this isn't the case, considering the ear worm crap that I am often afflicted with . . .

az

I find songs that have elements that sound like something from everyday life are good at being ear worms - Justin Timberlake's "cry me a river" is often triggered by listening to my car's windscreen wipers because of its rhythm - and that song ANNOYS me! For some reason, trying to scrub it out of my mind by replacing it with Elgar's Cello Concerto just doesnt work!!!