Here is a very interesting article we came across that explains some of the scientific evidence for why we often hear a tune in our heads over and over... found this very interesing:
BBC NEWS | Health | How tunes get stuck in your head: "A US team from Dartmouth College, reported in the journal Nature, played volunteers tunes with snippets cut out.
They scanned for brain activity and found it centred in the auditory cortex - which handles information from ears.
When familiar tunes played, the cortex activity continued during the blanks - and the volunteers indeed said they still mentally 'heard' the tunes." More...
This is worth the read if you are interested in Music or Biology... or just wondered about how is it that when you hear a song you haven't heard for years it can sort of "transport" you back in time and you can remember people, places and things and even feelings. Facinating stuff. — zzb
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Article comments
1 - mpho
Interesting! It's sometimes such an unwelcome phenomenon. The worst for me was during my experimentation phase. I dropped some illicit drug and ended up having the soundtrack from Rumblefish stuck in my head for a week. It's a great soundtrack, but not something you wanna hear 24-7 with no way to "shut it off." Aside from that folly of youth, there are songs that I only have to hear once to have them stuck in my head for a couple days. One is "Afternoon Delight," which is so sugary sweet that it's sickening. Another is that Paul McCartney xmas song, which I really can't stand. I literally have to cover my ears and run off for fear of triggering that one. And the third, and worst of all, is "Rockin' Robin." I'm really not sure why, but it never fails with any of those three. The last of my two cents is that I've also experienced it when once in a great, great while I get a new disc that I love so much that I listen to it daily for weeks. At least that makes sense though. Have you noticed any of your own patterns?
2 - dg
You ever hear that "Come on and marry me Bill" song? I'll run screaming from that one. I refuse to use clock radios anymore for precisely this reason. I don't know what it is about waking up to some rancid, screeching tune, that makes it stick in your head, but nothing ruins a day faster.
I worked in radio in college, and I distinctly remember the Program Manager once saying that any tune you hear on radio; there's someone out there that that's their favorite song.
Scary stuff if you think about it.
3 - Eric Olsen
that's "Wedding Bell Blues" by the 5th Dimension, by the way
4 - Steve S
I haven't heard the song in probably 20+ years, but every now and then I think:
Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads.
Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up, yum.
5 - BRICKLAYER
I haven't been able to get "F*$! her Gently" by Tenacious D out of my head for a week. Before that it was the Blues Clues theme song.
Also, alot of times the first song I hear on the alarm clock when I wake up sticks with me. Today it was "Penny on the floor" by the Clarks. I had to grab the cd and play it.
6 - Eric Berlin
"F*$! her Gently" is amazingly catchy and, if I may say, amazingly amazing.
7 - Vern Halen
This is going to sound real stupid, but somewhere I read about a way to get a song unstuck from your head - and it really works!
The solution, as strange as it sounds, is to hum or sing a couple of verses from Gilligan's Island. Don't ask me why - all I know is that everybody who I know that's tried it says it works, including myself. Go figure.
8 - Eric Berlin
Vern -- it's not stupid if it works. Then it would be strange but useful.
I'll try it, by golly!
9 - Eric Olsen
it apparently cleanses the palate, like sorbet
10 - Eric Berlin
I wonder how many times many of us, of a certain age, have heard that damned theme song. As for me, it was endless summer repeats as a kid.
By the way: there's a pretty incredible ska-punk cover of the Gilligan's theme by, I believe, Less Than Jake.
11 - Eric Olsen
here's more on earworms
12 - Eric Berlin
Eric -- That was just about the cruelist, most vile thing someone could do via electronic communication, posting that link...
Best one-liner ever, perhaps: Mike Myers on "Who Let the Dogs Out":
"Who let the dogs out? Who let the dogs back in?"
It's in the delivery, trust me.
13 - Eric Olsen
I am but a conduit