The Cure For My Disease

I suffer from what I thought was an incurable disease. Unfortunately it hits me at the most random of times, especially when I am needing it the least to happen. Many names for it include, "cognitive itch," "musical imagery repetition," "involuntary musical imagery," and "stuck song syndrome."

Yep, I suffer from earworms.

Earworms, according to Wikipedia are, "a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing." The word earworm is a calque the German word, "Ohrwurm." According to research by James Kellaris, 98% of individuals experience earworms. Women and men experience the phenomenon equally often, but earworms tend to last longer for women and irritate them more (yeah no DUH!). Kellaris also says women, musicians and people who are neurotic, tired or stressed are most prone to earworm attacks (crap I'm 5 out of 5). In This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession written by Daniel Levitin, he states that research has shown musicians and people with OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) are more likely to suffer from earworm attacks (which explains volumes for me).

Most of the time it really isn't such a big deal. In fact, it has helped on many occasions to help past the time while doing mindless occupational routine oppression. Unfortunately my earworms have gone outside of their excepted bubble and showed up when I need my mind the most.

A perfect example is when I need to remember something the most, like the name of someone important during a conversation or that last item on the grocery list that I need in order to make dinner tonight.  Just as I am working my brain the most... earworm.

♫ ♪ "Rocket number nine take off to the planet... To the planet... VENUS..." ♫ ♪

I have been plagued by songs, sometimes for days on end. My musical tastes and collection is so eclectic and vast, that it never is within the same musical genre when it happens. They aren't even relevant to whatever I am thinking or working on. Last year I was plagued by Mumford & Son's "I Will Wait" every time I had to get something done on my parents' estate. Just recently that song has finally died down to a low hum of earworms thankfully.

The worse of all is when earworms collide (♫ ♪ "Now this is what it's like when world's collide... Now this is what it's like..." ♫ ♪) and I start to unintentionally create smashups.

A smashup (again, thank you Wikipedia) is, "a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another."

Oh the songs I create when this has happens! If only I had the computer programs to recreate them so you can join in on the madness! Muahahahah!!!! ....*ahem*.... Honestly, I just haven't done the research to see what programs are out there to use as of yet. That's a project for another day. :P

Many famous people have had earworms. This isn't a new thing made in the 80's (just the term "earworm" has). In fact, Edgar Allan Poe once wrote in "The Imp of the Perverse":

It is quite a common thing to be thus annoyed with the ringing in our ears, or rather in our memories, of the burthen of some ordinary song, or some unimpressive snatches from an opera. Nor will we be the less tormented if the song in itself be good, or the opera air meritorious.

So I decided to do a little more research on this crazy thing that I deal with on a day to day basis.  Here is a list of suggestions on how to get the songs out of your head:

1. Find another song to sing or play a different melody all together.
   (Which almost always results in the old song disappearing and the new song getting stuck in it's place. Oh yeah, that's brilliant! ...NOT!)


2. Listen to the song all the way through (this works for some people).
   (Oh that's awesome. Let's just put the whole song in my head instead of a line or two!)


3. Turn on the radio or a CD to get your brain tuned in to another song.
   (Again, doesn't that count as doing what the #1 suggestion said?)


4. Share the song with a friend.
   (Although quite humorous to share in your maniacal insanity, the results could make it worse because they could bring that earworm back to you at a later date. Trust me, my daughter does it to me all the time after I share her mine.)


5. Picture the earworm as a real creature crawling out of your head, and imagine stomping on it.
   (Do not try this if you have a phobia of bugs.)

All of these suggestions didn't work for me, so I dug deeper. What I found out is this:

"Scientists at Western Washington University found that engaging the working memory in moderately difficult tasks (such as anagrams, Sudoku puzzles, or reading a novel) was an effective way of stopping earworms and of reducing their recurrence."

Seriously? Just do a simple search-a-word puzzle? That's all?

Oh well shit... :/