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Song Stuck in Your Head? You're Not Alone
Reuters ^ | Monday, Feb 24, 2003 | Alison McCook

Posted on 02/24/2003 8:26:14 PM PST by InShanghai

 
Song Stuck in Your Head? You're Not Alone
By Alison McCook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The vast majority of people say they have been mentally tortured at one point in their lives by a song that keeps repeating itself over and over in their heads.

And new research shows that people most frequently plagued by this phenomenon are those with slightly neurotic tendencies , and people who enjoy and listen to music often.

These mental broken records are also more likely to play the first or last song we hear in different situations, such as the first song that comes on in the morning alarm, or the last song playing before we turn off the car, study findings show.

Songs that topped the list as being most likely to stick around in someone's head included the Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out?" and the Chili's restaurant jingle about Baby Back Ribs.

But the number one song rated most likely to cause this phenomenon, referred to as an "earworm" in Germany, is "other"--indicating that many different songs can become stuck in our heads.

"Just about anything can get stuck in people's heads," study author Dr. James Kellaris of the University of Cincinnati told Reuters Health.

"We each have our personal demonic tunes that get stuck in our heads, I guess," he added.

Kellaris presented results from his current study on Saturday at the Society for Consumer Psychology Winter Conference in New Orleans.

Kellaris's previous research into the phenomenon of earworms revealed that "sticky" songs are those that are relatively simple, repetitive, and contain an element that surprises the listener. This incongruous element can be an interrupted pattern, or something that violates expectations of what comes next.

During the current study, Kellaris distributed surveys to 559 people aged 18 to 49 asking them about their personalities, how often tunes got stuck in their heads, how long the episodes lasted, and when the phenomenon was most likely to happen.

Ninety-eight percent of respondents said they had experienced stuck songs. Most said the episodes occurred "frequently," and lasted an average of a few hours.

Songs with lyrics were most often the culprits, a trend that Kellaris said is not surprising. Often what gets sticky is not just a tune, but also lyrics, a trend he calls "stupid lyrics syndrome." Combining a tune and lyrics ups the chance of song snippets staying with the listener for hours, he said.

Episodes of earworms also tend to strike people with neurotic tendencies more often. These people are not seriously neurotic, Kellaris said, but may simply be more prone to worrying and anxiety, and may have neurotic habits like biting pencils or tapping fingernails.

Women were more likely than men to report feeling annoyed, frustrated, or irritated about having songs stuck in their heads--a trend Kellaris said he is hard pressed to explain.

In terms of how to protect yourself from earworms, Kellaris recommended that people not worry about a stuck song as soon as it appears, and perhaps avoid listening to music for a spell if it becomes too sticky.

Strategies people report using to rid themselves of stuck tunes involved trying to listen to something else, distracting themselves with another activity, and trying to erase the repetition of one song snippet by singing the song all the way through.

"If they can't remember the lyrics, sometimes it helps for them to sing through the entire song, and then it will go away," Kellaris said.

Kellaris said he has also heard a "folkloric" recommendation of chewing on cinnamon sticks to rid the brain of a sticky song.

"Some people swear that will unstick a stuck tune," he said.



TOPICS: Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: greatthreads; lyricalneurosis; music; songs
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To: BubbaBasher
Pink tutu and mouse ears optional...
561 posted on 02/25/2003 12:51:31 PM PST by Interesting Times
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To: Interesting Times
BINGO!!!!
562 posted on 02/25/2003 12:59:28 PM PST by BubbaBasher
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To: CounterCounterCulture
OK, for those waiting for the answer, it is posted below in the WHITE FONT OF DEATH (highlight answer to view)

> CAR WASH - Rose Royce

And the other one...

is...

> WE WILL ROCK YOU - Queen

563 posted on 02/25/2003 1:04:44 PM PST by CounterCounterCulture
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To: CounterCounterCulture
Forgiven in the name of this thread, the greatest of all possible threads. The Sweet, who at least had the good taste to never put together a Greatest Hits album. Of course continuing in the Clintonian vein there was Wet Willie "Keep On Smilin." And you're hangin' out -- in the local bar -- and you're wonderin' -- who the hell you are.
564 posted on 02/25/2003 1:20:01 PM PST by speedy
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To: bootless
Yes, "Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward, from near the end of the true disco era. Not to be confused with Andrea True of "More More More" infamy. I can almost see those polyesters springing back to life.
565 posted on 02/25/2003 1:23:45 PM PST by speedy
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To: Charles Henrickson
Well I'm a wild bull rider and I love my rodeo ...

If that cat could talk, what tales he'd tell
about Della and the dealer and the dog as well
but the cat was cool, and he never said a mumblin' word

Well I know there's a lot of big preachers
That know a lot more than I do
But it could be that the good Lord
Likes a little pickin' too ...
566 posted on 02/25/2003 2:10:39 PM PST by Tax-chick ("I'm from Oklahoma, the center of the universe!")
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To: speedy
And then she said she got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge...
567 posted on 02/25/2003 2:31:42 PM PST by Interesting Times
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To: Interesting Times
OK, OK ... I bow before you; I am not worthy.
Tallahatchee Bridge by Bobbie Gentry was indisputably the all-time worst song ever, even worse than Honey, Watching Scotty Grow, Snoopy and the Red Baron, or anything by Bread. Even worse than I Started a Joke (Beegees).
568 posted on 02/25/2003 2:48:54 PM PST by Marauder
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To: Marauder
Not sure this exactly qualifies as music, but does anybody remember the spoken version of 'Desiderata'?

I think it made it into the top 10 for an hour or two.

569 posted on 02/25/2003 2:56:20 PM PST by Interesting Times
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To: Jorge
....he's got the whole world in his hands!!!
570 posted on 02/25/2003 3:00:31 PM PST by AAABEST
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To: Jorge
Oh danny boyyyyy ...the pipes, the pipes are calling....

From glen to glen....

571 posted on 02/25/2003 3:02:14 PM PST by AAABEST
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To: Jorge
Juuusssst, a closer walk with you....
572 posted on 02/25/2003 3:03:44 PM PST by AAABEST
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To: Charles Henrickson
I'm pretty sure it's Seals and Croft.
573 posted on 02/25/2003 3:05:00 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (There be no shelter here; the front line is everywhere!)
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To: jejones
Danke Schoen.

(Wayne Newton)

574 posted on 02/25/2003 3:06:11 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (There be no shelter here; the front line is everywhere!)
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To: AAABEST
Juuusssst, a closer walk with you....

EEE-GADS you've even got the cadence down...!
This is torture.

That ad started running in my head all over again!
Please don't post anymore.

575 posted on 02/25/2003 3:13:05 PM PST by Jorge
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To: InShanghai
I don't think anyone on this thread has mentioned a special kind of torment that occurs when you have a three year old and the songs from the shows they watch won't go away. How about having "duh duh duh duh duh Dora,duh duh duh duh duh Dora" running in your head all day? Arrghh! Or how about the truly evil "I love you, you love me"? And the occasional Spongebob Squarepants, not as awful as the other ones, but still sticks to the brain.
576 posted on 02/25/2003 4:32:08 PM PST by Brett66
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To: speedy
I vaguely remember "The King of Nothing," but really liked "Hummingbird," especially when the FM stations, which back then actually had personnel who cared about music, would go ahead and play the full version with the intro, which was harmonically neat even at the time, and would be like Mozart compared with the output of today's two chord/song (if you're lucky) wonders. "O hummingbird, mankind has waited for you to come flying along..."
577 posted on 02/25/2003 4:50:52 PM PST by jejones
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To: speedy
Two totally different disco eras. Andrea True was from the synth/strings/thumpa-thumpa stuff. Anita Ward came along when the music got (only slightly) more complex. I was there, in the clubs. Oh Lawdy!
578 posted on 02/25/2003 4:51:19 PM PST by bootless (Never Forget)
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To: Jorge
LOL!

That commercial will be our eternity if we're sent to hell.

Ever notice that the first time she sings "One Day at a Time" it goes "I'm only human, I'm just a woman...", then later in the live version (when she's older) it goes "I'm only human, I am a woman...

I wonder why she changed it. Probably just to screw with us, as if implanting these horrid songs in our heads wasn't bad enough.

579 posted on 02/25/2003 4:54:08 PM PST by AAABEST
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To: Charles Henrickson
Now, I promise, I'm breaking away and getting to work.

You wouldn't happen to work somewhere east of ginger trees, would you? [ducks and runs]

580 posted on 02/25/2003 4:54:29 PM PST by jejones
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