# What ear worm is going through your head right now?



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

A question I ask periodically.

For the last week it's been the theme song to "Cheers." I don't know why. I've tried to over-write it with heretofore proven antidotes, like the Brahms Fourth and the Eroica, but to no avail.

Everybody here know my name?


----------



## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Oh, every day it’s a new one depending on what I listened to the previous day. This morning it’s Variation 13 from the Goldbergs. Though yesterday I strangely had the Adagio from Beethoven 6 in my head even though I haven’t heard it lately.


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

As a break from longer more weighty pieces, I've been working on the A minor Prelude from Scriabin's Op 11 (#2) for a couple of days. Yesterday I had a fever crisis (not Covid related), and as I shivered beneath the covers and drifted in and out of consciousness, that Scriabin prelude and my own internal improvisations on its materials were an infernal torment for hours. I mean it was almost physically painful to hear. I'm wondering whether I'll ever want to play it again.


----------



## julide (Jul 24, 2020)

was bluthen muß from elektra wont leave my head


----------



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

The 2nd movement of Ravel's string quartet (especially the beginning). I wa watching a program on TV the other night and it was being used in the background. I love that movement but it's been stuck in my head all day now


----------



## BenG (Aug 28, 2018)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Oh, every day it's a new one depending on what I listened to the previous day. This morning it's Variation 13 from the Goldbergs


That's weird, thats the exact same one I have a few days ago.


----------



## BenG (Aug 28, 2018)

In fact, the goldberg variations is probably my most common earworm


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I usually have something by Brahms stuck in my head. He had a talent for writing little phrases that burrow in my head. The past couple days, it's the beginning of the 4th symphony.


----------



## Holden4th (Jul 14, 2017)

Good to know that I'm not the only one who has music running constantly in my head. My ear worms vary during the day and while they can be something I heard recently, at times a tune I haven't heard for ages just pops up.


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

This is a movie theme from the South Korean movie Tae Guk Gi about 2 brothers split during the Korean War, one fighting for the North, the other for the South. The theme is as beautiful as anything written by American composers such as Hans Zimmer. Anyway it's been going around and around in my head for days.


----------



## Alinde (Feb 8, 2020)

"Lo, here the gentle lark" because I came across Miss Piggy's shot at it today:


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

I randomly hum this to myself when I'm bored:

*[ 9:48 ]*


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

*[ 4:31 ]*: "magna opera domini exquisita in omnes voluntates ejus"


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I am not reading any posts in this thread, lest someone's ear worm should affect me. I don't need ear worms and thanks to Covid and not going into stores, I don't get ear worms any more.


----------



## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

EdwardBast said:


> As a break from longer more weighty pieces, I've been working on the A minor Prelude from Scriabin's Op 11 (#2) for a couple of days. Yesterday I had a fever crisis (not Covid related), and as I shivered beneath the covers and drifted in and out of consciousness, that Scriabin prelude and my own internal improvisations on its materials were an infernal torment for hours. I mean it was almost physically painful to hear. I'm wondering whether I'll ever want to play it again.


A composer's curse Edward. When I was working against deadlines, I often could not get to sleep after a 14 hour shift because the piece I was working on would not leave me alone. These days it's pretty much the same, a problematic moment or a decision on how to move forward will replay mentally over and over and is hard to switch off.


----------



## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

"Kellerman's Anthem" from Dirty Dancing.

Driving me insane!


----------



## mrdoc (Jan 3, 2020)

*Both of these are in my head and I don't mind.*






*Try Tiptoe through the Tulips, *


----------



## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

mrdoc said:


> *Both of these are in my head and I don't mind.*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


...damn you mrdoc.. I only had to look at your post and that blasted tune has infected me.....aaaarrrgghhh


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

mikeh375 said:


> A composer's curse Edward. When I was working against deadlines, I often could not get to sleep after a 14 hour shift because the piece I was working on would not leave me alone. These days it's pretty much the same, *a problematic moment or a decision on how to move forward will replay mentally over and over and is hard to switch off*.


Do you ever find solutions, or hints at them, while sleeping?

One thing about the Scriabin prelude is that making it "work" requires constant push and pull with the tempo. That tempo fluctuation in my head made me queasy. And the ubiquitous tritones! Too much of one harmonic color to be tolerable for long. Crazy-making when endured for hours.


----------



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

EdwardBast said:


> ...And the ubiquitous tritones! Too much of one harmonic color to be tolerable for long. Crazy-making when endured for hours.


Those tritones are good for you, Edward!


----------



## Elvis (Aug 3, 2020)

In three more weeks it will be a grand total of six years in which this tune has been playing non-stop in my head -


----------



## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Barber of Seville overture, by that ear-worm king, Rossini.


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Elvis said:


> In three more weeks it will be a grand total of six years in which this tune has been playing non-stop in my head -


And you're still with us?!! What heroic fortitude, what strength of character in the face of overwhelming adversity!



millionrainbows said:


> Those tritones are good for you, Edward!


Missed the point as usual. It's not the interval, it's the monochrome palette.


----------



## Guest (Sep 3, 2020)

The opening to Vaughan Williams 5th. The rest of it doesn't seem to want to stick at the moment.


----------



## Elvis (Aug 3, 2020)

There are two commercials running simultaneously which feature Mozart's "Queen of the Night" aria - Volvo and Amazon Alexa - which alternates with Charles Trenet's "Boum" for earworm candidates.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

EdwardBast said:


> One thing about the Scriabin prelude is that making it "work" requires constant push and pull with the tempo. That tempo fluctuation in my head made me queasy.


It's also weird the composer himself marked the piece " moderato" and played it at that tempo, but everyone else plays it at lento


----------



## mrdoc (Jan 3, 2020)

mikeh375 said:


> ...damn you mrdoc.. I only had to look at your post and that blasted tune has infected me.....aaaarrrgghhh


I know what you mean they stick because they are very simple melodies, they just don't make em like that today.


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

hammeredklavier said:


> It's also weird the composer himself marked the piece " moderato" and played it at that tempo, but everyone else plays it at lento


You thinking of a different piece maybe? This ones marked Allegretto. If one feels it in one (beat to the measure), then it's more like Lento and Largo.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

EdwardBast said:


> You thinking of a different piece maybe? This ones marked Allegretto. If one feels it in one (beat to the measure), then it's more like Lento and Largo.


sorry, I actually meant: 'It's also weird the composer himself marked the piece "allegretto" and played it at that tempo, but everyone else plays it at moderato'


----------



## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

Several from Handel's oratorios. A lot of the melodies in them seem almost uninspired at first, catchy because they're too simple maybe. Then I realize I've passed an hour at work just whispering "BUT as for his PEOple!" to myself a hundred times, and not because it isnt fun.






Another prominent one has been this 




The previous chorus 'He sent a thick darkness' leading into 'He smote all the firstborn of Egypt' is one of the most powerful transitions I have encountered. If anyone else ever assumed at a first impression that Israel in Egypt is one of those grandly boring masterpieces, please give it another chance, perhaps with an HIP recording. In fact, each and every single one of Handel's oratorios struck me as dull at first, but they're exploding into my favorites list at the moment.


----------



## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

EdwardBast said:


> Do you ever find solutions, or hints at them, while sleeping?
> 
> One thing about the Scriabin prelude is that making it "work" requires constant push and pull with the tempo. That tempo fluctuation in my head made me queasy. And the ubiquitous tritones! Too much of one harmonic color to be tolerable for long. Crazy-making when endured for hours.


I've never been one to dream music, although it did happen once. On that occasion a complete work was dreamt (or at least it felt that way) with such a loud ending it woke me up. Much to my frustration, I couldn't remember a darn note. Any solutions just seem to 'hit' me, often after a day or two of no doubt subconscious mooching around. During the interim, I try to busy myself with other bits of the piece and keep exploring. 
At least you have Scriabin to drive you crazy, even if there are too many tritones. I often had to work with severely limited material in a popular style and not only mentally, but also physically in the studio. I had to create and produce the track which was to say the least, somewhat annoying when it finally came to getting some sleep. Imagine Tiny Tim for 10 hours and then try to get some shut eye.....


----------



## mark6144 (Apr 6, 2019)

I have kids, so, yesterday it was Ooh Eeh Ooh Ah Aah Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang by Witch Doctor. Thankfully it had gone this morning - until you reminded me, thanks for that


----------



## mrdoc (Jan 3, 2020)

mikeh375 said:


> I've never been one to dream music, although it did happen once. On that occasion a complete work was dreamt (or at least it felt that way) with such a loud ending it woke me up. Much to my frustration, I couldn't remember a darn note. Tiny Tim for 10 hours and then try to get some shut eye.....


This is something I have never realised but I am the same I have never dreamed of any kind of music, why is that? 
On reflection my dreams center around things that do or should worry me, e.g. can't remember where I parked the car, is a recurring dream. 
Do not take the psis out of my mate Tiny Tim he is miles better than Edd Sheeran or what ever his name is…


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

mikeh375 said:


> I've never been one to dream music, although it did happen once. On that occasion a complete work was dreamt (or at least it felt that way) with such a loud ending it woke me up. Much to my frustration, I couldn't remember a darn note. Any solutions just seem to 'hit' me, often after a day or two of no doubt subconscious mooching around. During the interim, I try to busy myself with other bits of the piece and keep exploring.
> At least you have Scriabin to drive you crazy, even if there are too many tritones. I often had to work with severely limited material in a popular style and not only mentally, but also physically in the studio. I had to create and produce the track which was to say the least, somewhat annoying when it finally came to getting some sleep. Imagine Tiny Tim for 10 hours and then try to get some shut eye.....


I used to have vivid and lucid musical dreams. Heard myself spinning whole symphonies or prog rock suites and felt in full conscious control of the process, like I was singing it all - but of course I never once recovered any real music from the experience.  This was during and after a period in which I partook copiously of "trendy chemical amusement aids," to quote Zappa. That might have had something to do with it.


----------



## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

"Simple Gifts", because I just ordered a collection of Shaker songs performed by the Boston Camerata.


----------



## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

The surest way for me to pick up an intolerable earworm is simply to go to the local supermarket, where patrons are bombarded with a constant barrage of horrible pop music, mostly awful stuff from that most awful of decades, the 1980s (does anybody else here despise Hall and Oates?). I'm guaranteed to be force-fed something horrible from Saturday Night Fever at least once a week. Have to rush home and play something like Pierrot Lunaire to cleanse my ears and restore my (relative) sanity.


----------



## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Get Lucky by Daft Punk, probably because it’s my incoming text tone on my phone :lol:


----------



## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Is an earworm necessarily bad music or music you don't want to hear?
Can't an earworm be something you like but it just gets out of control and repeats in your head? Maybe because it's so good.
I disagree with a friend on this.


----------



## 8j1010 (Aug 29, 2020)

This phrase from Haydn Hob.I/1:








Everytime I think of this piece I can't stop remembering this phrase....


----------



## 8j1010 (Aug 29, 2020)

Open Book said:


> Is an earworm necessarily bad music or music you don't want to hear?
> *Can't an earworm be something you like but it just gets out of control and repeats in your head?* Maybe because it's so good.
> I disagree with a friend on this.


this is how I define it but if that's incorrect then I guess my post isn't really an earworm because I really like the Adante from Haydn's First Symphony

Google says: "A catchy song or tune that runs continually through a person's mind" and I'm taking the google dictionary's word for it


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Open Book said:


> Is an earworm necessarily bad music or music you don't want to hear?
> Can't an earworm be something you like but it just gets out of control and repeats in your head? Maybe because it's so good.
> I disagree with a friend on this.


Can be anything that goes around and around in your head -- for me often a classical snjippet that seems to swallow its own tail. Mahler is full of them. I also had the whole Eroica occupying my mind for a month one summer; the finale of Brahms Fourth for a couple weeks and, oddly, a passage from Beethoven's Opus 110 piano sonata once.


----------



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

4'33" is going through my head right now. I hear the sound of a fan, cars going by in the distance, a bird chirping...but it's not bothering me.

A good antidote for "normal" music earworms is early Philip Glass.


----------



## Guest (Sep 4, 2020)

EdwardBast said:


> This was during and after a period in which I partook copiously of "*trendy chemical amusement aids*," to quote Zappa. That might have had something to do with it.


Hah! I never partook copiously of such _amusements_ but on one of the rare occasions I did, I remember putting on an LP of the Beethoven violin concerto and exclaiming - to the annoyance of my fellow day trippers - that I could really "see" the notes streaming through the air.


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Changing the guards:

Cheers theme has been supplanted by one of my favorite Alan J. Lerner songs: "Hurry, It's Lovely Up Here" from "On a Clear Day . . .," a rum musical with three or four really good songs in it.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Right now it’s the fourth song “Danksagung an den Bach” from Schubert’s Die Schone Mullerin. So dang whistle-able and catchy!


----------



## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Mozart's Rondo for Horn and Orchestra K 371 because of an IBM ad that's been repeating incessantly during the U.S. Open tennis tournament.






Pretty annoying, actually.


----------



## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

The opening clarinet theme from Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. The descending fifth over rustling strings suggests to me something or someone in distress. I haven't heard it for quite awhile, but it's always made a big impression on me. When a composition opens with a plaintive reed instrument solo, look out -- it could portend that "stuff" is going to happen. Examples are the opening solos of Swan Lake (oboe), The Swan of Tuonela (cor anglais), The Rite of Spring (bassoon). Even in Ravel's The Beauty and the Beast (Mother Goose Suite), the clarinet encounters the contrabassoon!


----------



## Guest (Sep 13, 2020)

The theme from A Family at War...






It rather gets in the way of enjoying Symphony No 6 (RVW)


----------



## Alinde (Feb 8, 2020)

I'm afraid it's "The Day They Drove Old Dixie Down".


----------



## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

julide said:


> was bluthen muß from elektra wont leave my head


Funny, I had that stuck in my head recently along with Elektra's monologue and "Ich habe keine gute Nächte". I went about a week or two with those three excerpts stuck in my head.


----------



## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Earworms don't necessarily bother me if I like the music. Rarely do I ever not have anything stuck in my head. From late March through late June I had various parts from _The Rite of Spring _in my head almost every day. This summer there were times I probably had less in my head than normal, but I did get various Wagner excerpts stuck in my head. With the change of seasons I notice that my listening habits usually change. I had those _Elektra_ excerpts in my head for one last time (they were around for a time in summer before succumbing to Wagner). But recently I've been craving a lot of stuff I haven't listned to in awhile. I had "In Questa Regia" in my head before having a good mixture of various things for a few days. Recently I found out about this 80s show called Pink Windmill Kids and have had their renditions of songs in my head.

The bad earworms I get are around Christmas when I hear all those songs from the Rudolf cartoon. I especially despise "Hohoho, we are Santa's elves"!


----------



## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

I ran across this earworm.


----------



## 8j1010 (Aug 29, 2020)

Especially the first part, 1:45, and 1:50


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Trout quintet .


----------



## Alinde (Feb 8, 2020)

"America the Beautiful" in a plaintive sort of way.


----------

