# Angel & Devil Earworms



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

earworm
ˈɪəwəːm/
noun
a catchy song or tune that runs continually through someone's mind.

:angel: Which classical theme or piece would you not mind too much if it became an earworm?

:devil: Which classical theme or piece would drive you berserk if it became an earworm?

Health Warning: Discussions of this type can promote earworms! 

All the same, thanks in advance for any replies! :tiphat:


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

The nice thing about learning to play Baroque shreds on my fiddle is that they make delicate and enjoyable earworms, & when they're on my brain, it helps me to know them & hence play them better.

Here's an angel earworm that I had for a while, by one of my favourite baroque composers :angel: Willem de Fesch:





A devil earworm is often a very strong and popular piece that you already have heard far too often & hence it carries a loaded panier of irritation with it! 

Such as (for me) - Weber's Huntsmen's Chorus! 





This has the same effect on me as if I had to sit opposite Noddy at the breakfast table as he serenaded his Cornflakes...!


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

And what's wrong with serenading your cornflakes in a cheerful manner?

There are some lovely pieces that can become earworms. One that's almost designed that way is La Folia. This version is by Vivaldi.

Others can be irritating - Ravel's Bolero is one such.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I've been wistlin' the "internationale" all morning can't understand why, doctor please help! 

/ptr


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Most classical snippets that become earworms are of the angel or neutral variety. But "devil" earworms include the nachtmusik movements from Mahler's 7th, and any of several places in Bernstein's "Mass."


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

The only devil earworms I can think of are popular music refrains and advertising jingles. Luckily, they all appear to be shortlived, but for the couple of days they persist, they can be exasperating 

I have lived with "Den Wein, den mann mit Augen trinkt, gießt nachts in Wogen nieder..." for decades. It's one of the 21 poems by Albert Giraud that Schoenberg set in Pierrot Lunaire. I find it heavenly.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I don't have a problem with devil earworms with classical music. If a phrase gets repeated in my head, I usually am able to dissect it and end up with a greater appreciation of it. 

But portions of Brahms' symphonies have a tendency to bury themselves in my head, for good or evil.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

The worst earworm imaginable is Pachelbel's Canon - when it's finished, my mind makes up more variations.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

There _are_ no angel earworms! My brain's particular jukebox favorite is the prelude to _Die Meistersinger_, whose jaunty, marchlike tread wants to kick in whenever I'm walking vigorously out of doors. It isn't that I don't like the piece; I just don't want to march everywhere I go. I'm strongly susceptible to these vermin, but I want music to be over when its over. I can often fight them, though, by purposely replacing them - imagining a piece of music which is too unmelodious, unrhythmic or complex to be a successful earworm. I like the first movement of Sibelius's Fifth Symphony for this, for some reason - but not the opening of his Third! With that jaunty little tune I'd just be off marching again.

Earworms are the devil's work. If they aren't mentioned somewhere in Dante's _Inferno_, they should be - maybe as punishment for the composers of commercial jingles.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

The pharmaceutical industry has been very diligently pursuing cures to both of these neurological phenomenon but so far to no avail as it appears that all known cures tend to have one extremely permanent side-effect however that has not reduced their enthusiasm. I understand that they are now trying something similar to the theory behind noise-cancellation but the problem there is finding appropriate anti-worms which aren't worse than the disease.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Becca said:


> The pharmaceutical industry has been very diligently pursuing cures to both of these neurological phenomenon but so far to no avail as it appears that all known cures tend to have one extremely permanent side-effect however that has not reduced their enthusiasm. I understand that they are now trying something similar to the theory behind noise-cancellation but the problem there is finding appropriate anti-worms which aren't worse than the disease.


What's the extremely permanent side effect? Death?



Hey... Did you just make all that up?


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> What's the extremely permanent side effect? Death?
> 
> 
> 
> Hey... Did you just make all that up?


Would *I* do something like that???


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society had a terrible earworm... 1812 Overture? Or was it in the Italian dubbed version only?


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## motoboy (May 19, 2008)

Angel: Urlicht

Devil: Pachelbel


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## pianississimo (Nov 24, 2014)

I find that you can banish unwelcome earworms if you force in another one which is of a similar tempo. 
Playing Mozart on the piano always fills my head with Mozart for the whole day. More so than any other composer I think.
That gets me through many afternoons when the only physical sounds in the office are phones, computer fans and people complaining!


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Happy earworm for me: Schoenberg's Piano Concerto.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Gathering of the Vassals from act 2 of Gotterdammerung - and I have no idea as to which category it fits!!


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Becca said:


> Gathering of the Vassals from act 2 of Gotterdammerung - and I have no idea as to which category it fits!!


Depends on your mood, maybe - or whether your brain is serenading you in the small hours?


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Must have Bach next Friday on my day off to have pleasant earworms. I am thinking something played by Mutter that day if I can locate my iTunes album again.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

I don't think there is an "Angel" earworm that readily comes to mind, but there is certainly a "Devil". For me it's always been Rossini's William Tell Overture. There is an odd mental image that accompanies this. It's of a American masked lawman dressed all in white riding a huge white horse, galloping through a wasteland. As I say, it has nothing to do with Friedrich von Schiller's poetic drama.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Wouldn't it be... curious.. if there were such a thing as a brain parasite that provided a period of complete bliss before death?


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Antiquarian said:


> I don't think there is an "Angel" earworm that readily comes to mind, but there is certainly a "Devil". For me it's always been Rossini's William Tell Overture. There is an odd mental image that accompanies this. It's of a American masked lawman dressed all in white riding a huge white horse, galloping through a wasteland. As I say, it has nothing to do with Friedrich von Schiller's poetic drama.


 Brilliant! :tiphat:


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

This morning I've had my head wizzin' and poppin' with "I feel pretty" from West side story, is killin' me, please help it stop! 

/ptr


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

ptr said:


> This morning I've had my head wizzin' and poppin' with "I feel pretty" from West side story, is killin' me, please help it stop!
> 
> /ptr


The trick to getting that out of your head is to start singing Officer Krupke to yourself. You'll soon find

'I'm disturbed
We're disturbed, we're disturbed
We're the most disturbed
Like we're psychologically disturbed'

an adequate replacement


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

Angel - one of the Brandenburg concerti

Devil - nothing classical I guess


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