# Earworms



## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

We all know the irritating situation of having a piece stuck in one's head, but which are the worst pieces for this and which are the most common?

For me, I would say that the worst are Pachelbel's Canon (I keep looping between variations) and Stockhausen's _Stimmung_ (if you have ever listened to this you will see why).

P.S. I am now apparently a "Senior Member". How did that happen? Is is because I made 100 posts? That's what it seems to be...


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

MoonlightSonata said:


> We all know the irritating situation of having a piece stuck in one's head, but which are the worst pieces for this and which are the most common?


I find Bruckner scherzos particularly bad for repeating on me like a möbius strip



MoonlightSonata said:


> P.S. I am now apparently a "Senior Member". How did that happen? Is is because I made 100 posts? That's what it seems to be...


Yes - but the threshold is too low. 1,429 posts seems more appropriate


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The opening oboe solo of the second movement of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony.
Also the first couple of minutes of Appalachian Spring by Copland.

Whenever I'm walking around, it's usually one or the other that's playing in my head.
I adore both of them.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Somehow I found myself humming "Hall of the Mountain King" the other day, and it is not a piece I appreciate. 

The bad earworms come from non-classical. I won't mention any specific examples lest someone reading this get infested.


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2014)

The opening bars of the 2nd movement of Schnittke's 1st symphony seem to regularly plague my ears. The baroque-ish ensemble part before they lose it...


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

My ear worms change every few days. Right now it's Brandenburg Concerto #3. Last week end was Sibelius Violin Concerto. Also this week it's been Glazunov Seasons Winter. But I don't find it difficult to call up different tunes and therefore change the ear worm.


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2014)

senza sordino said:


> My ear worms change every few days. Right now it's Brandenburg Concerto #3. Last week end was Sibelius Violin Concerto. Also this week it's been Glazunov Seasons Winter. But I don't find it difficult to call up different tunes and therefore change the ear worm.


Could it be that you've been listening to Bach, Sibelius and Glazunov recently?

In other words, are earworms usually just the pieces that you've been most recently exposed to, not necessarily pieces that are intrinsically more inclined to have that effect?

For me, it's just a couple of bars of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 6. What's most irritating is that I hear the two bars and can't remember what comes next, so I have to go round again...and again...


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

Is this the way to Amarillo? Every Night I've been hugging my pillow.


When that's not going around my head, I sometimes find myself humming Finlandia, or singing the odd Mahler ditty. 'O Mensch' from Symphony 3 in particular.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Una Voce poco fa just won't ''F off' at the moment...Until something else takes its place....


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

The sound of earworms burrowing into your brain.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Florestan said:


> The bad earworms come from non-classical. I won't mention any specific examples lest someone reading this get infested.


Too late. The mere thought was enough. Oh, now it'll be in my head all day and I won't get to sleep tonight. The horror!


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2014)

MacLeod said:


> In other words, are earworms usually just the pieces that you've been most recently exposed to, not necessarily pieces that are intrinsically more inclined to have that effect?


Sometimes. Other times they just pop into your head via some subconscious path. And I have noticed certain works pop into my head more often than the rest over the last year or two.

Besides the Schnittke, another one that pops into my head far too often is Sibelius' Karelia Suite.


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2014)

I seem not to have this particular affliction!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

MagneticGhost said:


> Is this the way to Amarillo? Every Night I've been hugging my pillow.


Curse you! Now it's burrowed into my ear!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

In addition to the above works that I already mentioned, lately the haunting music form the second Nachtmusik movement of Mahler's Seventh Symphony refuses to leave my head and I'm fine with that.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

MacLeod said:


> In other words, are earworms usually just the pieces that you've been most recently exposed to, not necessarily pieces that are intrinsically more inclined to have that effect?


I've had things come into my mind that I haven't heard in months or longer. It's associative, mainly.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Mahlerian said:


> I've had things come into my mind that I haven't heard in months or longer. It's associative, mainly.


Mainly, yes.

"_Le ciel serein d'Espagne est sans embrun."_

Oh, how is it you English say it?:

"The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain."


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Marschallin Blair said:


> Mainly, yes.
> 
> "_Le ciel serein d'Espagne est sans embrun."_
> 
> ...


Great, now I have Rex Harrison's voice in my head...


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Mahlerian said:


> Great, now I have Rex Harrison's voice in my head...


I'm laughing _SO HARD_!!!

I'm so glad you got that.

_;D ;D ;D_


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Marschallin Blair said:


> I'm laughing _SO HARD_!!!
> 
> I'm so glad you got that.
> 
> _;D ;D ;D_


. . . and didn't think: "There MB goes again, acting crazy, talking to an imaginary face in the sky."


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Now it's "Stone Soul Picnic" written and sung by the late, great, Filmore East goddess, Laura Nyro.

I never know what's playing on any given day inside my head.


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2014)

Mahlerian said:


> Great, now I have Rex Harrison's voice in my head...


Well think 'Leslie Howard' and you don't suffer the earworm!


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2014)

Mahlerian said:


> I've had things come into my mind that I haven't heard in months or longer. It's associative, mainly.


Me too, but they tend not to stay as long as something I've just listened to...currently Haydn's Symphony No. 100, about an hour ago!


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

MacLeod said:


> Could it be that you've been listening to Bach, Sibelius and Glazunov recently?
> 
> In other words, are earworms usually just the pieces that you've been most recently exposed to, not necessarily pieces that are intrinsically more inclined to have that effect?


That's it. Music I've listened to recently. Or played myself recently. Occasionally my ear worms are music I haven't listened to in a while. And more rarely still, my ear worms are music I make up, I'm composing on the spot.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I seldom get ear worms from classical music. Like Mahlerian I sometimes get a snippet pop into my head from out of the blue, but it's more often than not something from the middle of a piece, something out of the development section totally out of context. I'll worry with it for a while trying to identify it, but I seldom can.

Far worse are the non-classical ear worms, probably because more of the non-classical I listen to has English lyrics. A chance phrase will set off an association with a song.

The worst ear worm I ever had went on for _weeks_! It's from a group I marginally like (or liked). They're not all that popular and there is nothing insidious about their music or the song that got stuck in my head, so it didn't come from overexposure. There was _no_ radio airplay. I can't imagine any reason for it. But to this day I don't go anywhere near the album, the song or the group for fear of getting that ear worm again. (I think it's safe enough for me to say the group is Clannad. So you see, there shouldn't be any ear worms involved. But it became horribly unpleasant for me. It's a shame too because this is a very talented family with some wonderfully non-mainstream albums.)


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

For me, it's always the silliest tunes that get stuck in my head:
The Turkish March from Liszt's Fantasy on Beethoven's Ruins of Atheans
Parts of Rossini's Theaving Magpie Overture
J. Strauss II - One the Blue Danube Waltz
Parts of Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours
Verdi - Donna e mobile from Rigoletto

Some Earworms that don't sound "silly" to me:
Bach - Zion hort die watcher singen from BWV 140
Mahler - "In diesem Wetter" from Kindertotenlieder 
Mahler - Symphony 5 mov. 5, and Symphony 7 mov. 5
Beethoven - Sonata 8 "Pathetique" mov. 2
Parts of Medtner's "Night Wind" Sonata

Otherwise, it's typically whatever I'd recently listened to that won't stop playing in my head. Right now, segments from Les Miserables because my friends and I watched the 2012 film adaptation of the musical


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

The worst earworms are the ones that Khan put in Chekovs ear.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

The Brahms symphonies torment me. All those little motives that he plays with swirl around in my head. I have to listen to them in small doses.


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

Khan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






Edit - why do the Caps keep disappearing. It's spoiling my method acting.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I am plagued constantly by earworms. I wish I lived on the set of Hitchcock's _The Birds_. I would invite them all over for a musical feast.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Woodduck said:


> I am plagued constantly by earworms. I wish I lived on the set of Hitchcock's _The Birds_. I would invite them all over for a musical feast.


Ah, Bodega Bay in California. Lovely place. I was just there. That's where I was plagued by Brahms earworms. The birds were useless.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

There's a horrible personal Injury law firm based in Albany that has terrible TV commercials. The stupid jingle gets into my head sometimes. There was another terrible commercial for an iphone with a cover of the Pixies song Gigantic. Weird that they would use a song about a woman who fell for a guy with a huge ....ah.....you know.

Classical earworms? Verdi's Nabbuco overture sometimes.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I have the 11-note main theme of Franck's Symphony in D minor on my mind. Don't get me wrong, it's a great tune and I love the way it recurs throughout the symphony in different permutations, but it is annoyingly catchy in a way


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

If my memory serves me right, I can't remember anything for too long.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

Mahler may not be the _first_ composer you'd think of for "catchy earworms" but the other day I was humming the March from the 1st movement of Symphony #6! It's gotta be Boulez's DG 6th though, it's extra March-y 

This is hard to read.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

If I ever got Mahler stuck in my head I think a lobotomy would be the only option.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

[deleted]......


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## SeptimalTritone (Jul 7, 2014)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> Mahler may not be the _first_ composer you'd think of for "catchy earworms" but the other day I was humming the March from the 1st movement of Symphony #6! It's gotta be Boulez's DG 6th though, it's extra March-y
> 
> This is hard to read.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

MoonlightSonata said:


> We all know the irritating situation of having a piece stuck in one's head, but which are the worst pieces for this and which are the most common?
> 
> For me, I would say that the worst are Pachelbel's Canon (I keep looping between variations) and Stockhausen's _Stimmung_ (if you have ever listened to this you will see why).
> 
> *P.S. I am now apparently a "Senior Member". How did that happen? *Is is because I made 100 posts? That's what it seems to be...


Interestingly enough, nothing much sticks in my head (or ears, except wax) much anymore _because_ I am a senior member. Other tell-tale signs include aches and pains for no particular reason, graying or losing of hair, wrinkles, hearing-vision-smell-taste-touch problems, weakness, and "personal" issues better left unspoken here ...

Welcome to the club.

(But I'd give up my membership in a heartbeat! -- Hmmm ... maybe that's a poor expression to use, on second thought.)


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

In all my years of listening this is the worst! Turi turi tura, turi turi tura....


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Sometimes the kid song, John Jacob Jingleheimerschmidt, will pop up in my head.


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

Radames said:


> There's a horrible personal Injury law firm based in Albany that has terrible TV commercials. The stupid jingle gets into my head sometimes.


That would constitute personal injury, wouldn't it ? I'd give them a call......

Cheers,
Jos


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

My earworm is the first few minutes of Daphnis et Chloe. It sounds "other-worldly", and I love it. I feel the same way about the Lever du jour music which begins Part 3, or Suite #2. It's my idea of heaven might sound like.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

Jos said:


> That would constitute personal injury, wouldn't it ? I'd give them a call......
> 
> Cheers,
> Jos


Good idea! Sue the lawyers for their bad ads!! I loved the better call Saul ads, but he didn't have a bad jingle.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Angels We Have Heard On High, for no reason I can possibly guess, has been stuck in my head for the past two days. Why...


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## AdmiralSilver (Sep 28, 2013)

I have been singing the D minor (Frere Jaques) from Mahler's 1st Symphony three days ago until the moment. 
Not bad though.


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## rrudolph (Sep 15, 2011)

I'm very susceptible to earworms. Right now it's a short piece written by a friend of mine that I'll be performing this weekend. Another bad one that seems to recur often is Satie's Vexations, probably because of the repetitive nature of the thing.


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## Annied (Apr 27, 2017)

At the moment, it's parts of "Elle est princesse" from "Si j'etais roi". I also avoid Donizetti's "Ti voglio bene assai" as it stays in my head for days afterwards.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The opening of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto. Absolutely haunting. On a continuous loop.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Right now, I happen to have "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" playing. Likely to become today's earworm. Any of the movements.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Of all things, this:






One of the most stirring anthems ever, even though I am no commie. But now it's stuck in my head and I can't get rid of it. Talk about Soviet expansionism!


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Have you heard "Over the Waves" by Rosas? Catchy, isn't it?

It was made into a popular song called, I believe, "The Loveliest Night of the Year". Catchier still.

But now, imagine that, as a kid growing up in Queens, you sang "George Washington Bridge" as the lyric. Over and over again, *George Washington Bridge, George Washington, Washington **Briiiidge"*....aaarrrggghhh!!! The earworm from Hell.

You're welcome.

:devil:


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

CypressWillow said:


> Have you heard "Over the Waves" by Rosas? Catchy, isn't it?
> 
> It was made into a popular song called, I believe, "The Loveliest Night of the Year". Catchier still.
> 
> ...


Lucky for me, I have no idea what tune you are talking about, and I'll be sure not to go look it up either.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Music from a strategy game I've been playing a lot recently: Stellaris. 
It is rather generic but it serves its purpose.






Back to conquering the galaxy with my race of alien insects! It's a fun game, really. :lol:


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## Jacred (Jan 14, 2017)

Right now, it's the opening melody of Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

brianvds said:


> Lucky for me, I have no idea what tune you are talking about, and I'll be sure not to go look it up either.


Rosas was a Mexican composer. I believe the original Spanish title was "Sobre Las Olas." It's fairly well-known. Ann Blyth sang it in a film entitled "The Great Caruso."

As earworms go, it's not really that painful, it's just the "George Washington Bridge" that my childhood chums substituted for the actual English lyrics that make it so annoying.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Beethoven's ****ing 6th
Handel's bloody catchy Water Music
But the absolute king of 'earworms' is Schubert - Trout quintet, C major quintet etc


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

Tallisman said:


> Beethoven's ****ing 6th
> Handel's bloody catchy Water Music
> But the absolute king of 'earworms' is Schubert - Trout quintet, C major quintet etc


agree about Schubert. some days ago it was the first movement , first theme from his sonata D960


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## Zellibrung (Jun 9, 2017)

Vivaldi's Winter, at times.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Right now I've got Mozart's "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" stuck in my head. I caught myself singing it while standing in line at Trader Joe's today. Further confirmation that I've lost my mind! :lol:


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Bettina said:


> Right now I've got Mozart's "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" stuck in my head. I caught myself singing it while standing in line at Trader Joe's today. Further confirmation that I've lost my mind! :lol:


Too much Two Buck Chuck, huh? :lol:

But, hey, it's Mozart! I understand!


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## jenspen (Apr 25, 2015)

helenora said:


> agree about Schubert. some days ago it was the first movement , first theme from his sonata D960


Yes. I never know when Schubert's going to take over.

But he doesn't have a universal earworm effect. Last week, at a meeting of a piano group, I played some Schubert, really putting everything into it, having a great time. One of the group (Brian) said at the end - "I get absolutely nothing out of Schubert.* No tunes*.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

jenspen said:


> Yes. I never know when Schubert's going to take over.
> 
> But he doesn't have a universal earworm effect. Last week, at a meeting of a piano group, I played some Schubert, really putting everything into it, having a great time. One of the group (Brian) said at the end - "I get absolutely nothing out of Schubert.* No tunes*.


 erm... what...?


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## chromatic owl (Jan 4, 2017)

I often happen to get motivic earworms rather than melodic ones, while experiencing a particular weakness to fugue themes of all kinds. Sometimes just one single motif which can become terribly annoying.
Yet, I had recently a quite persistent melodic earworm of _Solveig's Song_ from Grieg's Peer Gynt which, however, did not bother me at all.


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