In my last blogpost Falling Off the Ice Cream Wagon, I asked you:
"Have you ever heard a song and the tune gets stuck in your head all day? The lyrics roll over and over until you burst out into song, sometimes passing the problem onto family and friends."
Supposedly 98% of people have experienced this and it is an actual phenomenon that has been studied at length by scientists, psychologists, and those who market products with those catchy jingles. Some terms used to define, explain, and understand this phenomenon are:
My husband was attempting to spoonfeed our baby son. I say 'attempting' because our little guy was squirming and craning his head around to see me working away in the kitchen. "Come on, turn around," my husband urged him. I smiled and added my own encouragement, "Turn around, bright eyes." We broke out into song and continued to have it chant in our heads to burst forth at various hilarious moments. Thus began day-long stint of a 'song' taking over our family life. At home, in the car, on our walk, in our phone calls, virtually everywhere.
It finally culminated in my entering the Hallmark card shop in search of three greeting cards: a just-because-I-love-you card for my hubby and two birthday cards for family members. And what should asail my ears? THE SONG!!!!!
I immediately called my husband and all I had to ask him was, "Guess what song I'm listening to right now in the store?"
You may noticed that I have not told you what song got stuck in our heads. This is deliberate. I am trying to prevent what I shall term "song contagion".
However, to make this fun (especially for those who always wanted to call into the radio station with their answer but chickened), you may submit your guess in the comment section of this blogpost. And/or share your own experience with getting a song stuck in your head.
I can't wait to hear your responses! *smile*
"Have you ever heard a song and the tune gets stuck in your head all day? The lyrics roll over and over until you burst out into song, sometimes passing the problem onto family and friends."
Supposedly 98% of people have experienced this and it is an actual phenomenon that has been studied at length by scientists, psychologists, and those who market products with those catchy jingles. Some terms used to define, explain, and understand this phenomenon are:
- Earworm
- Haunting melody
- Involuntary musical imagery
- Repetune
- Aneurhythm
- Humbug
- Stuck song syndrome
- Melodymania
My husband was attempting to spoonfeed our baby son. I say 'attempting' because our little guy was squirming and craning his head around to see me working away in the kitchen. "Come on, turn around," my husband urged him. I smiled and added my own encouragement, "Turn around, bright eyes." We broke out into song and continued to have it chant in our heads to burst forth at various hilarious moments. Thus began day-long stint of a 'song' taking over our family life. At home, in the car, on our walk, in our phone calls, virtually everywhere.
It finally culminated in my entering the Hallmark card shop in search of three greeting cards: a just-because-I-love-you card for my hubby and two birthday cards for family members. And what should asail my ears? THE SONG!!!!!
I immediately called my husband and all I had to ask him was, "Guess what song I'm listening to right now in the store?"
You may noticed that I have not told you what song got stuck in our heads. This is deliberate. I am trying to prevent what I shall term "song contagion".
However, to make this fun (especially for those who always wanted to call into the radio station with their answer but chickened), you may submit your guess in the comment section of this blogpost. And/or share your own experience with getting a song stuck in your head.
I can't wait to hear your responses! *smile*
Comments
I do believe there’s something meditative about the Oscar Meyer song, (Oh I wish I were a…) or the Mickey D’s “two all beef patties…“ J … There are times I just whistle or hum at work for no reason… it makes me smile and well… if anyone catches me… I usually catch them latter on humming the same tune….
I guess you can say happiness is contagious. I can hear the pitch pipe now, a one, and a two… “Turn around Bright eyes!….”
Love and Light and a song…. Nina P.
Sincerely,
Susan A
The 'bright eyes' song you speak of hits very close to home for me as well as it's the first song the man in my life sung at karaoke on our first date. But yes.. Total Eclipse of the Heart is a fantastic melody :)
Yours Truely,
Sarah
whitenblue@gmail.com
Until then,
Lori K
Anyway, I tell the story of my son going to sleep away for the first time. The whole time he was gone, I had a(n annoying) pop song stuck in my head. Not a song I would listen to, ever.
When I picked him up, he begged for his iPod to plug in because, as he described, the only music he heard for the entire two weeks was a compilation that featured this annoying pop song that had been stuck in my head.
Great validation for me.
The song remains annoying.
Oh, and that's Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Erin