What is happening when a song is “stuck in your head”?
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I don’t know, but I had *just* gotten *”We don’t talk about Bruno, no no”* out of my head and saw this post and now it’s back
The current theory is it has to do with memory and learning. The brain is wanting to know what happens next in the song but for some reason you don’t remember that part. So it plays the part you do know over and over again hoping to trigger some connection and find the missing bit.
Just in case anyone needs it, I have found that singing “The Happy Birthday Song” in my head is useful for knocking down an earworm. You are socialized to sing the song once and then stop…. so it’s sort of a cleanser.
I wish I knew how to get rid of it when I do get them.
I once had a work trip to China and had the Friends theme tune on perpetual repeat for three nights “playing” loud enough to keep me awake the whole time.
For me, it tends to happen when I’m extremely tired.
I had persistent earworms for both of my pregnancies. The first one was “pop goes the weasel” for 9ish months, I nearly lost my mind. The second time it was The Mighty Quinn by Manfred Man. That one was a little better, but also nearly the entire pregnancy. Both times I tried everything to get them to stop, but having the kids was the only cure. Doctors thought it was funny, blamed my pregnancy hormones.
I use the methods that I think was done by Stephen Colbert, saying “RI-CO-LA”, I guess the three sylabble can trip the brain from repeatious lyrics.
I swear I feel like I always have some song stuck in my head. Sometimes I won’t have one but I only notice the absence of it when I freakin’ wake up in the morning and a new one is there. It’s. So. Annoying. I’ve tried listening to the song fully to try and break out of that “loop” and it will seem to work but then I’ll notice it creeping back in soon after. Some songs like the birthday song are also good to derail it but it’s also only good for awhile. It’s like they won’t go away until they are replaced with another. Ugggh.
I’ve always wondered why it happens. I can say I’m one of those people who remembers lyrics after hearing them only once or twice, even if I hate the song. I doubt it’s truly related but I have thought maybe the reason I remember those lyrics so easily/well is ‘cause I’ve actually heard the song a million times in my head instead of just once or twice outside of my head.
Check out the book musicophillia by Oliver Sacks. He answers this question and so many more!! ❤❤❤
Your brain considers the song stuck in your head to be an “unfinished task” because you usually just have the chorus stuck in your head. If you want to get that song out of your head, listen to the song in full, and then immediately listen to another song right after it, preferably one you have never heard before.
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