Earworms by Debra H. Goldstein

Last month, I wrote a blog, “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” for Booklover’s Bench. Besides reacting to the content of the blog, several people “thanked” me for planting the earworm of that song in their minds. For fun, I started doing a little research on musical earworms and wondering why certain songs that may be earworms for me, aren’t for you.

By definition, a musical earworm is a song that sticks in one’s mind, playing over and over, even though the song is no longer being heard in real time. Usually, the song has repeated rhythm and word usage, but it may also have an unusual riff or musical combination of notes. If you Google “earworm songs,” you will find several lists of the top 100. Although not identical, many of the songs overlap – examples include Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Mary Poppins’ Let’s Go Fly a Kite and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Adele’s Hello, Disney’s It’s a Small World, and Baha Men’s Who Let the Dogs Out.

All of these may appear on the various the top 100 earworm lists, but not all of them are personal earworms. For example, while I enjoy the two songs from Mary Poppins, it is Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag) that resonates with me. According to research, my mind may be one that must tie an image or memory to a song for it to become an earworm.

The same holds true with books I read. Although I may remember a book for its characters or plot, it won’t become a visual earworm unless it produces an image or evokes a personal memory.

What about you? Do you have a musical or literary earworm?