I have a "do you do this too, or am I weird*" question for you. This morning I was looking through my FB memories, something I do most days, and then realized I had this running through my head, from the movie version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
*Granted, I am weird in a lot of ways, but is this one of them?
Okay then, but why? It certainly wasn't one of the items in that list. I looked back at what I had scrolled past, and there it was:
So the word "caboose" went by, and my brain decided to do word-association games without me even realizing it.
Mind you, Buffy isn't even a movie I've seen many times. But I've probably mentioned before how strongly music helps something stick in my mind (Schoolhouse Rock, anyone? who else can sing the Preamble to the Constitution with me?). I would expect it more of a favorite movie, I guess. I mean, just the other day I was quoting from The Philadelphia Story in our work chat. I could probably recite more than half the movie along with the actors, so it was no surprise when this came to mind on a bad morning:
And this morning, after thinking about these two things, I realized I had "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" running through my head, because of course I did.
(I had most of the song right, too. Dinah Lord is a lot of fun in that movie.)
So, do you do this? Find a song stuck in your head because of a random word you barely noticed? Because this happens to me all the time.
Follow-up question: When you get an earworm, does it wear off, or do you need to "write over it" by playing a different song? For me, sometimes it goes away, but if it doesn't, I will reprogram, either with a recent favorite, or my classic, Clean by Depeche Mode.
I took a memory class in college and music is definitely a mnemonic device. As a teacher, I used songs a lot. Mental pictures are also good, especially if they're violent or sexual. I didn't use the latter but if I only needed a few things at the store, I would make up a story in my head with those items and it worked. Pickles wrapped in toilet paper bobbing in milk with bread boats floating around. Heehee
ReplyDeleteA memory class would have been very interesting!
DeleteMargaret and I must have taken a similar class, but I don't remember the sexual or violent part. Yikes. I will say that most of those tricks didn't do much for me; my brain works best with rote memorization.
ReplyDeleteAs far as earworms, I get them in spurts, sort of, and they can last for days and days. Very irritating. Any attempt to overwrite, as you call it, is a fail. Luckily, they don't happen often. My last one was "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve. Sometimes it can be words, other times, just a musical phrase. That song is particularly annoying in both instances.
Having only part of a song stuck is worse than having all of it! I get that sometimes, too.
DeleteI am extremely susceptible to earworms! (Like, right now I have Depeche Mode's Clean stuck in my head, but that's not a complaint.) I get songs triggered by random words all the time. Some are easier to dislodge than others -- my go-to, if I can't just play some other music, is to mentally sing They Might Be Giants' Birdhouse in your Soul. Works like a charm! (I have declared myself allergic to some songs, though, because once they get stuck I can't get them out. I cannot listen to Ben Folds, for example, because I spent a solid month with one line from one song playing over and over in my head, 24/7, no matter what I did, until I honestly thought I was going insane. It was AWFUL.)
ReplyDeleteJeez, that sounds terrible!
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