"Punch! oh, punch!, blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare, buff trip slip for a six-cent fare, pink trip slip for a three-cent fare; Punch, brothers, punch with care I Punch in the presence of the passenjare!" All through breakfast they went waltzing through my brain; and when, at last, I rolled up my napkin, I could not tell whether I had eaten anything or not...That torturing jingle departed out of my brain, and a grateful sense of rest and peace descended upon me. I was light-hearted enough to sing; and I did sing for half an hour, straight aloud. My freed tongue found blessed speech again, and the pent talk of many a weary hour began.”Clack-clack-clack, a blue trip slip, clack-clack, for an eight-cent fare; clack-clack, a buff trip slip, clack-clack-clack, for a six-cent fare, and so on, and so on, and so on - endurance can no further go!- punch in the presence of the passenjare !'" My friend's hopeless eyes rested upon mine a pregnant minute - You could not do me any good. Something tells me that my tongue is doomed to wag forever to the jigger of that remorseless jingle. There-there it is coming on me again. - Mark Twain, A Literary Nightmare“You are the music while the music lasts" - T. S. Eliot
“I hate this song! Why won’t it stop playing? - I just can't get it out of my head. It might just be alright when it would be a song I actually like. Battling a involuntary-unconscious sticky pesky earworm (unwanted catchy relentless tune or snippet in its common melodic shape) playing or singing over and over in a loop repeating over unusual intervals in my head just because it matches the tempo of what I've been doing - 'briskly walking, brushing my teeth, or sweeping' is maddening. I have no idea, how it got stuck or what just triggered the syndrome, making it spontaneously pop into my head? Maybe its because, I have been constantly exposed to music. I've been trying ways just to help distract myself. This is my brain, these are my brain worms. Why cant I make it stop? I find it disturbing or annoying when they wriggle their way into my brain’s memory centers and set up home, threatening to disrupt my inner peace. I understand, this cognitive itch may even be part of my brain’s creative 'imagery' process but then also I need to metaphorically take the needle off the stuck record so that I can regain my peace of mind. I so wish this "Ohrwurm" was gone for good. I just could not stand being enraptured by it anymore.
“This odd mental phenomenon was figuratively scary - How little conscious control we have over our own brain, having absolutely no idea about what happens in our head.”
Despite its derived name “ear creature,” earwigs do not crawl into & infest people's ear or lay eggs inside the human body or brain. This nocturnal insect - usually herbivorous likes dark, warm, humid places & possibly may be attracted to a sleeping person's ear, causing little or no harm.
To be driven crazy by unwanted sounds playing endlessly in his head - 'It harassed because it haunted’. “It is quite a common thing to be annoyed or tormented by the ringing in our ears, or rather in our memories, of the burthen of some ordinary song or some unimpressive snatches from an opera.” - Edgar Allen Poe, The Imp of the Perverse. Poe in his poem about tinnitus ’The Bells’ described mental anguish caused by persistent ringing in our ears. “The jingling and the tinkling tintinnabulation of the bells, bells, bells - so musically wells - What their melody foretells." He further in his short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator’s sanity while simultaneously describing a murder the narrator committed & now terrified by the violent beating of the heart... 'hark! louder! louder! louder! "Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! - tear up the planks! here, here! - It is the beating of his hideous heart!"
In his book 'This is Your Brain on Music', rocker-turned-neuroscientist (cognitive psychologist) Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music - its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it - and the human brain. Victoria Williamson in her book, “You are the Music”talks about our relationship with music throughout our lives & how listening to it could improve cognitive performance or physically reshape our brains. Exploring how music makes us who we are, and the perennial puzzle of what causes ‘earworms'.
“If you are trying to rid yourself of an unwanted tune, try chewing gum - Just the mechanical act of moving one’s jaw up and down can reduce it.Mindlessly chewing a gum could curb your cravings, slim your waistline, burn calories, keep your teeth healthy as long as it’s sugarless, Improve memory, fight drowsiness, reduce air or flight sickness. reduce heartburn, eliminate nausea, lessen depression, anxiety, fatigue, & other mental illnesses.
I started singing in the bathroom, ... Nothing was coming out. It was ghastly. - Rod Stewart
It really is all about that bass - acoustic environment. There could be times when your singing is interrupted by things or people or times where you’ve had mishaps in the bathroom because you were too busy singing...Still there are no inhibitions - you will hit all the notes, highest or lowest, even if you sound terrible and at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you’re a shy person, because in there, you’re a star pouring your heart out. I am not sure whether or not it had anything to do with the worms inside poking you to sing. I had long way back turned into a mediocre or amateur bathroom singer myself with singing capabilities those weren't only limited to the bathtub.
"Likewise, when those who enjoy a hot bath inhale the air of the bath, so that the heat of the air enters their spirits and makes them hot, they are found to experience joy. It often happens that they start singing, as singing has its origin in gladness." - Ibn Khaldun's Prolegomena or The Muqaddimah, 1377
I wonder, how much of my brain would have by now been already eaten & fed upon by these worms & if I had to chew a bubble-gum, my teeth would turn into a insect-infected fossil. Though the consumption of a wide variety of species of edible reptiles has been an important source of protein for humans, I did not wanted to turn into one‘insectivorous reptile.’
My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced & refreshed by music when sick & weary. - Martin Luther
“I literary don't want it tingling me to any nightmares - highly idiosyncratic”- Anonymous
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