Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm the Wonderfish.
If you've been following along, you will remember I pledged to keep a journal of the songs that were stuck in my head for one week. I made some interesting observations while being mindful of these earworms. To be honest, I've never paid so much attention to the songs in my head. Some were surprises while others made complete sense to me. Let's look at the findings before we start getting all psychological. Skip past the list to the bottom if you want to get straight to the psychoanalysis.
Disclaimer: I tried my best but I know there were songs I failed to mark down. I did not realize how much music goes through my head. Also, I tried to only count the songs that were true earworms, not just songs that I started to think about.
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Day 1 - October 16th
1) Dixie Chicks - You Were Mine - the bridge: "she's two and he's four and you know they adore you"
2) Johnny Cash - Hurt (his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song) - the beginning of the chorus: "and you can have it all, my empire of dirt"
3) Lady Gaga - You and I - the beginning lines of each verse: "been a long time..."
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Day 2 - October 17th
1) Johnny Cash - Hurt (again) - same as Day 1
2) Madonna - Open Your Heart to Me - the bell melody that is played in between lines of the chorus and the bridge: "don't try to run..."
3) Pink - What About Us - the chorus: "what about us, what about all the times..."
4) Pink - Who Knew - the chorus: "if someone said three years from now you'd be long gone..."
5) Chicago - Wake Up, Sunshine - the opening verse: "wake up sunshine"
6) Pink - Just Give Me A Reason - various parts of verses and the chorus
7) Pink - What About Us (again) - same part as before
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Day 3 - October 18th
1) Pink - Who Knew - same as Day 2
2) David Bowie - Space Oddity - the opening line: "ground control to Major Tom"
3) Pink - Just Give Me A Reason - same as Day 2
4) Justin Bieber featuring Bloodpop - Friends - the beginning of the chorus: "so I'm wondering, can we still be friends..."
5) Original - Army of One - the chorus to a song I'm currently working on
6) Pink - What About Us - same as Day 2
7) Lady Gaga - Judas - just the song's opening hook: "Jud-AS, Jud-A-AS"
8) Chicago - Questions 67 & 68 - the opening 30-40 seconds, the horn melody, the guitar improv
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Day 4 - October 19th
1) The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice - the opening verse: "wouldn't it be nice if we were older..."
2) Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk - so many parts just kept repeating, but not the entire song in order
3) Pink - Who Knew - same as Day 2
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Day 5 - October 20th
1) Lady Gaga - Hey Girl - the chorus: "hey girl, hey girl"
2) Eddie Vedder - Without You - the chorus
3) Lady Gaga - John Wayne - the opening hook: I can't even understand if she's saying words
4) The Cup Song from Pitch Perfect - the opening melody line; I don't know the words
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Day 6 - October 21st
1) Original - Waiting To Ignite - the first verse and chorus of an original I'm trying to finish
2) Pink - What About Us - same as Day 2
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Day 7 - October 22nd
1) The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again - the end of the song: "meet the new boss, same as the old boss..."
2) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Won't Back Down - almost the entire song, but never in order
3) Chicago - If You Leave Me Now - the opening from the start of the song to the third line of the verse
4) Original - Every Trace - the chorus of an original song, one of my earliest songs
5) I've Got A Golden Ticket from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (the original) - the melody of a verse and chorus; again, I don't know all of the words but that melody sure is solid
_______________________________________
Last week, we verified the three most common reasons for an earworm to visit: you have heard the song many times in your life, you listened to the song recently, and/or you have an emotional or personal connection to the song.
Whenever I have a Chicago song in my head, it is due to hearing their songs repeatedly and often ever since I was born. My parents always listened to Chicago and we bought every album as soon as it came out. There are quite a few Chicago albums! I would bet that I've listened to more Chicago songs in my lifetime than any other band's songs with the exception of U2 and Dave Matthews Band.
Lady Gaga was a given, because I had a Gaga mix tape playing in my car that week. Pink and Tom Petty were logical because I am working on their songs right now for a band that I play in. I will give Pink some credit though, I was only working on her new tune, What About Us. This somehow led to a barrage of attacks from other Pink songs throughout the week. High five to you, Pink! I love your work!
As for the other songs, I really have no idea why they were in my head. The emotional connection is somewhat harder for me to pin down. Let's take the Johnny Cash tune as an example. I enjoy Cash's work and I thought the film, Walk The Line, was so well done. I do feel a connection to Cash's cover of Hurt. However, I have no reason to have a personal connection to that song. Is it just because I'm a fan? The lyrics don't apply to my life but that song is haunting and I can feel it in the pit of my stomach when I listen to it. If you, dear readers, have any insight to offer there, I would enjoy looking over your comments.
Shark's in the water! See you next week.
If you've been following along, you will remember I pledged to keep a journal of the songs that were stuck in my head for one week. I made some interesting observations while being mindful of these earworms. To be honest, I've never paid so much attention to the songs in my head. Some were surprises while others made complete sense to me. Let's look at the findings before we start getting all psychological. Skip past the list to the bottom if you want to get straight to the psychoanalysis.
Disclaimer: I tried my best but I know there were songs I failed to mark down. I did not realize how much music goes through my head. Also, I tried to only count the songs that were true earworms, not just songs that I started to think about.
_______________________________________
Day 1 - October 16th
1) Dixie Chicks - You Were Mine - the bridge: "she's two and he's four and you know they adore you"
2) Johnny Cash - Hurt (his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song) - the beginning of the chorus: "and you can have it all, my empire of dirt"
3) Lady Gaga - You and I - the beginning lines of each verse: "been a long time..."
_______________________________________
Day 2 - October 17th
1) Johnny Cash - Hurt (again) - same as Day 1
2) Madonna - Open Your Heart to Me - the bell melody that is played in between lines of the chorus and the bridge: "don't try to run..."
3) Pink - What About Us - the chorus: "what about us, what about all the times..."
4) Pink - Who Knew - the chorus: "if someone said three years from now you'd be long gone..."
5) Chicago - Wake Up, Sunshine - the opening verse: "wake up sunshine"
6) Pink - Just Give Me A Reason - various parts of verses and the chorus
7) Pink - What About Us (again) - same part as before
_______________________________________
Day 3 - October 18th
1) Pink - Who Knew - same as Day 2
2) David Bowie - Space Oddity - the opening line: "ground control to Major Tom"
3) Pink - Just Give Me A Reason - same as Day 2
4) Justin Bieber featuring Bloodpop - Friends - the beginning of the chorus: "so I'm wondering, can we still be friends..."
5) Original - Army of One - the chorus to a song I'm currently working on
6) Pink - What About Us - same as Day 2
7) Lady Gaga - Judas - just the song's opening hook: "Jud-AS, Jud-A-AS"
8) Chicago - Questions 67 & 68 - the opening 30-40 seconds, the horn melody, the guitar improv
_______________________________________
Day 4 - October 19th
1) The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice - the opening verse: "wouldn't it be nice if we were older..."
2) Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk - so many parts just kept repeating, but not the entire song in order
3) Pink - Who Knew - same as Day 2
_______________________________________
Day 5 - October 20th
1) Lady Gaga - Hey Girl - the chorus: "hey girl, hey girl"
2) Eddie Vedder - Without You - the chorus
3) Lady Gaga - John Wayne - the opening hook: I can't even understand if she's saying words
4) The Cup Song from Pitch Perfect - the opening melody line; I don't know the words
_______________________________________
Day 6 - October 21st
1) Original - Waiting To Ignite - the first verse and chorus of an original I'm trying to finish
2) Pink - What About Us - same as Day 2
_______________________________________
Day 7 - October 22nd
1) The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again - the end of the song: "meet the new boss, same as the old boss..."
2) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Won't Back Down - almost the entire song, but never in order
3) Chicago - If You Leave Me Now - the opening from the start of the song to the third line of the verse
4) Original - Every Trace - the chorus of an original song, one of my earliest songs
5) I've Got A Golden Ticket from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (the original) - the melody of a verse and chorus; again, I don't know all of the words but that melody sure is solid
_______________________________________
Last week, we verified the three most common reasons for an earworm to visit: you have heard the song many times in your life, you listened to the song recently, and/or you have an emotional or personal connection to the song.
Whenever I have a Chicago song in my head, it is due to hearing their songs repeatedly and often ever since I was born. My parents always listened to Chicago and we bought every album as soon as it came out. There are quite a few Chicago albums! I would bet that I've listened to more Chicago songs in my lifetime than any other band's songs with the exception of U2 and Dave Matthews Band.
Lady Gaga was a given, because I had a Gaga mix tape playing in my car that week. Pink and Tom Petty were logical because I am working on their songs right now for a band that I play in. I will give Pink some credit though, I was only working on her new tune, What About Us. This somehow led to a barrage of attacks from other Pink songs throughout the week. High five to you, Pink! I love your work!
As for the other songs, I really have no idea why they were in my head. The emotional connection is somewhat harder for me to pin down. Let's take the Johnny Cash tune as an example. I enjoy Cash's work and I thought the film, Walk The Line, was so well done. I do feel a connection to Cash's cover of Hurt. However, I have no reason to have a personal connection to that song. Is it just because I'm a fan? The lyrics don't apply to my life but that song is haunting and I can feel it in the pit of my stomach when I listen to it. If you, dear readers, have any insight to offer there, I would enjoy looking over your comments.
Shark's in the water! See you next week.
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