Bitten by an earworm

Much to the plight of my family, for the past two days I have 

been constantly humming and singing this song, which seems to have gotten stuck in my head. I am sure, this is something that all of us have experienced at some time or the other. You wake up with a tune in your head, and then all you can do the entire day is either hum it in your head or out loud. While, it's nice to have the latest chart-buster playing out in a loop in your head, it can be very annoying when it's a song you hate, but it's stuck in your head nonetheless. I really marvel at the human mind for playing out the exact tunes and notes that the artists have so painfully mastered and sung. And, having been a student for so long, it is funny to note that while textbook lessons take hours to memorize, the lyrics to these songs are magically stored away in the brain. (And god help your restlessness; if you can't remember that one word from the song..)

 Given the time I have on my hands nowadays, I thought of googling to find out whether there is something that makes a particular song "catchy". Well, apparently, there are several researchers who are actually trying to figure out the science behind the catchiness of certain music/songs. They term such songs as earworms. So, basically, what these earworms do is create a sort of itch in the brain. And as it is with all itches, the only way to get rid of this itch is to.... err..  scratch it; in this case by simply repeating that song over and over (..and over again).

The special thing, that makes a song an earworm, could be anything. It could be that the lyrics or the melody that has been set for the song evokes an emotional response in your brain, which makes you connect with it instantly. The use of a hook line, or a short line, that is constantly repeated in the song, definitely makes it easier to remember. And of course, when it is a song(even though the most terrible) that is being played out 24X7, on the radio, on the TV, it is hard to escape it, and it is highly likely that it will wriggle into your Mental Music Player(MMP). And from then on, it will be on your MMP playlist, playing on like a background score to your life; even if at the most inappropriate times.

Oh and also, it's hard to remove an earworm because the more you try to distract yourself, the harder it comes back at you. So the only thing you can do is: sing it, hum it, give yourself an overdose of the song, and hopefully your brain will tire of it. I mean, the song went in one ear, how much time can it really sit in there before your brain kicks it out from the other, right?!!

P.S.- I would like to thank my family and friends for having borne with my singing of such sticky tunes. Looking forward to such supportive behavior in the future as well...:)