Repeating Melody That Won't Go Away

[Anne]

I've been listening to Pavarotti cd's and his final aria from Lucia Di Lammermoor keeps playing in my head continually.

Does this ever happen to you?

[springrite]

"It's a Small World" from Disneyland. It kept playing in my head for 2 months after my visit to Disneyland. It's like a disease that won't go away.

On the good side, Salome's motif. I've had it in my head for 15 years.

[Lethevich]

For some reason one motif in Tannhäuser refuses to leave me, the most effective use of it in the "Dir, Göttin der Liebe, soll mein Lied ertönen" in act 2 scene 4. It's so tuneful and neat

[Hector]

Frequently.


At the moment it is a theme from one of Ries' symphonies.

[hornteacher]

"Non piu andrai" from The Marriage of Figaro.

[Kullervo]

Strangely, I usually don't have melodies stuck in my head, but interesting modulations or Proustian "little phrases" that run through my mind over and over. It is annoying in a way because it's not always apparent where I've heard them, but it is nice when I actually come across it in the original context — a little "aha!" moment.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I suffer from the same affliction, if such it is. Especially during or after repeated immersion in a particular piece. I had it very bad with Magnard's Third, the ineffably beautiful slow movement - one phrase wouldn't stop playing inside my head for days on end (with a few breaks, of course!)

[pjme]

It's a well known phenomenon.

Oorworm, Ohrwurm, ear worm...

The Germans use the word Ohrwurm to denote these cognitively infectious musical agents. Whenever somebody complains to you that he just can't keep the latest (pop) tune from running through his head, tell him he can dispel it by calling it by name and by thinking about the original German meaning, which captures some of the mnemonicalli parasitical connotations of the word, for Ohrwurm literally means "ear worm" and is also used to refer to a kind of worm that can crawl into the ear.
—Howard Rheingold, "Untranslatable words," The Whole Earth Review, December 22, 1987

Abba songs , children's ditties, and for the Dutch & Belgians among us the songs by K3 - three would-be-nice&childfriendly Flemish singers of Studio 100 fame ( they are huge in the Low countries) = all possible ear worms.. I really hate them for their phony friendliness . Do not ,I repeat DO NOT listen to their songs.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Abba songs , children's ditties, and for the Dutch & Belgians among us the songs by K3 - three would-be-nice&childfriendly Flemish singers of Studio 100 fame ( they are huge in the Low countries) = all possible ear worms.. I really hate them for their phony friendliness . Do not ,I repeat DO NOT listen to their songs.

Pity me - my little girl was crazy about K3 for a few years...

[Kullervo]

I suffer from the same affliction, if such it is. Especially during or after repeated immersion in a particular piece. I had it very bad with Magnard's Third, the ineffably beautiful slow movement - one phrase wouldn't stop playing inside my head for days on end (with a few breaks, of course!)

That's it — I'm buying the symphonies set on Brilliant. Thanks.

[Don]

What amazes me is when I start humming or hearing in my head a piece of music I don't even like.  Makes me think that my opinion was premature.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

That's it — I'm buying the symphonies set on Brilliant. Thanks.

I hadn't intended a recommendation, but... you won't regret it. Nos 3 and 4 are masterworks (and masterfully performed too by Sanderling). Listen to them first. The 4th especially is among the best French symphonies, period, up with the Franck and the Roussel Third, say.

[springrite]

What amazes me is when I start humming or hearing in my head a piece of music I don't even like.  Makes me think that my opinion was premature.

Not necessarily. Bad memorable melodies are the worst.