Stuck in the 1980's

[fauxklore]

My mental soundtrack seems to have gotten stuck in the 1980's today. The morning's earworm was Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer" and the afternoon's was Blue Oyster Cult's "Burning For You." Oddly, I don't remember listening to either of those while they were actually hits.

I suppose it could be worse. It was about 1981 when I first heard "Hawaiian Cowboy" and that involves yodeling.

(I have a long list of more serious things to write about, but I also have a "to-do" list which has stretched to four pages, so expect frivolity.)

Comments

[guyklose.livejournal.com]

That's funny -- I've never heard a non-musician refer to it as an "earworm" (although I'd have to admit that your music-loving credentials far surpass most musicians I know).

It is a well-known fact that earworms can only be displaced by other earworms, preferably one that would cancel the first (presumably by them eating each other, leaving nothing more than a tiny bit of earworm waste in their place). The trick is to figure out the complementary earworm.

It is also a well-known fact that the single most insipid earworm ever invented is the song "It's A Small World". There is no known complementary earworm for that one. Only time will kill it. However, some tourists are known to be driven mad, to the point of converting their entire wardrobes to Mickey-Wear, until they settle into a blissful "Happiest Place on Earth" coma. The cold "slap in the face with reality" happens when the charge card statements are opened and one comes to the bitter conclusion that the "Happiest Place on Earth" would be a much happier place if the cartoon mouse didn't have his three fingers and opposable thumb thrust so deeply into your pocket.

But I digress.

Earworms. Be careful. They can damage your hearing something awful.

[fauxklore]

I did have several (non-consecutive) years of piano lessons and a couple of years of viola, as well as having a brother who is a professional pianist. (And a cousin who would have been the Jewish Elvis but for the payola scandals.)

I'm not sure where I picked up the term "earworm" from but I've used it for a few years now.

You have never lived in Los Angeles so you don't realize that the real most insidious earworm of all time is the "Del Taco" jingle.

[guyklose.livejournal.com]

Well, you're right. I've been to Anaheim and San Diego, but have never been assaulted by a Del Taco jingle. But in my defense, I'd have to say I've never seen anyone come back from the west coast having had their entire wardrobe redone in Del Taco t-shirts! :-)

My "non-musician" comment was probably too harsh (I do remember you talking about lessons in the past) -- I really meant working musicians, where earworms are an occupational hazard. For example, I was at a rehearsal last night, and spent the night sleeping with not one, but two earworms stuck inside: "Laura" and "Tanga" (the latter being a Dizzy Gillespie samba). They were (still are) quite content shacking up together, and have done no cancelling of each other at all.