12/26/2023 0 Comments Maurice linguist wife![]() For a couple of weeks, I had multiple tracks alternating continually between my ears. ![]() During a recent, stressful home renovation, I listened to nothing but Beatles' albums while shuttling back and forth between a hotel and home. Lately I seem to have taken the earworm to a new level. Since I'm prone/prey to psychologizing (and since there doesn't seem to be any definitive research on the etiology), I tend towards the view that they're triggered by stress or anxiety. I tend to get them in clusters, like migraine headaches. I have many thoughts on this, but I hate "writing" on a phone so they can wait for another day.įascinating topic. ![]() I note that its general meaning of "songs of SF fandom" is not as common in my circles, where it tends to only mean "songs parodying othe songs", in the style of Weird Al Yankovic (my hero!). "Filk" is a word you may enjoy researching. It seems to permit the brain to come unstuck, and either the worm decamps or else it latches on to the filk version, usually not for as long. I know of one relatively sure cure for an earworm: you write a filk (a parody) of the song. Thanks for this, Victor! A nice thought for the afternoon and a great intro to Taylor! July 11, 1:51 Apparently the editors of the "Grey Lady" thought the reference was to them: I find it hard to believe that that line is really meant as a reference to the Gray Lady, but maybe it is. Other sources I find online have it the same way. I note that the line in the chorus has "Times" capitalized, as if "New York Times" refers to the newspaper. I've never really given any attention to the lyrics to Stayin' Alive. Filed by Victor Mair under Language and music." The Etiology and Elaboration of a Flagrant Mistranslation" (12/09/07)." Morphophonetic aesthetics" (4/8/11) - discusses lexical earworm infections." Earworm of the week: Me and Bobby McGee" (9/13//21).So all I'm hearing now are these melodic lines (in close harmony and sustained chords to a loopy, disco beat): their improbable beginnings only add to the mystique. For such a monumentally talented and successful group. I also read their bios, how they were born on the Isle of Man to English parents, lived in Chorlton, Manchester, moved to Australia for awhile, then came back to England. There must be dozens of video versions of "Stayin' Alive", but this one will do to give an idea of their physical presence and awesome musical skills: Wonder what they look like, what's their background? When I get back home, I want to google them to see who they are, how they can create such distinctive music. ![]() I made a mental note to myself: These guys sound unreal. I was mesmerized by their uncannily close harmony, rich, sustained chords, and high male voices (falsetto? soprano?). I heard "Stayin' Alive" (1977) by the Bee Gees come on. Yesterday I was on a long trip in my Tacoma (usually I just say "in Tacoma", omitting the possessive), letting context clarify that it is my Toyota truck, not the city in Washington State. And now practically every time I turn on the radio, I hear Taylor Swift's "Karma", so I quickly get into double earworm territory. ![]() Unfortunately, in certain cases all it takes is to hear the name of or a line from an infectious song to trigger the ear worm, e.g., " Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club (for about the first hundred times I heard this song, I thought Boy George was saying "cama-cama-cama chameleon" and I had no idea what it meant (uh-oh, just entered a danger zone by saying that). (N.B.: I realize that there is at least one person on this list who detests slashes, but I find them useful for conveying a range of related meanings, among many other applications). Sometimes when I'm seriously affected / infected by one, it takes me weeks to get rid of the scourge, and I have to resort to all sorts of devices and deceptions to disinfect them from the space between my ears and the auditory cortex inside the lateral sulcus of the temporal lobe). ![]()
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