Ringing In My Ear

Posted on August 26, 2014 under Storytelling with 3 comments

Got a tune stuck in your ear?

“If music be the food of love, play on …”

Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare

Have you ever thought what life would be like without music?  How would primary school teachers survive without teaching the classics like “Old MacDonald Had a Farm?”  Church can be pretty boring by times.  Luckily, a great choir can lift people’s spirits and occasionally lift the congregation out of their seats.  How would sports teams possibly psyche themselves up without the ever present din pouring through the loudspeakers?

For many people, music is every bit as important to their well-being as food and water.

But every once in a while, music can overwhelm us to the point where we want to put a large gag in it.

Can you say earworm?

In case you’re not familiar with the jargon, an earworm is a catchy tune that runs continually through one’s mind.  I don’t often receive complaints from my loyal readers but the other day I mentioned the Beatles tune “Ticket to Ride” in one of my stories.  I often do this as a song can often set the tone for the story.  In this case, this individual complained bitterly that the refrain was firmly stuck in her head and couldn’t find the escape hatch.

I always have a song or two that get lodged in my cranium.  There’s only one thing worse than earworm and that’s an earworm on steroids.  It’s bad enough to have Brian Adams’ “Summer of ‘69” repeating itself like something out of the movie “Groundhog Day”.  But add to this “What Am I Doing Hangin’ Round” by The Monkees and you can almost send yourself silly.

I will be the first to admit that I wasn’t all that crazy about everything that came out of Vatican 2.  One of the things they did away with, by and large, was the use of Latin during mass.  This included Latin hymns, which have always been my absolute favorites.  So when the cathedral choir sings the “Ave Verum” once or twice a year I find myself replaying the song for days, and in some cases, weeks on end.   I swear that someday I’m going to be picked up and carted off when someone hears me singing in a foreign tongue while walking to work.

And every so often a song comes along that radio stations beat to death like “Tubthumping” or “Who Let the Dogs Out” and an entire town can have a case of collective earworm.

As I am a senior, I can say without any hesitation (or shame), that I get up once every night for a trip to the bathroom.  And do you know what song instantly enters my head when I flick on the bathroom light?  “I’m Not Ready to Go” by The Trews.   If three of the band members were not blood relatives I would track them down and threaten them with bodily harm unless they guarantee me that this song will never be played again by a public broadcaster.

That’s the tune I’m singing today.

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