Mrs. Dr. Rob was singing the song \”Goober Peas\” one evening last week. I was fortunate enough to get through childhood unscathed by that song, but her repeated singing of it lodged it in my frontal lobe (I suspect its tendrils were embedded throughout my brain), and I was humming a song I did not know for the rest of the evening.
![\"goober_and_the_peas_band_3bedited\"](\"http://distractible.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/goober-and-the-peas-band-3bedited.jpg\")
This is a picture of the group, Goober and the Peas. See if you can pick out which one is Goober.
![\"300px-Goober_01\"](\"http://distractible.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/300px-goober-01.jpg\")
Apparently this song is a Civil War song that was very popular in the Confederacy. I have never seen this sited as a reason the south lost the war, but I suspect this song was running through their head so much that it was better to run in front of a union cannon than continue to have this song running through one\’s head.
Why does that happen? Why does my mind devote some of its ever-decreasing number of neurons to save this information? Here is what my extensive research (Google) found:
The vast majority of people say they have been mentally tortured at one point in their lives by a song that keeps repeating itself over and over in their heads.
And new research shows that people most frequently plagued by this phenomenon are those with slightly neurotic tendencies , and people who enjoy and listen to music often.
These mental broken records are also more likely to play the first or last song we hear in different situations, such as the first song that comes on in the morning alarm, or the last song playing before we turn off the car, study findings show.
Songs that topped the list as being most likely to stick around in someone\’s head included the Baha Men\’s \”Who Let the Dogs Out?\” and the Chili\’s restaurant jingle about Baby Back Ribs.
But the number one song rated most likely to cause this phenomenon, referred to as an \”earworm\” in Germany, is \”other\”–indicating that many different songs can become stuck in our heads.
\”Just about anything can get stuck in people\’s heads,\” study author Dr. James Kellaris of the University of Cincinnati told Reuters Health.
\”We each have our personal demonic tunes that get stuck in our heads, I guess,\” he added.
From Reuters
They don\’t mention Goober Peas. I find it interesting that it says that those with slightly neurotic tendencies and people who enjoy and listen to music often are the most afflicted. What if you are musical and more than slightly neurotic? I think I am in trouble. I have stupid song flypaper in my brain.
![\"khan\"](\"http://distractible.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/khan-thumb.jpg\")
WebMD ran an article that also calls these songs \”earworms,\” which reminds me of the movie \”Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan,\” where they put a worm in a guys ear to make mind control possible. I think this happened to me at some point when I was not looking.
Here is a list of the top-10 earworms (from WebMD):
- Other. Everyone has his or her own worst earworm.
- Chili\’s \”Baby Back Ribs\” jingle.
- \”Who Let the Dogs Out\”
- \”We Will Rock You\”
- Kit-Kat candy-bar jingle (\”Gimme a Break …\”)
- \”Mission Impossible\” theme
- \”YMCA\”
- \”Whoomp, There It Is\”
- \”The Lion Sleeps Tonight\”
- \”It\’s a Small World After All\”
Still no mention of Goober Peas (or the tenacious March of the Baby Elephants).
I started thinking on this goofy train of thought when I was in a room with a patient who had just moved back into town after being away for a number of years. I remembered all sorts of information about her and her family, surprising her. My mind is very good at remembering little details. For instance, I remember what room I saw every patient in last. I find that when I see a patient on my schedule, I can picture them in the room I last saw them.
![\"homer\"](\"http://distractible.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/homer.jpg\")
I want to know why this happens? Why does my brain dedicate its precious scarce resources to remembering things like this, and not remembering where I put my keys? Why do I have to put out an APB every morning, calling on the State Police and National Guard, to find my keys?
If someone can figure this out, I suspect most of the problems in this world would go away. I wonder if Osama Bin Laden has \”YMCA\” going through his head, which causes him to label the US as the \”Great Satan\”.
I would actually agree with him on that one… if I could only get \”Goober Peas\” out of my head.
I love your blog: You always make me laugh out loud; thank you! Interestingly, this even happens to me, and I”m almost deaf. I can’t listen to music, but I remember music from “before”, and I play all the stuff I remember as sort of a soundtrack in my head, singing to myself.
I love your blog: You always make me laugh out loud; thank you! Interestingly, this even happens to me, and I”m almost deaf. I can’t listen to music, but I remember music from “before”, and I play all the stuff I remember as sort of a soundtrack in my head, singing to myself.
can’t believe you left on the Toys-R-Us theme –“I don’t wanna grow-up,
I’m a toys-r-us kid
Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, NA
From bikes to trains to video games,
it’s the biggest to store there is – GEE WHIZ
I don’t wanna grow-up cause maybe if I did
I couldn’t be a toys-r-us kid
more bikes, more trains, more toys or boy!
I wanna be a toys-r-us kid.”
http://www.waittimes.blogspot.com
can’t believe you left on the Toys-R-Us theme –“I don’t wanna grow-up,
I’m a toys-r-us kid
Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, NA
From bikes to trains to video games,
it’s the biggest to store there is – GEE WHIZ
I don’t wanna grow-up cause maybe if I did
I couldn’t be a toys-r-us kid
more bikes, more trains, more toys or boy!
I wanna be a toys-r-us kid.”
http://www.waittimes.blogspot.com
My ear worms are the “puppy chow, for a full year, till he’s full grown” song and the Fig Newton song “Ooey, gooey, rich and chewy inside, tender cakey golden flaky outside…”AArgg!
My ear worms are the “puppy chow, for a full year, till he’s full grown” song and the Fig Newton song “Ooey, gooey, rich and chewy inside, tender cakey golden flaky outside…”AArgg!
Of course the problem with this is that every time someone tells me their ear-worms, I start singing that song. Ugh.
Of course the problem with this is that every time someone tells me their ear-worms, I start singing that song. Ugh.
On another blog a few weeks back we were discussing looney tunes music, specifically the operas, noting that Bugs and Elmer have introduced more American kids to opera than all the music classes put together. Could I get the music out of my head? On top of that, could I get the images of Bugs dressed as Brunhilde, barber chairs raising up to the sky etc.? Nope, not for hours. And now it will probably start again.
On another blog a few weeks back we were discussing looney tunes music, specifically the operas, noting that Bugs and Elmer have introduced more American kids to opera than all the music classes put together. Could I get the music out of my head? On top of that, could I get the images of Bugs dressed as Brunhilde, barber chairs raising up to the sky etc.? Nope, not for hours. And now it will probably start again.
I won’t even mention the evil earworm at Disneyland, because it’s, y’know, such a small world.
I remember a short story about a computer programmer trying to find the similarities among those songs that stuck, figuring if he found the perfect combination he could make millions selling the song. They found him zonked in front of his computer, brain-fried from having discovered it, never to have control of his brain again.
I won’t even mention the evil earworm at Disneyland, because it’s, y’know, such a small world.
I remember a short story about a computer programmer trying to find the similarities among those songs that stuck, figuring if he found the perfect combination he could make millions selling the song. They found him zonked in front of his computer, brain-fried from having discovered it, never to have control of his brain again.
We all have our “jukebox” music ringing in our heads. I was fascinated with the CAT scan in your last piece. It caught my eye, and then I realized it was of HOMER SIMPSON’s head. The visual imagery, the mouth is bigger than the brain (also shaped like a brain, and the vacuous cranium with a “small brain”.
We all have our “jukebox” music ringing in our heads. I was fascinated with the CAT scan in your last piece. It caught my eye, and then I realized it was of HOMER SIMPSON’s head. The visual imagery, the mouth is bigger than the brain (also shaped like a brain, and the vacuous cranium with a “small brain”.
Sue– Hoo boy that brings back memories! Elmer singing..’ Oh Brunhilda, you’re so wuvweee…. be my WUV! Spear & magic helmet!!!
Sue– Hoo boy that brings back memories! Elmer singing..’ Oh Brunhilda, you’re so wuvweee…. be my WUV! Spear & magic helmet!!!
My Aunt taught me “I’m Henry the 8th I am” a long time ago instructing me to sing it to my Mother. I was three and convinced my Mother would like it. Now it’s my ear worm occasionally, that and KC and the Sunshine Band, and other obscure 70’s music. The fun part is loving music and being neurotic. At least I’m always entertained.
My Aunt taught me “I’m Henry the 8th I am” a long time ago instructing me to sing it to my Mother. I was three and convinced my Mother would like it. Now it’s my ear worm occasionally, that and KC and the Sunshine Band, and other obscure 70’s music. The fun part is loving music and being neurotic. At least I’m always entertained.
If you can’t get a ditty out of your head there’s always the beer…on the walls.
If you can’t get a ditty out of your head there’s always the beer…on the walls.
I’ve been rehearsing Mozart’s Requiem for the past few months for a concert I gave last week, and found myself running certain movements over and over in my head while I was sleeping, which did not made for a restful night. Mozart has a repetitive quality that can get stuck in the brain, just like Goober Peas.
I also sometimes find myself singing my cell phone ring tone in my head, which is no tune that is recognizable.
I’ve been rehearsing Mozart’s Requiem for the past few months for a concert I gave last week, and found myself running certain movements over and over in my head while I was sleeping, which did not made for a restful night. Mozart has a repetitive quality that can get stuck in the brain, just like Goober Peas.
I also sometimes find myself singing my cell phone ring tone in my head, which is no tune that is recognizable.
Goober (Dan Miller) is in the white suite. You may recognize him from the Johnny Cash movie “Walk the Line”. He played the guitar player Luther. Not included in the photo is their last drummer before the group broke up ( a very sad day)- Jack White of the White Strips. Maybe Miss Dr. Rob should be singing there hillbilly hit, “Hot Hot Women and Cold Cold Beer”.
Goober (Dan Miller) is in the white suite. You may recognize him from the Johnny Cash movie “Walk the Line”. He played the guitar player Luther. Not included in the photo is their last drummer before the group broke up ( a very sad day)- Jack White of the White Strips. Maybe Miss Dr. Rob should be singing there hillbilly hit, “Hot Hot Women and Cold Cold Beer”.