Earworm, Shmearworm

What plays over and over in your head? Do you, like me, have some sort of soundtrack playing pretty much all the time? I googled the phrase “music in your head” and came up with the term “earworm,” and articles about annoying snippets of pop music. The Wikipedia article mentioned some connection with OCD, (trust me to find the negative slant and latch on to it) and now I could spend all day worrying if this is just more proof there’s something wrong with me.

But honestly, I like the soundtrack for the most part. It usually consists of whatever music I am working on. If I’m in the middle of a season of opera or symphony rehearsals, that usually means I’m carrying my favorite moments around, listening to them over and over again. Sometimes a word catches my imagination, and it, too, will play like music: bijou, filiform, limn, foolscap, risible. Sometimes a phrase grabs me—maybe it is full of light or mystery or music—but whatever it is, I don’t want to let go of it: “Without a vision, the people perish.” “The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil.” “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

These, I figure, are the things my mind rolls around on its tongue, fingers like a smooth stone. Souvenirs, maybe.

Each of my children will regularly burst out into song at any given point of the day. Part of me wants to help them learn quickly that there is a time and place for public singing. But part of me just wants to enjoy the glimpse into what they’ve got running in their own heads—it’s like peeking into a secret box of treasures.

I just wish there was a different name for the tune you can’t get out of your head. Because sometimes there’s no reason for it to go.