Brainworm

Music is playing inside my head

Over and over and over again

My friend, there's no end to the music

~Carole King

Oliver Sacks is referred to by The New York Times as the "poet laureate of medicine". In his book Musicophilia he has coined a term for when "a certain fragment of music repeats itself incessantly, sometimes maddeningly for days on end." He calls this a "brainworm".  He says a brainworm is usually a short well-defined phrase, of three or four bars.  These bars circle around in the mind for hours and even days, before they fade because they are involuntary musical imagery out of our control.  He says the incessant repetition can be very bothersome and intrusive and you can even get trapped inside the tempo of the song.

But also, Sacks says, a brainworm can bring a smile to your face, and maybe even to those around you as you hum aloud. Brainworms don't have to be annoying.

I think they can inspire when they are shared.  Care to share yours?