On Earworms

Earlier in the week, Jonathan Mayhew asked whether "earworms" were a purely musical phenomenon, or whether they applied to poetry as well.  The answer, I think, is that earworms are a product of intonation.  Someone says or sings something compellingly, and it echoes around your skull for the next couple of hours/days/weeks/months/years.  For example:

Someone who's attended all the Mets-Brewers games at Milwaukee's Miller Park and sits somewhere near the Fox Sports Net Wisconsin stadium microphone keeps yelling the same nonsensical phrase ... and now it's stuck in my head:

Announcer #1: And Reyes steps to the plate.

Announcer #2: This kid is fast.  I'm talking, the most exciting player in baseball.

Random Fan Near Stadium Microphone: THERE IS A HOLE!

Announcer #1: First pitch to Reyes is a ball.

Random Fan Near Stadium Microphone: IN THE SKY!

Announcer #2: He wants to set Reyes up with a change away.

Random Fan Near Stadium Microphone: THERE IS A HOLE!

Announcer #1: That's in there for a strike.

Random Fan Near Stadium Microphone: IN THE SKY!

I know, I know.  There's a hole in the sky.  I got it.  The way this random fan chants is almost melodic, like Yeats reading "Innisfree," and wouldn't you know it, I find myself near-humming his insanity now.  Between sentences both written and read, there's now a hole, in the sky.  Any more of this and those who think I lost it earlier will be proven correct.

Comments

[Sisyphus]

It wasn't so much thinking as hoping, Scott; it's a little dull here in the Southland lately and I was hoping a good rampage might liven things up.

And when I said "shooting lasers from his eyes" I meant something like this, but couldn't find my copy the other night.

Incidentally, the sports-related earworm I always get is the chant of "AIR-ball! AIR-ball!" which Dave Barry, in one of his columns, proved is always sung on the notes of A and F.

You know, you could probably make a two-part harmony of that and the "hole/ in the sky" chant and create the Ultimate Earworm.

[Tim Lacy]

The there-is-a-hole-in-the-sky fan at Miller Park sounds a lot like Wrigley Field's infamous Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers. When listening to a Cubs game, one used to be able to hear Wickers in the background chanting his melodic-but-mind-numbing "Woo Woo" all throughout. His chant transformed the "earworm" phenomena into an ear-tapeworm one. I think Ronnie's been banned from the park this year. Hopefully that won't result in another silly curse. - TL

[Christopher M]

There's a hole in the sky? An allusion to the Pixies?