I may not have a visual imagination but I hear songs really clearly. Sometimes I get phrases or bits of poetry stuck too. Generally they don’t bother me unless they stick for days. Sometimes they are so strong they are there like background noise even if I listen to something else. Sometimes I indulge them. Sometimes I try to divert them into something else.

This is a small journal to keep track of them. I’m looking for common threads.

Amerie – 1 Thing

17th February 2023

I heard snippets of this over lockdown but never was able to find it. Here it is.

Mix Tapes and mash ups!

https://rave.dj/

The Charlatans – The Only One I Know

11th September 2021

Trigger – The Cleaner, a BBC comedy with Greg Davies as the lead character. This is what he listens to on headphones in the first episode. It made me want to listen to it on headphones.

The Only One I know is pretty much Hush, I like the Deep Purple version.

Tommy/The Who – See me, Feel me

6th September 2021.

Triggered from the film. I am having a bit of a Jack Nicholson season.

Seal – Kiss From A Rose

18th August 2021

Breakthrough – songs stick in my head if I don’t know the words. I replay them mentally to try to remember them. This song is an earworm because of the best Community episode ever.

Ba-da-da, ba-da-da-da-da-da, ba-da-da
Ba-da-da, ba-da-da-da-da-da, ba-da-da

There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea
You became the light on the dark side of me
Love remained a drug that’s the high and not the pill
But did you know that when it snows
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen?

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah
And now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the gray

Ba-da-da, ba-da-da-da-da-da, ba-da-da

There is so much a man can tell you, so much he can say
You remain my power, my pleasure, my pain, baby
To me you’re like a growing addiction that I can’t deny
Won’t you tell me, is that healthy, baby?
But did you know that when it snows
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen?

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the gray

I’ve been kissed by a rose on the gray
I’ve been kissed by a rose on the gray
I’ve been kissed by a rose on the gray
(And if I should fall, would it all go away?)
I’ve been kissed by a rose on the gray

There is so much a man can tell you, so much he can say
You remain my power, my pleasure, my pain
To me you’re like a growing addiction that I can’t deny
Now won’t you tell me, is that healthy, baby?
But did you know that when it snows
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen?

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the gray

Yes, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the gray

Ba-da-da, ba-da-da-da-da-da, ba-da-da

Now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the gray

Source: Musixmatch

Jethro Tull – A Song for Jeffrey

8th August 2021

Triggered after watching the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (1968)

Disappointed to find out everyone apart from Ian Anderson was miming and confused to see Tommy Iommi on guitar,

Gonna lose my way tomorrow
Gonna give away my car
I’d take you along with me
But you would not go so far

Don’t see what I do not want to see
You don’t hear what I don’t say
Won’t be what I don’t want to be
I continue in my way

Don’t see, see, see where I’m goin’
Don’t see, see, see where I’m goin’
Don’t see, see, see where I’m goin’ to
I don’t want to

Everyday I see the mornin’
Come on in the same old way
I tell myself tomorrow brings me
Things I would not dream today

Gonna lose my way tomorrow
Gonna give away my car
I’d take you along with me
But you would not go so far

Don’t see what I do not want to see
You don’t hear what I don’t say
Won’t be what I don’t want to be
I continue in my way

Don’t see, see, see where I’m goin’
Don’t see, see, see where I’m goin’
Don’t see, see, see where I’m goin’ to
I don’t want to

Cosmic Wheels, Donovan

7th July 2021

Trigger, season 4 of Good Girls, when the cop is getting ready to leave for work. I remember this album from my childhood. I love the cover which invites you to get out your cosmic colouring crayons or something like that. I probably thought there really was a firmament when I was young.

get out your cosmic crayons to paint firmament thank you Donavan

Image from http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/D/donovan_cosmic.html (thank you!)

Oh, God is playing marbles with his planets and his stars
Creating havoc through my life with his influence on Mars
That’s why I’m stumbling down the highway on my boots of steel
I should be rolling down the skyway on my cosmic wheels

Cosmic wheels, cosmic wheels, cosmic wheels

In the present position of the planets it’s impossible for me to say
Just when I’ll find my course again with these boulders in my way
I should be rolling down the skyway on my cosmic wheels
Instead of stumbling down this highway on my boots of steel

Cosmic wheels, cosmic wheels, cosmic wheels

That’s why I’m stumbling down the highway on my boots of steel
I should be rolling down the skyway on my cosmic wheels

Cosmic wheels, cosmic wheels, cosmic wheels

Oh, God is playing marbles…

Oh I wept, Free

4th July 2021, no trigger

Oh, I wept
For days
Filled my eyes
With silly tears
Oh, yea

But I don’t
Care no more
I don’t care if
My eyes get sore

I take my seat on the train, yea
And let the sun come melt my pain, yea
Come tomorrow, I’ll be far away
In the sunshine of another day

Worried mind
Makes it so hard to bear
Hard to live
And hard to care
Oh, yea-yea-yea-yea

But I don’t
Care no more
Don’t care if
My eyes get sore

I take my seat on the train, yea, oh-yea
Let the sun come melt my pain, oh
Come tomorrow, I’ll be far away, yea
In the sunshine of another
Day, yea-yea

Now I’ve left it
All behind
Ooh, I did not…

Turn It On Again, Genesis

3rd June 2021

I’m batching these because I seem to have 2 or 3 on the go at once. This one was a mis trigger. I was listening to a podcast about an ear worm where the presenter sang a few lines of his ear worm to people he called. I was sure it was Genesis but it was actually Joe Jackson.

Turn it on again has some super creepy lyrics:

All I need is a TV show, that and the radio
Down on my luck again, down on my luck again
I can show you, I can show you some of the people in my life
I can show you, I can show you some of the people in my life
It’s driving me mad just another way of passing the day
I, I get so lonely when she’s not there
I, I, I, I

You’re just another face that I know from the TV show
I have known you for so very long, I feel you like a friend
Can’t you do anything for me, can I touch you for a while
Can I meet you another day and we will fly away

I can show you, I can show you some of the people in my life
I can show you, I can show you some of the people in my life
It’s driving me mad, it’s just another way of passing the day
I, I get so lonely when she’s not there…

Second movement (Allegretto) of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus 92

3rd July 2021

I think I heard this in a film recently. I’m noticing that I’m walking to it’s beat.

Hey Hey My My, Neil Young

15th June 2021. No trigger

I had a little break from thinking about this but noticed that I rotate a few snippets of tunes. Currently I just have a few words of this in my head.

My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It’s better to burn out than to fade away
My my, hey hey

[Verse 1] Out of the blue and into the black
They give you this, but you pay for that
An’ once you’re gone you can never come back
When you’re out of the blue and into the black

[Verse 2] The king is gone, but he’s not forgotten
This is the story of a Johnny Rotten
It’s better to burn out than it is to rust
The king is gone, but he’s not forgotten

[Chorus] Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There’s more to the picture than meets the eye
Hey hey, my my

There are a couple of versions of this, one written in 1978 about Young’s fear of becoming musically obsolete and the other and the other about Vietnam. All this from Genius which is like a Wikipedia for music and I’m bookmarking it for later. https://genius.com/Neil-young-and-crazy-horse-hey-hey-my-my-into-the-black-lyrics#about

Introitus, Mozart’s Requiem

23rd April 2021, 2.30. The bit after the Exaudi’s and before Et lux perpetua, luceat eis. (and let perpetual light shine upon them). No trigger but I do sing this to the cats, substituting their names for the words I don’t know. Ex lux Scu um spawn…..

Requiem aeternam dona eis,
Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in
Jerusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis care veniet.
Requiem aeternam dona eis,
Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on
them.
You are praised, God, in Zion,
and homage will be paid to You in
Jerusalem.
Hear my prayer,
to You all flesh will come.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on
them.

The Sea, Morcheeba

22nd May 2021, I hate this fucking song. Trigger was some music in an advert.

Flocking to the sea Crowds of people wait for me Sea gulls scavenge Steal ice cream Worries vanish Within my dream I left my soul there, Down by the sea I lost control here Living free I left my soul there, Down by the sea I lost control here Living free Fishing boats sail past the shore No singing may-day any more The sun is shining The Water’s clear Just you and I walk along the pier I left my soul there, Down by the sea I lost control here Living free I left my soul there, Down by the sea I lost control here Living free A cool breeze flows but mind the wasp Some get stung it’s worth the cost I’d love to stay The city calls me home More hassles fuss and lies on the phone I left my soul there, Down by the sea I lost control here Living free I left my soul there, Down by the sea I lost control here Living free I left my soul there, Down by the sea I lost control here Living free I left my soul there, Down by the sea I lost control with you, And living, living, And I, living, by the sea

Never Ever, All Saints

18th May 2021, work up with it. I hadn’t realised that the earworms oscillate between each other.

A few questions that I need to know
How you could ever hurt me so?
I need to know what I’ve done wrong
And how long it’s been going on

Was it that I never paid enough attention?
Or did I not give enough affection?
Not only will your answers keep me sane
But I’ll know never to make the same mistake again

You can tell me to my face or even on the phone
You can write it in a letter, either way, I have to know
Did I never treat you right?
Did I always start the fight?
Either way, I’m going out of my mind
All the answers to my questions
I have to find

My head’s spinning
Boy, I’m in a daze
I feel isolated
Don’t wanna communicate
I’ll take a shower, I will scour
I will rub
To find peace of mind
The happy mind I once owned, yeah

Flexing vocabulary runs right through me…

Crazy in Love, Beyonce

17th May 2021, noon, no trigger. I looked up where the sample came from and it is epic.

I look and stare so deep in your eyes. I touch on you more and more every time. When you leave, I’m begging you not to go
Call your name two, three times in a row. Such a funny thing for me to try to explain. How I’m feeling and my pride is the one to blame
‘Cause I know I don’t understand. Just how your love can do what no one else can

Got me looking so crazy right now, your love’s (your touch). Got me hoping you’ll page me right now, your kiss. Got me hoping you’ll save me right now. Looking so crazy, your love’s. Got me looking, got me looking so crazy in love

Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, oh, no, no

When I talk to my friends so quietly. Who he think he is? Look at what you did to me. Tennis shoes, don’t even need to buy a new dress
If you ain’t there, ain’t nobody else to impress. It’s the way that you know what I thought I knew. It’s the beat that my heart skips when I’m with you. But I still don’t understand. Just how your love can do what no one else can

Young ‘Hov, y’all know when the flow is loco. Young B and the R-O-C, uh oh (oh). Ol’ G, big homey, the one and only
Stick bony, but the pocket is fat like Tony Soprano (oh no). The ROC handle like Van Axel. I shake phonies, man, you can’t get next to. The genuine article, I do not sing though. I sling though, if anything, I bling yo. A star like Ringo, war like a Green Beret. Crazy bring ya whole set. Jay Z in the range, crazy and deranged. They can’t figure him out, they like, “Hey, is he insane?”. Yessir, I’m cut from a different cloth
My texture is the best fur, chinchilla. I been iller than chain smokers
How you think I got the name Hova?
(Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, oh, no, no) I been realer, the game’s over
(Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, oh, no, no) Fall back, young, ever since I made the change over
(Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, oh, no, no) To platinum the game’s been wrap, one

Got me looking so crazy, my baby. I’m not myself, lately I’m foolish, I don’t do this. I’ve been playing myself, baby, I don’t care
‘Cause your love’s got the best of me. And, baby, you’re making a fool of me. You got me sprung and I don’t care who sees. ‘Cause, baby, you got me, you got me so crazy, baby

John Henry Split My Heart, Ohia

17th May 2021. Woke up with it at 6.30 am. No trigger.

I stood on the 66 Highway, Wysteria, Magnolia beside the green line track Said “Don’t come back”

I found myself standing on the mountain. Beneath my full moon heart. John Henry split this heart, split this full moon heart. Swing the heaviest hammer you got. Hit this one out of the park.

He says “Boy what you going to do, with your heart in two?” If it’s good enough, but only if it’s good enough, half I’m going to use to pay this band, half I’m saving because I’m going to owe them.