I know this Dale Brown. Have been in his house. Amazing the riches that mediocrity can bring. But I guess Billy Joel knows that, too.

Warning for those traveling thru Baltimore: Don't ever try to find a "classic rock" station in that town. All they play is Billy Joel and Elton John, over and over and over...

Joel is wrong...it's all about ball bearings nowadays.

By the way, can you make a housecall on Kenny G. after visiting Billy? Mucho Appreciado.

Ta

Be grateful -- you only have a finite number of Thanksgivings left.

Silly wabbit... there is too much cream
in your coffee to know about Soul.

This is the best! I've been laughing since the third paragraph or so. In a list of life's irritations the automatic song-replay button, that every brain is equipped with, has got to be in the top 5. Oy! The only cure is a pound of aspirin with a tequila chaser. Or a tire iron to the left temple. AAARRRGGGHHHH!

Piano Man is enough to incite murder.

However, Cat's in the Cradle by Chapin wins the horror contest for earworm madness.

Once, many years ago, I happened to remark to a friend, "[Such-and-such song] has been going through my head all day."

Without batting an eye he replied, "I'd shoot it off."

What are you complaining about? I had to sit through more playings that I have fingers and toes of Elton John's Tiny Dancer on Thanksgiving eve.
"I love that song! Play it again!!" my inebriated wife shouted over and over as I repeatedly jabbed my salad fork into my thigh.

I feel your pain.

Enya was suggested at one of my family get-togethers. When I made it clear that I would leave and take my cinnamon rolls with me, the crime was averted.

I may be one of the few people in the world who is not horrified by earworms.

This may be because I spent four years working at a summer camp, singing the most horrendous earworms known to mankind, and discovered a couple of things: the first is that there comes a point when you can sing a horrible song without listening to yourself, and the second is that you can derail any earworm by judicious mental application of a preferable earworm.

And I have a huge mental music catalog in my head, including the overture to Gilbert & Sullivan's Gondoliers.

In other words, don't ever sing annoying songs at me, because I can both trump you and drown you out. :D

"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is another earworm that's also "all about soul":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDm_ZHyYTrg

Enjoy!

I had the same experience last night at the bakery where I work as a Keebler Elf. One of the other elves brought in the Siberian Transfat Orchestrated or some such bilge spewing cd and proceeded to cause my current insanity. These musicians seem to think that singing the same three notes over and over again, like an acid rock version of Hot Cross Buns done in a soulful minor key with rhyming words...AAAAACCCCCK....my train of thought has derailed.

I think it was Dave Berry who was ranting once he couldn't get "MacArthur Park" (left the cake out in the rain-I don't think that I can take it, cause it took so long to bake it...) out of his head and he finally found peace by humming "God Save the Queen" very slowly and reflectively.

You can purge this horror with large doses of jazz. I recommend Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Keith Jarrett, John Lewis, Horace Silver, Gene Harris ...

Damn, Damn, Damn you. Why did you make me go and listen to that? Now I sit here wishing I tinitus to drown it out.

You could probably get rid of it by listening to "It's a Small World" a few times.

Instant cure for an earworm: "Vacation" by the Go-Gos. Pleasant enough, and for some reason, the song doesn't lend itself to aural burrowing.

Small World? No, no, NO!

I once did listen to it because I had to take my small daughter through it five tiimes at Disneyland.

Took me years to recover.

This is the only antidote to earworms, Karma Chameleon. Not only the song but a vision of Boy George also works.

My apologies.

Deborah, amen! I would simply add that the Modern Jazz Quartet did a number of recordings jazzing up Bach in such a way that you would have thought Bach MEANT for his music to be played like jazz. It is one of the best cures for recurrent redundancy if ever there was one. Dave Brubeck is also good for what ails ya.

Here, Gerard: This should do the trick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA

I saw Billy Joel in the 70s as the lead act to the Doobie Brothers. His arrogance, mediocrity, and contempt for the audience who simply wanted him gone left a lasting impression: I would spend my life dedicated to never once listening to his self-important musical spam, ever. Each morning I renew my vows, and to date have been faithfully celibate.

The cure is as others have suggested: replace the brain worm with something of far higher value; blues is my current drug of choice.

That's it Jewel. I'm putting you on THE LIST!

Geez, Gerard! I was already banned by Nancy at little groin ball sacks.

wailing heavy metal guitars cures me,

My all-time best ear worm breaker is "Friend of the Devil", as performed by the Grateful Dead. Sing it slow, fast, whatever, but if I repeat it enough times, the bad worm disappears.

Nothing's worse than a bad earworm coupled with an even tackier mental image--think "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" with the "Christmas Carol" episode of Quantum Leap. Now think of it starting just after Halloween and running until the Super Bowl. When it starts on Labor Day I'll either have to shoot myself or end up naked on some rooftop with a deer rifle, several boxes of ammo and a crate of Molotov cocktails....

Damn you! I had never heard "All About Soul". Now, having done so I just want to cry. Or throw up. Or something.

Here's the power of the internet:

Two years ago, B. Durbin wrote
"...summer camp, singing the most horrendous earworms known to mankind..." and now I'm infected with
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmitt ... da da da da da da da.

Well, on the other hand, at least you didn't have to listen to "Seasons in the Sun".

We had joy we had fun
We had seasons in the sun ...

Whoops. Sorry!

The Banana Song, on a SRO school bus of first graders, sung loudly on a field trip.
You won't listen to music for quite a while.

Wasn't it Chuck Klosterman who wrote that Billy Joel is "great" but he's not "good"?

No wonder pop stars have substance abuse habits, I can barely stand listening to it without needing a drink, I can only imagine how horrible the damage must be having to perform it repeatedly. (I shut it off midway to avoid earworm, but for those looking for a musical tonic (of sorts) and perhaps a bit more aesthetically pleasing (I realize musical tastes vary as widely as individuals), Hopefully this will do the trick nicely: "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWFuzjqJYpY"

Failing that go for the full old school brain salad surgery: "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVu9qIIkdGs"
(yes the synthesizer is cheesy by 21st century standards, but Greg Lake can SING)
Good Luck! & let's be careful out there on the innertubes, and as always - many thanks to our gracious host, GVDL for keeping us entertained and enlightened.

After all these years of thinking it was a matter of trust?

If you have bad lyrics
That turn you're brains to mush'
I have a bad solution that will make the demon hush.
The Candy Man.
Oh yes, the Candy Man can.
The Candy Man can, cause he turns what's left of sanity into a saccharine slush.

The former Mr. Brinkley now has a bike shop out on Lhong Giland where he will build you a custom mediocrity if you are a fellow mediocrite like Bruce Springsteen.

"Small World? No, no, NO! ...I had to take my small daughter through it five tiimes at Disneyland. Took me years to recover."

Bummer, Gerard...

I think this dudes got you beat:

-----

"Disneyland Awards Man $8,000 After Horrific 'It's A Small World' Experience

An attorney says a disabled man was awarded $8,000 by Disneyland after the "It's A Small World" ride broke, stranding him for a half hour while the theme song played continuously.

Lawyer David Geffen says Jose Martinez didn't medically stabilize for three hours after the ride broke down in 2009."

More Joel-Wipe-Out medicine:

Antonio Carlos Jobim: His tune called "My Friend Ramades"

The mystery is how Brazilians can make melodies full of joy and sadness at the same time...@

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxCTEEOOcLE