When exactly did people start talking about “ear worms” as opposed to saying they had a song “stuck in their head.” Apparently ear worm first appeared in print in a 1978 novel by Desmond Bagley titled Flyaway, but I think it took a very long time to trickle down to general usage. Maybe it’s got something to do with the increasing use of ear buds.
I still prefer to say that music’s “stuck in my head” because that’s where it is, in the brain; the ears don’t necessarily come into it. And lately while walking I’ve been stuck on the song “Stripsearch” by Faith No More, and I think it has something to do with the fact that when I sing the song in my head I also see the video in which Mike Patton walks through parts of Berlin.
It’s difficult to commemorate musicians and composers. A statue doesn’t really convey anything musical, though there are a couple close to where I’m currently living.
There’s Bela Bartok in South Kensington
And Vaughan Williams in Chelsea Embankment Gardens. You can see the whites of his eyes!
But has there ever been a better musical tribute than this one? The Nicky Hopkins memorial bench, seen while walking in Perivale.
I had a vague hope that the keys on the bench were somehow “real” and you could sit down and music would start to play. Sometimes I want too much.
And I still haven't stopped "hearing" Stripsearch. The video is here:
