Earworm

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 7:57 pm

So, I'm sitting at my computer playing a solitaire card game, and I find myself humming this little tune.

My rommate asks me "what are you humming?" And I think about it and am forced to admit I have no idea. So I pick up the whistle, and after two false starts finding the first note, I can play the whole tune at speed, but I'm certain I've never learned it before.

The most I can wiggle out of my brain is that part of the tune goes with lyrics "fare thee well"...that's enough, and a 5 minute internet search brings me to a kid's song I haven't heard since I was..well, a kid: Polly Wally Doodle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Wolly_Doodle

You know, it's a shame I didn't grow up in Ireland so that I coulda done that with Jig of Slurs. Heh.

chas · Post by **chas** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 9:06 pm

Soon as you said "Fare thee well" I thought Polly Wolly Doodle. It's a very catchy tune.

I should point out that I was listening to Charles Ives tonight, and Polly Wolly Doodle almost certainly popped in for a few bars.

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 9:59 pm

Speaking of Americana earworms, I used to work on a shipping dock with an ex-Navy man, named Ed. Ed didn't say much, but he frequently sang one line of a tune, over and over again. I don't think that he knew what the tune was because he never finished it. One of the other workers on the dock called Ed, "gentle voices". Ed's earworm was "I hear those gentle voices". I thought to myself, Ed, how can you possibly not know the rest of the lyrics?

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:13 am

My god - this just came out of my ear!

I think it must be Abba

amar · Post by **amar** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 2:48 am

http://dulcimerdan.com/audio/pollywollydoodle.ram
and...

http://www.geocities.com/blackz_jack/15boney_hooray.rm

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:16 am

Doug_Tipple wrote:Speaking of Americana earworms, I used to work on a shipping dock with an ex-Navy man, named Ed. Ed didn't say much, but he frequently sang one line of a tune, over and over again. I don't think that he knew what the tune was because he never finished it. One of the other workers on the dock called Ed, "gentle voices". Ed's earworm was "I hear those gentle voices". I thought to myself, Ed, how can you possibly not know the rest of the lyrics?

Strange, just read the lyrics to "Old Black Joe" (from which "gentle voices" may have come from) and your story reminds me of the guy I use to work with that would whistle a part of "If I Only Had A Brain" at work when ever he was given an especially stupid task. I doubt that Ed was making a commentary on work though.

djm · Post by **djm** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:19 am

Must be cultural thing. When you mentioned the lyric "Fare thee well" I instantly thought of The Leaving of Liverpool.

djm

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:21 am

It could have also been "Old Joe Clark" but knowing the notes that go with the words probably changes things.

Wanderer wrote: Polly Wally Doodle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Wolly_Doodle

Interesting, D. D. Emmett from Bruce & Emmett's "The Drummers' and fifers" guide" wrote that song.

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 9:05 am

I.D.10-t wrote:
Doug_Tipple wrote:Speaking of Americana earworms, I used to work on a shipping dock with an ex-Navy man, named Ed. Ed didn't say much, but he frequently sang one line of a tune, over and over again. I don't think that he knew what the tune was because he never finished it. One of the other workers on the dock called Ed, "gentle voices". Ed's earworm was "I hear those gentle voices". I thought to myself, Ed, how can you possibly not know the rest of the lyrics?
Strange, just read the lyrics to "Old Black Joe" (from which "gentle voices" may have come from) and your story reminds me of the guy I use to work with that would whistle a part of "If I Only Had A Brain" at work when ever he was given an especially stupid task. I doubt that Ed was making a commentary on work though.

Yes, the tune that Ed had partially forgotten is "Old Black Joe", a Stephen Foster classic that every kid in the USA was exposed to early in grade school. Maybe Ed wasn't paying very good attention that day in class, looking out the window, dreaming of going fishing. On several occasions I tried to help him finish the lyrics with, "I'm coming, I'm coming, and my head is bending low. I hear those gentle voices calling, Old Black Joe". However, not long after that Ed had it reduced to "I hear those gentle voices".

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 4:39 pm

Definitely a cultural thing. I thought immediately of "Fare thee well, Enniskillen" - The Enniskillen Dragoons.

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 4:42 pm

Innocent Bystander wrote:Definitely a cultural thing. I thought immediately of "Fare thee well, Enniskillen" - The Enniskillen Dragoons.

So did I.

Slan,
D.