Have an Earworm on me
We’re back in Texas after meandering across New Mexico and Arizona over the past month or so. The only problem with our route (Interstate 8 from San Diego to Interstate 10 through El Paso) is the fact that it runs through El Paso. Which means there are lots of road signs for El Paso. Why would that be a problem, you ask? Because of earworms.
Earmworms are songs you just can’t get out of your head. Endless repetitions of even the best tunes and lyrics are guaranteed no-fun after the 50th loop. I happen to like fairly complicated songs, and usually only learn some of the words so it’ll be a chorus or at most one or two verses firmly lodged in my brain. In this case, it was "El Paso", by Marty Robbins. It’s a beautiful melody, a classic western theme, and far too catchy for me.
Every time I saw a sign for El Paso there went Marty, warbling away about his hapless lovesick cowboy and his very bad end. But wait: there’s more! Since I don’t learn songs all that well, about the 30th time or so another complicated melodic tune (that I know about half of) supplanted Marty with a Viking theme. It turns out that the words to “Song of the Shield-wall”, by Malkin Grey and Peregrynne Windrider, scan very well to the tune of “El Paso”, with only minor tweaks.
Click on the links at your own risk; I’m not responsible if you find yourself singing of Saxons in the Old West!
Earmworms are songs you just can’t get out of your head. Endless repetitions of even the best tunes and lyrics are guaranteed no-fun after the 50th loop. I happen to like fairly complicated songs, and usually only learn some of the words so it’ll be a chorus or at most one or two verses firmly lodged in my brain. In this case, it was "El Paso", by Marty Robbins. It’s a beautiful melody, a classic western theme, and far too catchy for me.
Every time I saw a sign for El Paso there went Marty, warbling away about his hapless lovesick cowboy and his very bad end. But wait: there’s more! Since I don’t learn songs all that well, about the 30th time or so another complicated melodic tune (that I know about half of) supplanted Marty with a Viking theme. It turns out that the words to “Song of the Shield-wall”, by Malkin Grey and Peregrynne Windrider, scan very well to the tune of “El Paso”, with only minor tweaks.
Click on the links at your own risk; I’m not responsible if you find yourself singing of Saxons in the Old West!