Why do some songs mercilessly stick in our heads and repeat themselves over and over? What makes these hooks so hooky? And how does a songwriter will a song forth from the ether? In this episode, nightmarish stories of musical hallucinations, songs that transcend language, and the triumphant return of the Elvis of Afghanistan.
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16 Comments
Yay! It’s finally up! So what guest was offended about what again? LOL
Your topics are always fascinating and relevant, but this one was even more personal for me. For several years, when I was doing mindless tasks or completely absorbed in what I was doing, I would unconsciously begin humming “Camptown Races.” Never could figure out why.
Thanks, Radiolab, for another great program.
Charlie Parker would plug nickels into a jukebox and listen to Hank Williams songs. When asked why, he replied “Have you ever listened to the words?”
’bout sums it up for me. I dig country and bluegrass as much as jazz. It’s all about the story.
Is it just me or did this podcast cut out short for anyone else? The one I was streaming was 12:54 in length… What a shame, this is a fantastic episode!!
One comment on the interview with Bob Dorough; after playing the clips from Schoolhouse Rock! Robert suggested that all the songs played were written by Bob, but I’m Just A Bill was actually written by Dave Frishberg. Credit where credit is due!
Love the show, so glad this episode is up. You make my work day tolerable.
This show has some of the most fresh innovative use of sound-editing techniques I’ve ever heard! I predict it will start new trends for attracting younger listeners and eventually set the pace for radio shows of later generations.
I have a question though. I was looking on iTunes for the Elvis song synced up with Ahmad Zahir. Does anyone know the title to that song?
I think this is the first episode that made me cry. What a wonderful first podcast.
I am currently listening to this podcast and I am struck with regards to the similarities in my life.
I’ve been playing music since I was four years old, and as far back as I can remember I’ve had auditory hallucinations. But not of songs, not completely. I did hallucinate pop songs and the like, but most of my hallucinations were improvised. Random music would come to me and effortlessly I would sit back and hear a piece of music being created in my mind.
As I would lay down to go to sleep, the fleeting thoughts of music would intensify and some nights I would fall asleep with a new symphony, created by my subconscious, to entertain me for some reason.
I found it topical, thought I’d share. Keep up the amazing work WNYC!
-Devon Geyer
Ha! one of our panel told me about this podcast, it’s great - and by a really strange coincidence, I’m the guy who remixed the Toms Diner track you were humming. Spooky!
Just listened to the pop music episode yesterday (sigh…that means the last new one for a long time) and what did I have stuck in my head all last night? Why, “Downtown” of course! Thanks a lot, Radiolab. No, really. Thanks a lot. *wink
we’ll be looking forward to more radiolabs soon! Thanks for a fabulous show.
As usual, another great show.
Where’s the promised video of Greg Warner doing J0hnny C@sh in Afghanistan?
(Original performer’s name intentionally obfuscated)
This is far and away the most moving piece of radio I have ever heard. I was moved to tears, amazing work! I guess I picked a good first episode. Thank you for your time and effort, again, a beautiful piece of work as well as being fascinating.
Here you go Ron:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2008/03/21
Philip, the title of that Elvis song is “No More.”
fyi, for the curious on youtube someone has posted a mashup of Zahir (singing in English) and Elvis Presley.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t19t3jkbzOY
Great show, as usual!
I did have one. . . complaint?–more philosophical disagreement, maybe, with Jad’s comment that the brain scans of folks hallucinating music means that their hallucinations are more serious than normal song-in-the-head and also means they’re not faking it. There are two problems with this:
1. The study, as described, does not demonstrate that someone looking at brain scans can reliably tell the difference between “hallucinated” music and “song-in-the-head” music. There may be other studies that demonstrate that difference, but those weren’t presented. All *this* study demonstrates is that one cannot reliably distinguish between “hallucinated” and “listening-to” music on the basis of a brain scan in this study.
2. Do we really want to suggest that if hallucinations fail to produce *exactly* the same brain activation patterns as real stimuli that this means hallucinations are (a) not real or (b) being made up?
Take studies of schizophrenia in which hallucinated voices are found to show similar activations to real voices. Say the studies *hadn’t* turned out that way. Or, say, future studies find that there are subtle differences between hearing something and hallucinating it (which I would bet good money on). Would that mean people who are hallucinating are just making things up?
I really enjoy the use of neuroscience on this show, but I thought I detected a little bit of “if it’s in a brainscan, it’s even more real!” sort of tone there (cf. a previous blog entry on this site regarding people’s tendency to more easily believe a theory if brain scans are attached).
Anyway, I hope it’s nice to know that the show is thought-provoking to this degree.
can you please tell me more about pop music.