I hate to say this, but for me it just has to run its course. The only thing that has ever worked is when, for whatever reason, a different song gets stuck in my head. The first one will be gone, but it's been replaced by some other song.

Sent by Andi | 5:21 PM ET | 04-24-2008

Maybe listen to something else (spoken word perhaps) REALLY LOUDLY and very intently to compete for dominance. A battle may rage for a little while, but hopefully the song will accept defeat after a while. Good luck!

Sent by Alison | 6:41 PM ET | 04-24-2008

i don't think this will help at all, but it's related and amusing.

Sent by aaron | 7:03 PM ET | 04-24-2008

There is only 1 way to manually remove a song from one's head: Get an EVEN CATCHIER ONE IN IT. Ace of Base's "The Sign" works for me.

Sent by Brendan K. | 7:05 PM ET | 04-24-2008

it didn't embed the video in my post... here it is. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xu_6hdGZ6gU

Sent by aaron | 10:10 PM ET | 04-24-2008

You need a go to song, a song to get stuck in your head to push the others out

Mine is 'Dancing in the dark' by the boss.

Sent by Louis | 10:56 PM ET | 04-24-2008

This is one of the better songs with words and music by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman and Michel Legrand Compare this original version of the Thomas Crown Affair with its remake. Then compare this poetic ballad with this decade's 'band' music.
No wonder there's a revolution going on to bring back good songwriting - Long live the revolution in the arts! PS Most think traveling in a glider is quiet. It's in reality one of the noisiest plane rides you'll ever have as the wind whips over the wings!

Sent by Tom Hendricks | 11:32 PM ET | 04-24-2008

Chatting with Portishead would probably stop even hiccups for me :D
Otherwise, try to sing a spelling song :D You know, A, B, C...D, E, F :D:D:D
Well, to be honest, it's not gonna work but it's fun ;D Like Brendan said, something even catchier will work :D

Sent by Lenka Bliss | 2:29 AM ET | 04-25-2008

Recently, I've been walking around constantly singing songs of The Avett Brothers. Though usually I enjoy having good music stuck in my head! A head full of good music is almost as good as listening.

Sent by Parker Jones | 6:20 AM ET | 04-25-2008

Songs like women...the best way to get over the last one....is with the next one...

so take a random stab at that stack of cd's you've yet to get around to....and pray!

Sent by Brendon | 8:36 AM ET | 04-25-2008

Your only hope is to find another song to get stuck in your mind. Try the latest RadioLab podcast for suggestions: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2008/03/21

Sent by Steve | 8:58 AM ET | 04-25-2008

I have had "Someone Great" by LCD Soundsystem in my head for at least 3 days. At least it is a song I really enjoy. Like Andi said, it just has to run its course. It will be replaced with another song soon enough.

Sent by Bobby | 9:36 AM ET | 04-25-2008

Dang, son. That's easy. The most tried and true remedy is all natural. Smoke a big joint and I assure you that you will have much more than just that one song in your head.

Sent by ras3 | 10:03 AM ET | 04-25-2008

Start a kind of musical waterfall. Take the original and go out on potential tangents. Ideas for this great song:
- Oscar Peterson, the late great jazz pianist, did a cover of this movie song. He also did an album of West Side Story. (I'm not quite sure what album the 'Windmills' cover is on)
- Michel Legrand wrote a ton of great music for films. I watched the melodramatic technicolor French movie "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" for a class once. Definitely worth a listen.
- Legrand's niece is in the indie pop group Beach House. Their last album Devotion is pretty good (and has been feature on the show).

Those are just some ideas to start. If you're going to get a song stuck in your head, you might as well use it to send you in a new direction.

Sent by Seth | 10:26 AM ET | 04-25-2008

You have to sing Gary Indiana from the Music Man.

Oh Great!, now i got that one implanted

bb

Sent by B | 10:33 AM ET | 04-25-2008

Radiolab just did a show on this:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2008/03/21

I use "Bolero" to get the music out. It gets stuck too, but somehow it's not objectionable.

Sent by Michael McGinnes | 2:32 PM ET | 04-25-2008

And why can't we get our favorite songs imbedded? Why is that Ashlee Simpsons "L.O.V.E." can get caught there for like a month and I can't get Knopfler's "Skateaway" stuck there instead?

I think a cocktail of Lunestra, Pinot Grigio and "In Treatment" reruns helps. It may not knock the song out, but you might sleep for a dozen hours or so.

Sent by Tom EG | 2:53 PM ET | 04-25-2008

is this the song?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L6VbbSG29w

Sent by Jacob | 4:52 PM ET | 04-25-2008

listen to the theme to "Captain Kangaroo" for 15 minutes. That'll do it, or, this track I remember from the 1980s that goes "When I get depressed, I buy things. Not just ANY things - I BUY SHOES!!!"
thanks for taking me down memory lane Henry.

(Henry is an old friend reminding me of a piece of music i wrote with Impossible Theater, the theater company I was in)

bob

Sent by Henry Warwick | 9:23 PM ET | 04-25-2008

Hi Bob,
For a creativity exercise with a group of 3rd-graders, I asked them to pretend that their mind was a big chalkboard, full of random (and sometimes negative) stuff, so I asked them to mentally erase the chalkboard while I counted to 15. Afterward, one of the kids said "My mind is completely blank." So you may want to try that. Or you may want to listen to some nice instrumental music. . .

Sent by Becky Archibald | 11:25 AM ET | 04-26-2008

I once saw this on CW's morning news (keep in mind that this is CW). I forgot what they were talking about but someone had said that you can get the song unstuck if you sing it aloud to someone else. Maybe it only works because you pass it on to that person. Ha ha.

Sent by tiff | 3:48 PM ET | 04-26-2008

Think of "My Sharona." It will get the other song out of your head without getting itself stuck in your head.

Also works with the guitar part from CCR's "Down on the Corner."

Sent by Gary | 4:21 PM ET | 04-26-2008

My Dad used to play this song on the piano when I was growing up so I understand the capability it has to get stuck on your inner turn tabel. Listening to something as equally catchy may work. Try something completely different like Madonna circa 1986 or so. She always works for me!

Sent by Karen McKinstry O'Connor | 8:33 AM ET | 04-27-2008

try listening to the sweet tunes of goodbyestereo... check him out at goodbyestereo.com. all the LOVE>XXXXX

Sent by maisy | 7:23 PM ET | 04-27-2008

This always happens to me when I'm running about 3 hours shy of my minimum daily required amount of sleep and/or hungover. Cures include a b-vitamin infused fruit smoothie drink and a 10 minute catnap in the broom closet (or under the soundboard as the case may be). If that doesn't work, try "Tarzan Rubberband".

sj

Two words: Tarzan Rubberband.

Sent by Shannon | 1:30 PM ET | 04-28-2008

Listen to the song all the way though, and then continue on to another song. If you want one to get stuck in your head, listen to the song and when it's about to your favorite spot or the chorus, kill it. Good internal background music is good to have sometimes.

Sent by Colin | 2:07 PM ET | 04-28-2008

The greatest cure for all songs stuck in your head is "Come on Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners. Perhaps you'll end up with IT stuck in your head, but I guarantee that you won't be singing the above any longer.

Sent by ragdoll | 2:19 PM ET | 04-28-2008

Ah yes, the old "music wedgie". I hate it when that happens.

Sent by shelly hulce | 4:02 PM ET | 04-28-2008

My husband suffers from this frequently. He was recently told by a musical engineer that the only way to stop it is to substitute inane lyrics to the melody. And guess what? It works!

Sent by Lisa Katovich | 9:40 AM ET | 04-29-2008

Oliver Sacks has some great writing about "Ear Worms" in his book "Musicophilia". For me, the fastest and most effective method of losing one that's stuck is to go to the piano and peck it out (I don't play). Usually the process of learning the melody will push it out in now time. Of course, a go-to never hurts, either!

Sent by Mark | 12:46 PM ET | 04-29-2008

There are actually a couple of neat things out there now. Try binaural beats or just plain static, white noise, brown noise, or pink noise.

I often use brown noise to get rid of excess thoughts (not ever songs, but I assume it should work the same).

Sent by Matt | 10:24 PM ET | 04-29-2008

Listen to "Lark's Thrak" by Robert Fripp as performed by the League of Crafty Guitarists on "Intergalactic Boogie Express -- Live in Europe 1991".

This piece of music will clean out every pore of your ear. But it has a rock and roll section to make up for that!

Sent by David | 12:39 AM ET | 04-30-2008

Ask the folks over at "Radio Lab" @ wnyc.

Sent by george | 8:36 AM ET | 04-30-2008

As a casual XC skier my wife talked me into a 22 kilometer race to the shores of Lake Superior in Northern Michigan in 1999. I was listening the night before to Neil Young's "Cripple Creek Ferry".

The rhythm of my ski stride matched the rhythm of Cripple Creek Ferry and for awhile it was great! After the first kilometer I tried to switch songs in my head and it wouldn't go away.

I calculated afterwards that over 22 kilometers I completed an estimated 6,100 strides. I thought I was going to die...not from exhaustion but mental anguish. It was almost like an out of body experience, one compartment of my brain would run commentary on the other part playing this song..."Why don't you stop, can't you switch to something else, there are more contemporary songs you know...", all the while...

Hey, hey
Cripple Creek ferry
Butting through
the overhanging trees
Make way
for the Cripple Creek ferry
The waters going down
it's a mighty tight squeeze.

All alone the captain stands
Hasn't heard
from his deck hands.
The gambler tips his hat
and walks towards the door.
It's the second half
of the cruise.
And you know he hates to lose.

Hey, hey Cripple Creek ferry
Butting through
the overhanging trees
Make way
for the Cripple Creek ferry
The waters going down
it's a mighty tight squeeze.

Sent by Casey Cregg | 5:38 PM ET | 05-01-2008

Hey, hey Cripple Creek ferry...

Sent by Casey Cregg | 2:22 PM ET | 05-02-2008

can't beat the girl from ipanema for musical panacea

Sent by mike woodworth | 5:57 AM ET | 05-04-2008

....It's the second half of the cruise, and you know he hates to lose.

Sent by In Need of Help | 12:43 PM ET | 05-06-2008

The ultimate song to get another one unstuck from your head is:

"Y.M.C.A." by The Village People.

Aarrgh! Now I've got that one stuck!

Sent by Hal Durland | 2:54 PM ET | 05-06-2008

I realize that it's been a few weeks since this was originally posted, but I have to tell you that any Burt Bacharach song from any era will act as mental sorbet and remove even the most deadly of ear worms! But the best part is, it doesn't linger behind! It gently removes the "YMCA"s and the "Oklahoma"s from your head without any "after taste"! Good Luck!

Sent by Kelly | 5:31 PM ET | 05-13-2008