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Ah, the earworm. When you get a song stuck in your head, and there it stays. And stays. It pops into your head as you’re brushing your teeth, dogs you as you toss and turn at night, and springs from your lips when you’re sitting in traffic. (Or, heaven forbid, an important meeting with the new client.)

I’ve had Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in my ear ever since it popped up on Sirius radio the other day. Let me share:

So, in an effort to get the haunting tune out of my head, I started humming the other song that’s known for its earworm powers:

But then everyone around me started screaming in pain because I was singing that song in a giant endless loop. Desperate, I moved on:

No amount of head-banging, pillow-stuffing, or mouth-taping could help at this point.

Just dug up an old (2003, ooh, ancient) study about earworms. Bottom line from the experts — what can you do? Not much. There’s no sure cure, no pill, no easy save from the infestation of an earworm. My theory? It’s like when a fly is buzzing around you, so you shuffle really close to someone else in the hopes of diverting the bug…the best you can do is pass it on.