Thursday, December 14, 2006

I've got worms

I love Christmas carols and hymn - I really do. They remind me of how excited I used to feel around this time of year when I was a kid: just about bursting with anticipation. There's something really nice about just knowing all the words and being able to sing them with alomst anyone - a very "community" kind of experience.

But. For almost a week now I have had a fragment of some Christmas tune I don't really know stuck in my head:

..Willie, play your fife and drum, Robin [something, something hum a bit here];Tu-ra-lu-ra-lu, Pat-a-pat-a-pan...

And that's all I know. And it's not even a great song. Heck, it's not even a traditional carol. And it's driving me crazy!

This type of thing is called an earworm. It's a great name for a REALLY IRRITATING THING.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Willie, take your little drum;
With your whistle, Robin, come!
When we hear the fife and drum,
Tu-re-lu-re-lu, Pata-patapan,
When we hear the fife and drum,
Christmas should be frolicsome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patapan

Happy Owl said...

Actually, my earworm would be more complete this way:

"Willie take your little drum, Robin bring your fife and drum, when we play the fife and drum. Tu-re-lu-re-lu, pat-a-pat-a-pan, when we play the fife and drum Christmas very joyful be!"

Different arrangement I guess. There seems to be a lot of drunmming in this one... I had to look it up in my sheet music - I don't know if it will help or just restart the whole song reverberating around my cranium again.

And I know exactly where it came from - I participated in a carol-singing thing a week and a half ago. Which explains why I have the music for this odd little tune in the first place