The Song That Never Ends: A Record-Breaking Earworm
earworm: a song that you cannot stop from repeating in your head
Have you ever had a song play over and over in your head? These songs are called earworms, and they happen to almost everyone.
Earworms drive most of us crazy, but not comedian and singer Jordan Raskopoulos. In 2020, she broke the world record for singing one song. She sang an earworm called The Song That Never Ends for over five and a half hours. This song has just one verse that repeats over and over.
This is the song that doesn’t end
Yes, it goes on and on, my friends
Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because
The concept of earworms was first described over a century ago. These songs can be annoying and difficult to shake off.
The company Atlassian gathered a team of audio engineers and psychologists to create an Earworm Eraser. They say it is “a scientifically-engineered track designed to squash earworms for good.”
Listen to the world record singing of The Song That Never Ends and the Earworm Eraser in the videos below.
Sample sentences
1. After the party, the catchy tune became an earworm that I couldn’t stop humming.
2. I woke up with an earworm from a song I heard on the radio yesterday.
3. My sister always gets an earworm from TV show theme songs.
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How long can you listen to this over-five-hour rendition of “The Song That Doesn’t End”?