Earworms

  For some people the summer of 1994 was the summer of Forrest Gump.  For me, it was the summer of The North China Herald.  Back then I was researching my Ph.D. thesis on the British community in the Chinese treaty port of Chongqing, and that was one source I spent a lot of time on.  The North China Herald was an English newspaper published in Shanghai’s British concession, with correspondents in all the treaty ports, so I went through all the reports from Chongqing.  It took a long time, and in the last four years before the newspaper closed after Pearl Harbour, there was a big increase in Chongqing reports because the Nationalist government moved there.  It’s a bit like Heartbreak Hill in the Boston Marathon:  not far from the finish there’s a hill that runners have to ascend first!

Anyhow, in the later part of my work I started to hear music going around in my head, from our record album The Royal Family of Opera.  Both were Wagner pieces:  Elsa’s Dream from Lohengrin and the Prize Song from Die Meistersinger. Elsa’s Dream is what the heroine sings when she’s accused of witchcraft and faces the stake, and all she can talk about is this dream where a knight came along to save her.  And I’ve heard that Die Meistersinger is a pretty boring opera, but if you can sit through two hours, you’ll hear that wonderful aria, which the hero sings to win a music festival prize.  It’s odd about Wagner—he composed great music, but whenever I’ve gone to one of his operas, there always seems to be a point where I have trouble staying awake…

Earworms are funny.  Some of the songs that get into my head are genuine keepers, like those ABBA songs in the 1970s.  Others are just silly, like Melanie’s “Brand New Key.” And of course, some are commercial jingles or TV series theme songs, which I’m ashamed to admit I remember.  But I’d rather not say any more because if I start thinking about them, I may be unable to stop…