It has happened to you, I know. You’re going about your day and all of a sudden you hear it, the song in your head. Perhaps it was playing in the restaurant where you just had breakfast. Maybe you heard it at home before you left for work. It might even have been some guy whistling a fair rendition of it when he passed you in the hall.

Do you know the way to San Jose?
I’ve been away so long, I may go wrong & lose my way

It can last for days, replaying itself without prompting from you, a musical automaton, a song in your head. Once generated it becomes a winding tape with periodic pauses, sounding out at odd times and odd places, the tune and the lyrics powered by some inner echo.

LA is a great big freeway
Put a hundred down & buy a car
In a week, maybe two, they’ll make you a star

It’s out of control after awhile, beyond your ability to stop it, to turn it off. In the kitchen, suddenly, you realize that it’s playing in your head again. You try to escape it. Perhaps if you can just get another song in your head.

Weeks turn into years. How quick they pass
And all the stars that never were
Are parking cars & pumping gas

I know that I heard the Dionne Warwick song somewhere, but I’m not even sure where. I listen to classical music all day! How did this happen? It was even playing last night at 3 AM when I got up to go to the bathroom. Argghh.

Dreams turn into dust & blow away
And there you are without a friend
You pack your car & ride away.

The last time this happened to me it was “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. That rolled through my head for weeks. If only I spoke Italian, maybe I could get Placido Domingo doing E lucevan le stelle into my head for awhile.

I’ve got lots of friends in San Jose
Do you know the way to San Jose
Can’t wait to get back to San Jose