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Earworm

If you were looking for the article about the character, then see Earworm (character).

"Earworm" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 7. In this episode, SpongeBob becomes addicted to a song and cannot stop singing it.

Characters

Synopsis

In the beginning of the episode, SpongeBob is shown at the Krusty Krab during closing time with Mr. Krabs and Squidward. He is in the kitchen and starts singing a song. Squidward gets annoyed by SpongeBob's singing. Mr. Krabs comes and says to mop the floor. Squidward tells SpongeBob again to stop singing and then puts on the radio, but it's playing "Musical Doodle," so SpongeBob picks up the radio and starts dancing and singing to it. After it ends, SpongeBob sighs happily. Afterwards, Mr. Krabs says it's closing time again and Squidward runs out saying "Freedom!" SpongeBob is sitting down on a table, singing to the song and Mr. Krabs yells his name.

Earworm 076

SpongeBob floats out of the Krusty Krab and lands outside a Record Shop. He hears "Musical Doodle" playing. He then buys the record and goes home, opens up Gary's shell, revealing a record player, and plays the song until bedtime. SpongeBob says "Come to bed when you feel like it." He goes to sleep but then starts whistling the song. He goes back downstairs to listen to the song again.

He is then shown at the Krusty Krab the next day, looking very tired. Mr. Krabs warns him to get to work. Mr. Krabs hears SpongeBob singing the "Musical Doodle." He is warned to stop singing that song again, but finds it very hard not to. He hands out Krabby Patties while singing the song, annoying the customers in the process. Mr. Krabs comes out of his office to see what's wrong. All the customers blame SpongeBob for annoying them. Mr. Krabs threatens to send SpongeBob home for the day if he doesn't stop singing the song. In the kitchen, SpongeBob's eyelids form into mouths and start singing the song - the same thing happens with his back.

In the next scene, the kitchen is shown absolutely wrecked, with "doodle" written on the walls and everything else wrecked as well. Also, there are condiments and patty batter all over the wall. After Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob to leave, the latter seems to have completely lost it and does not care, and bursts out of the kitchen and the Krusty Krab like a maniac.

Earworm 166

He goes home while singing the song - Sandy, Mr. Krabs, Patrick, and Squidward follow him, tie him to a chair, and gag him. Sandy explains that he has an "earworm" which is an infection in which someone is stuck on a catchy song and is unable to stop singing; the more the person sings the song, the more infected and stronger the infection gets and more crazier the person gets. Mr. Krabs wants to just pull the earworm out, but Sandy says that they can't do that or else it will damage SpongeBob's brain and it can only be cured if another song gets stuck in their head.

Mr. Krabs sings a sea-shanty and Sandy sings a Western song, but none succeed. Sandy says "someone with musical talent" can cure him (in this case, Squidward). Squidward starts playing his clarinet. The earworm gets annoyed and leaves. Squidward is then shown in bed, praising himself. The earworm comes and goes into Squidward for revenge, and now the latter has the earworm and is humming his song. Squidward then screams loudly, inferring he probably found out he caught the earworm.

Production

This episodes was confirmed and added to the US Copyright Office on April 12, 2010,[3] along with its sister episode "The Abrasive Side."

Music

( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 • Another Best Day Ever - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card.]
 • Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield [Opening.]
 • Salty Squid Jig 3 - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, James King ["What are you doing? It's closing time!"]
 • Steel Licks 23 - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward cleaning the cash register.]
 • Comedic Conversation - Nicolas Carr, Steve Marston [Squidward walks over to SpongeBob.]
 ◦ Musical Doodle - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [SpongeBob sings this while it plays on the radio.]
 • Sponge Tango - Nicolas Carr, Steve Marston [Squidward quickly leaves.]
 ◦ Musical Doodle - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [Continues playing on the radio.]
 • Sponge Tango - Nicolas Carr, Steve Marston [SpongeBob leaves the Krusty Krab.]
 ‣ Floating - Jim Rattigan [SpongeBob floats.]
 ◦ Musical Doodle - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [Plays on a record.]
 • Slide Whistle Stooges 2 No Whistle - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob comes home.]
 ◦ Musical Doodle - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [Plays on the record.]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill [Gary starts sleeping.]
 ‣ On The Beach - Kapono Beamer [SpongeBob gets ready for bed.]
 • New Vibe Hits - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob's eyes are open when he hears his mouth whistle the "Musical Doodle."]
 • Musical Doodle Whistle - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob whistling the "Musical Doodle."]
 • Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr ["Oh, fine. I'll just listen to it one more time to get it out of my system."]
 ◦ Musical Doodle - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [Plays repeatedly throughout the night.]
 • Daily Chores Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [The next day at the Krusty Krab...]
 • Tamborine Tune - Nicolas Carr [Mr. Krabs shakes a tambourine at SpongeBob.]
 • Tension Bits Pt1 - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Mr. Krabs finishing the song in SpongeBob's ear.]
 • Tension Bits Pt2 - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob tries to resist.]
 • Daily Chores Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [Mr. Krabs holding a bucket of patties.]
 • Steel Licks 48 - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob laughs nervously.]
 ◦ Musical Doodle - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [SpongeBob sings a new verse./SpongeBob rewinds the verse with the rewind button in his teeth.]
 • Hgliss & Bell - Nicolas Carr ["That's it!"]
 ◦ Musical Doodle - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [SpongeBob singing in the dining room/SpongeBob annoying more customers.]
 ‣ Danger HQ - Norman Dane [Mr. Krabs wakes up through a sound at the front doors.]
 • In a Minor Mood Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr ["Me customers!"]
 • Jolly Little Roger - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob to stop singing.]
 • Melodramatic Moments - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob trying not to sing.]
 ‣ Tragic Bridge 2 - Phil Green [SpongeBob going nuts in the messy kitchen.]
 ‣ Agitation Bridge 3 - Phil Green ["What in blazes are you doing?"]
 ‣ The Shock [#54] - Dick De Benedictis ["Trying to escape it's futile!"]
 ‣ Mutations (a) [#53] - Trevor Duncan [SpongeBob crawling home while singing more of the Musical Doodle crazily.]
 ‣ Shock - Cor Bolten [SpongeBob going crazy on the ceiling.]
 ‣ Lonely Stranger - Laurie Johnson [Sandy investigating inside SpongeBob's ear.]
 ◦ Musical Doodle - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [Earworm listening "Musical Doodle" inside SpongeBob's head.]
 ‣ Danger Man 2 - Norman Dane ["Let's just rip the little sucker out."]
 • Cash Me In To The Deep - Nicolas Carr [Mr. Krabs' sea shanty.]
 ◦ Musical Doodle - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [Earworm still listening "Musical Doodle."]
 • Steel Licks 64 - Jeremy Wakefield ["I'll be darned if anyone can resist a Western song while wearing a Western hat."]
 ◦ Musical Doodle - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [Earworm wearing a Western hat.]
 ◦ Life on the Prairie - Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Eban Schletter [Sandy sings this.]
 • Steel Licks 58 - Jeremy Wakefield ["That only seems to have made him madder."]
 • Squidwards Catchy Tune - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Squidward playing poor clarinet.]
 • Skipping to School - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["You did it! You drove the litter critter out!"]
 ‣ Hawaiian Happiness - Jon Jelmer [At Squidward's house at night...]
 • Squidwards Catchy Tune - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [The ending.]

Release

Broadcast

  • During its original broadcast, Squidward's scream at the end was longer. It was shortened by removing half of it when cutting to black screen for subsequent runs, especially digital purchases.[citation needed]
    • DVD releases containing this episode has the entire scene uninterrupted however.

Distribution

Trivia

General

  • This episode's title, the character, and the plot, refers to earworm, also known as sticky music syndrome, which occurs when a catchy tune occupies a person's mind even when it's not playing.
  • The title card for this episode is similar to those of "Bubblestand" and "Suds," except the letters are written in pink and there are no bubbles.
  • This is the second appearance of Gary's record player. The first was "Your Shoe's Untied."
  • The snail clock from "Gary Takes a Bath" and "Procrastination" appears again in this episode.
  • This would be the final episode to play Hawaiian Happiness until it returned in "Man Ray Returns."
  • Clancy Brown and Carolyn Lawrence, Mr. Krabs and Sandy's voice actors, ad-libbed and recorded their characters' catchy songs one take each.
  • The term "catchy tune" is heard 10 times in this episode, but obviously, SpongeBob listened to it repeatedly for his attraction to the song, so it's more than 10.
Screen Shot 2018-08-29 at 4.51.35 AM
  • Usually SpongeBob's brain is pink, but in this episode, it is blue.
  • Both this and the next episode in packaging order use "Another Best Day Ever" as title card music.
    • Also, their respective sister episodes use "Clownfish Capers" as title card music.

Dub facts

  • In Indonesia, this episode and its sister were banned from the Indonesian dub on later airings–in this case–due to organ-damaging and excessive torture near the end of episode.
  • In the Romanian dub, this episode has the singer of Musical Doodle muted for unknown reasons.

Errors

  • After Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob to stop singing, his eyelids turn a paler red for a second.
  • When SpongeBob is flying out of the Krusty Krab singing, and when he bursts out manically, the pathway to the Chum Bucket is missing.
    • The Chum Bucket is missing across the street as the customers are leaving the Krusty Krab.
  • When SpongeBob messes up the Krusty Krab kitchen deluded, there is a stack of Krabby Patties near the back left corner and the word "Doodle" is written over Mr. Krabs' office door, but when SpongeBob runs out, both of these are missing.
  • When Mr. Krabs is telling SpongeBob he's done for the day, the word "Doodle" and a red splat are on the wall behind SpongeBob, but when the camera zooms in on him, the wall is clean.
  • During the pan shot of the messy kitchen, the condiment bottles are blank, but when Mr. Krabs is sending SpongeBob home, the condiment bottles are labeled, and the cabinet is closer to SpongeBob.

Video

45_MINUTES_of_SpongeBob_Songs_🎶_-_@SpongeBobOfficial

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
French Petite rengaine A Little Tune
German Der Ohrwurm The Earworm
Italian Il tormentone The Catchphrase
Russian Навязчивая мелодия
Navyazchivaya melodiya		 Persistent Melody
Spanish (American) Garabato musical Musical Doodle
Spanish (European) El gusano musical The Musical Worm

References

  1. ^ UK: New episodes from next week at 4:30pm | SpongeBuddy Mania Forums
  2. ^ Nickturbo - Mundonick
  3. ^ Spongebob Squarepants : 146, "The Abrasive Side" "Earworm." - Catalog.org - Public Catalog