Suffering from IMI ?

   Sometimes it's not so trivial or humorous to suffer from persistent Involuntary Musical Imagery (IMI).  You  may know it as an Earworm or Brainworm, the phenomenon sometimes called  Stuck Song Syndrome. You hear "Baby Shark" for example and you can't stop humming the refrain.  The musical imagery keeps repeating itself. Often it's a tune you don't even like, or more likely the lyrics, that you say drive you crazy--those catchy tunes.
   Almost everyone has been  subject to this occurrence from time to time, as have I. But never so persistently as for the last five or six days when I cannot stop hearing the lyrics of "The Gambler."  So, as is the case in searching for any information at all, I googled. I found a wealth of information and opinions about Earworms.
    There are simple suggestions as to how to rid your ears /brain of the worm:  Listen to other music, have a conversation with someone, do a crossword puzzle, read a book, chew gum, even listen to the "stuck" song over and over again. I tried all but two of these cures: (1) I can't chew gum any more, as I'm afraid my teeth, or at least my fillings, will adhere to the chewing gum and fall out. (2) I can't find anyone to have a conversation with, and certainly not about earworms. Moreover, what listening to the song over and over did resulted in my now knowing all the lyrics, not just "You gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them."
   I searched further, and found the earworm  syndrome has caught the attention of a great many writers over the years,in  fiction and nonfiction genres.
     Science fiction writer Arthur Clarke proposed in "The Ultimate Melody" that the phenomenon is fitted in with the brain' s fundamental electric rhythms, the circadian rhythms. His protagonist attempted to apply these rhythms, but was overcome by their power,  and was left in a permanent catatonic state. Mark Twain posited in a story that the only way you can get rid of these musical repetitions is to transfer them to another person. You can imagine how that worked out. Even contemporary television shows, like The Big Bang Theory, have dealt with the subject.  There are tales of madness and other horrors relating to this topic.
   Interesting reading, but not really any help.  The most plausible explanation I came across is that the earworm, the imagery of  musical repetition, is the  psychological manifestation of attempting to block out unwanted thoughts. I think that might be true. Only I would prefer to  block out morose or melancholy thoughts with a perky little jingle. Part of what I hear is :
     "Every gambler knows that the secret to survival is knowing what to throw away, knowing what to keep.
     .For every hand's a winner, and every hand's a loser, And the best you can hope for is to die in your sleep."