I often find that a favorite song is rolling around in my head. I may be going on a walk, and realize “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is playing on repeat in my mind. It also happens with “The Rainbow Connection”, so my mind must have a thing for rainbows.
But what about those times when a melody is playing on repeat in your head that doesn’t correlate to any song you’ve ever heard. Have you just composed that song?
What is the authorship for original earworms? Can we take credit for having composed something original?
Or does it only count as a “composition” if we manage to transcribe our inner melody to the piano and guitar? Do we need to publish it somehow?
Maybe this should be the rule: Our original earworm becomes “music”, in the traditional sense, the very first time we play it for another human being.