An example of involuntary musical imagery, distracting the author, Mark Twain in his 1876 book A Literary Nightmare. Extract below:
‘WILL the reader please to cast his eye over the following verses, and see if he can discover anything harmful in them?
Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
CHORUS.
Punch, brothers ! punch with care !
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!’
I came across these jingling rhymes in a newspaper, a little while ago, and read them a couple of times. They took instant and entire possession of me. All through breakfast they went waltzing through my brain; and when, at last, I rolled up my napkin, I could not tell whether I had eaten anything or not. I had carefully laid out my day’s work the day before — a thrilling tragedy in the novel which I am writing. I went to my den to begin my deed of blood. I took up my pen, but all I could get it to say was, “ Punch in the presence of the passenjare…
WILL the reader please to cast his eye over the following verses, and see if he can discover anything harmful in them?