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Is there an English verb that would mean listening to a single song (on repeat) over and over just because one likes it so much? In my language we have a word that would in English literally mean something like "to outwear" or "to wear down".

For example, one buys a record and then, instead of listening to all the songs from the album, sticks to one single song, playing it for five days without listening to any other music.

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  • What is the original term you're talking about...?
    – tenfour
    Commented Dec 26, 2011 at 10:23
  • in Croatian we say "izlizati"..
    – tkit
    Commented Dec 26, 2011 at 10:24
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    "You're playing it so much you'll wear out the needle!"
    – Hugo
    Commented Dec 26, 2011 at 14:36
  • In olden days, wearing out the needle or wearing out the record would be common idioms, but likely much of today's youth would have no idea what they meant, as needles have not been in general usage for decades now. Going the opposite way would likely be understood, if you were to say the song is "wearing a groove" in your brain/ears. But it would have a bit of a negative connotation, I think.
    – Mark Thompson
    Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 5:51

7 Answers 7

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You are wearing it out; also the song itself could be wearing thin.

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If you loop a song, you play it on repeat. (You can also put it on repeat.)

This doesn't necessarily have the connotation that the original phrase seems to have of wearing out the song's welcome. To clarify, you can use an adverb like endlessly.

There are other phrases, not specific to music, about repeating an action until it becomes boring/obnoxious.

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In case somebody likes it, another one I found on the Internets yesterday was "to burn the song into your brain"...

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  • This one is good!
    – Kris
    Commented Dec 27, 2011 at 10:01
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If you are describing the psychological implications of repeating the song, you might consider the verb to obsess. A related phrase might be Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). There is a psychological disorder called Monomania, and a related term Idée fixe. These terms may be applied to the abnormal repetition of an activity, such as listening to a song.

Never failing to inform and entertain, Oliver Sacks's Musicophilia describes in different chapters how the brain craves music. And Daniel J. Levitin wrote This is your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession. These books will not so much give you the verb for which you search; however, they may give you insight into the nature of the obsession involving music.

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"Looper", as in a song file played continuously on repeat by clicking the 'loop' option in a media player.

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be done to death (informal)
if a particular style or subject is done to death, it is used or discussed so many times that it is not interesting any more
The military look was done to death in last season's fashion shows.

If a joke or story has been done to death, it has been told so often that it has stopped being funny. (UsingEnglish)

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"Boog" is the proper term for this phenomenon. It means to play the song on repeat over and over for an extended period of time, typically spanning 3-10 days. Depending on the "boog" the process often repeats itself.

Sentence- "That song was a "boog" for me for a long time. Nearly a month!"

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    Never heard of this term, have you got a link that you can share? Thanks.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Apr 22, 2018 at 14:32
  • I have to sign up, and the account is called Tyler's Boog, which means nothing to me.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Apr 22, 2018 at 14:47

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