A melody enters through the ears.

Hours later it is still playing internally.

You hum it.

Somebody else hears it.

Now it may inhabit another mind.

An earworm is almost a cartoonishly clear memetic lifecycle.

nursery rhymes

football chants

advertising jingles

melodies with changing lyrics

TikTok audio fragments detached from their original context

The carrier can change while the recognizable pattern survives.