SHAPIRO: Levitin tries to understand how the brain is organized, especially the musical brain. So he used functional magnetic resonance imaging to record Sting's brain activity while Sting listened to music. Among the tunes was one of Sting's own songs, "Moon Over Bourbon Street."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOON OVER BOURBON STREET")
STING: (Singing) Oh, you'll never see my shade or hear the sound of my feet while there's a moon over Bourbon Street.
CORNISH: And there were others, like "Green Onions" by Booker T. & the M.G.'s.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GREEN ONIONS")
LEVITIN: I don't think of those two songs as being particularly similar, but his brain did.
CORNISH: What Sting reacted to was what most people would not.
LEVITIN: Both are in a swing rhythm. They're both in the key of F-minor. They both have the same tempo of 132 beats per minute.
