Surgeon learns the piano to learn lightning-induced song

If you've ever had a melody stuck in your head and you couldn't place what song it was from, you'll know how frustrating it can be. You'll end up repeating it over and over, and worst of all trying to explain the sound to other people so they know what track you're talking about. 

One man decided to go a step further however, after a strike from a bolt of lightning left him with the same song playing over and over in his head for more than a decade. Surgeon Tony Cicoria became so obsessed with the melody that he decided to learn the piano so others could also hear what he did – a process that took him more than 12 years.

The New Yorker was hit by lightning in 1994 when he was talking to his mother on a payphone in the street. He said that he had heard some thunder and rain in the distance, but was soon literally shocked when the phone itself delivered a burst of electricity.

"I remember a flash of light coming out of the phone. It hit me in the face. Next thing I remember, I was flying backwards," he said of the incident. Thankfully a woman behind him in the queue for the phone was able to deliver CPR, and he survived the incident. 

Despite the fact that tests showed no lasting mental or physical damage, the surgeon said that he developed a burning passion for listening to and writing piano music, so he set out to master the instrument, even though he had never had an interest in doing so before. 

Since then, he has become something of a maestro on piano, and made his debut live performance in 2007. Since then, he has become a popular name in the American classical music scene. 

And that song that the lightning strike implanted in his head, well that was eventually written as an entire original piece called Lightning Sonata. And despite the fact that it has been hailed a success and 'a fantasy in three movements', the composer refuses to accept credit, saying he was gifted the melody from the other side.