Twenty Thousand Hertz

The dark history of nursery rhymes


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Many of the songs we sing to our children are hundreds of years old, with their original meanings obscured by history. In this episode, producer Leila Battison takes Dallas on a dark, surprising journey through history’s most famous nursery rhymes and lullabies, and up through the “Baby Sharks” and “Happy Songs” of today. Along the way, they share the songs they’ve made up for their own children, and explore why this music is just as important to parents as it is to kids.


Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced by Defacto Sound.

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Five Twenty Thousand Hertz episodes that kids would love:

  • Space Remix (Apple/Spotify)
  • Minecraft (Apple/Spotify)
  • Sound 101 with Bill Nye (Apple/Spotify)
  • Tyrannosaurus FX (Apple/Spotify)
  • Songbugs (Apple/Spotify)

  • Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/nurseryrhymes

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    Twenty Thousand HertzBy Dallas Taylor

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