Endless Thread

The Lullaby


Listen Later

Our intrepid sound designer, Matt Reed — musician/composer extraordinaire —recently became a dad. He picked up a Glo Worm for his baby son, Sam. It's a plush musical baby toy made by Hasbro that's been around for decades. It plays standard, well-known lullabies like "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Frère Jacques," etc. "Straight hits," as host Ben Brock Johnson says in this episode. "Straight hits."

But there's one melody on the toy that was a complete unknown to Matt. It's in a minor key, it's slow. Is it creepy? "Yeah, it's definitely got that vibe," Matt says. "Funeral zone."

So, he brought this idea to Endless Thread's pitch meetings where we throw around episode ideas.

"I turn to the internet like most weirdos do, I guess, when they're obsessing over their child's toy to figure out what song it is," Matt says. "And there's other people on the Internet who are also... curious? Confused?"

There are two Reddit posts about this creepy music, a YouTube video, several unhelpful emails from Hasbro to concerned parents, and numerous guesses and theories.

"We were concerned by the addition of an unlisted song too," writes YouTuber deefrontier5798. "It's creepy and sad, and the fact that the creators withheld information puts up a red flag."

In this episode, we ask Hasbro directly and try alternate routes. Sometimes Endless Thread doesn't get to the complete bottom of Internet mysteries. But this isn't one of those times.

We hope you like nursery rhymes. :)

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Endless ThreadBy WBUR

  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1
  • 4.1

4.1

2,591 ratings


More shows like Endless Thread

View all
On Point | Podcast by WBUR

On Point | Podcast

3,925 Listeners

Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

43,774 Listeners

This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,802 Listeners

99% Invisible by Roman Mars

99% Invisible

26,147 Listeners

Criminal by Vox Media Podcast Network

Criminal

37,411 Listeners

Reveal by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

Reveal

8,247 Listeners

Reply All by Gimlet

Reply All

27,376 Listeners

Dear Sugars by WBUR

Dear Sugars

5,649 Listeners

Science Vs by Spotify Studios

Science Vs

11,793 Listeners

Heavyweight by Pushkin Industries

Heavyweight

17,004 Listeners

Twenty Thousand Hertz by Dallas Taylor

Twenty Thousand Hertz

3,925 Listeners

What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law by Roman Mars

What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law

3,977 Listeners

Circle Round by WBUR

Circle Round

15,462 Listeners

Decoder Ring by Slate Podcasts

Decoder Ring

2,087 Listeners

Last Seen by WBUR

Last Seen

3,537 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,109 Listeners

Anything For Selena by WBUR & Futuro Studios

Anything For Selena

1,402 Listeners

Search Engine by PJ Vogt

Search Engine

4,356 Listeners

Short Run by WBUR

Short Run

215 Listeners

The Common by WBUR

The Common

79 Listeners

Beyond All Repair by WBUR

Beyond All Repair

3,141 Listeners

Hyperfixed by Hyperfixed & Radiotopia

Hyperfixed

623 Listeners

NO SUCH THING by iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope

NO SUCH THING

333 Listeners