"The Song That Doesn't End" (also referred to as "The Song That Never Ends") is a

self-referential Self-reference occurs in natural or formal languages when a sentence, idea or formula refers to itself. The reference may be expressed either directly—through some intermediate sentence or formula—or by means of some encoding. In philosop ...

and

infinitely Infinity is that which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol . Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosophical nature of infinity was the subject of many discussions amo ...

iterative Iteration is the repetition of a process in order to generate a (possibly unbounded) sequence of outcomes. Each repetition of the process is a single iteration, and the outcome of each iteration is then the starting point of the next iteration. ...

children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied ...

. The song appears in an album by puppeteer

Shari Lewis Shari Lewis (born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz; January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was a Peabody-winning American ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, television show host, dancer, singer, actress, author, and symphonic conductor. She wa ...

titled '' Lamb Chop's Sing-Along, Play-Along'', released through a 1988 home video. It is a single-

verse Verse may refer to: Poetry * Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry * Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza * Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme * Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...

-long song, written in an infinite-loop motif in a

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

style, such that it naturally flows in a cyclical fashion, repeating the same verse over and over. It is still a very popular tune, typically sung during long car rides. The song was written by Shari Lewis' long time producer Bernard Rothman.

Lyrics

(The song repeats endlessly.)

Variations

Alternative versions of the song use "never ends". Other minor discrepancies in the lyrics may be due to the song being passed in the oral tradition from kid-to-kid. Such differences include "It just goes on and on..." (line 2), "And we’ll continue" (line 4) and " and they continued" (line 4)

Notable appearances and recordings

A version of the song was used as the closing

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

of ''

Lamb Chop's Play-Along ''Lamb Chop's Play-Along!'' is a half-hour preschool children's television series that was shown on PBS in the United States from January 13, 1992 until September 22, 1995, with reruns airing on PBS until January 4, 1998, and on KTV FAVE - KIDZ ...

'', a 1992

televised Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

show on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

. At the end of each episode, the puppets and children sang the verses of the song while hostess

would try in vain to stop them. They would eventually leave on her urging, even while beginning a sixth verse (which eventually fades away). Finally at the end of the end credits, the puppet character Charlie Horse would return and try to get to sing the song again, until Shari Lewis successfully stopped him for real by covering his mouth. Then, Lewis ordered him to "go away" (and not bring the song back in her sight again). As Charlie Horse obediently gets out of Lewis's sight, he slams the door (before Lewis could tell him not to). A short rendition of the song appeared in a skit on the animated TV series ''

Cartoon Planet ''Cartoon Planet'' is an American animated variety show that originally ran from 1995 to 1998 and 2012 to 2014 on Cartoon Network. A spin-off of ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'', the series centered on Space Ghost recruiting his imprisoned evil neme ...

'' (the skit is also featured on the companion album, ''Space Ghost's Musical Bar-B-Que''). Brak sings the song until he is asked to stop by

Zorak This is a list of characters on the Cartoon Network animated television series, ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'', which later moved to Adult Swim from 2001 to 2004, and then to Gametap from 2006 to 2008. Main characters Space Ghost Voiced by Ge ...

, who finds it annoying. Brak explains that he is unable to because it's the "song that doesn't end." He attempts to continue until Zorak loses his temper, causing Brak to cease, remarking, "I guess it just ended." The song has been adopted as an unofficial

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

by disparate groups. The

Discordian Discordianism is a religion, philosophy, or paradigm centered on Eris, a.k.a. Discordia, the Goddess of chaos. Discordianism uses archetypes or ideals associated with her. It was founded after the 1963 publication of its "holy book," the ''Pri ...

organization (or ''dis''organization) known as

POEE Poee or poie is a leavened bread baked by the traditional bakers called poders in Goa, where it is a staple food. It has characteristics similar to a pita bread, notably that it is round, soft, and has a pocket. Coconut palm wine or toddy was t ...

has listed the song in their material with claims that it was written by a member, while

fans Fan commonly refers to: * Fan (machine), a machine for producing airflow, often used for cooling ** Hand fan, an implement held and waved by hand to move air for cooling * Fan (person), short for fanatic; an enthusiast or supporter, especially wit ...

of the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...

adopted a variation, "The Tour That Never Ends", to describe Styx's 400-plus date tour in the late 1990s in support of their album ''

Brave New World ''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarch ...

''. A series of Canadian

Motrin Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is used for treating pain, fever, and inflammation. This includes painful menstrual periods, migraines, and rheumatoid arthritis. It may also be used to close a patent ductus arte ...

pain reliever ads featured kids singing the song in the back of a car, during a traffic jam, while eating

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

-covered

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

beans. In the ''

Annoying Orange ''Annoying Orange'' is an American live-action/animated comedy web series created by Dane Boedigheimer (known online as DaneBoe). The series follows an anthropomorphic orange who annoys fruits, vegetables, and various other objects by telling ...

'' episode "A Loud Place", Orange and his friends are singing the song at the beginning of the episode while in a band rehearsing. In season 2 episode 10 of '' Good Girls'', Annie Marks sings the version of the song with the lyrics "This is the song that never ends". In an episode of ''

Smart Guy ''Smart Guy'' is an American sitcom television series centering on the exploits of child prodigy T.J. Henderson (Tahj Mowry), who moves from being an elementary school student in the fourth grade to a high school student in the tenth grade, atte ...

'', Yvette and Moe sing a version of this song to annoy a man while trying to win a car in a competition to see who can stay in the car the longest.

Jordan Raskopoulos Jordan Nicola Bridget Raskopoulos (born 25 January 1982) is an Australian comedian, actress, streamer and singer best known for her role as a writer and performer on the Network Ten sketch comedy show ''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'',

(formerly of

Axis of Awesome An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...

) sang a 5 hour 31 minute version (viewable on YouTube) and raised "a bunch of cash" for LGBTQIA+ youth organisation Twenty10.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Song That Doesn't End, The Children's songs Playground songs 1988 songs

Lyrics

Variations

Notable appearances and recordings

See also

References