Radiolab Remixed

Summary

Radiolab: "Radiolab Remixed"

Host: WNYC Studios (Jad Abumrad & Robert Krulwich)
Date: July 2, 2012
Episode Theme: Exploring creativity, reinterpretation, and collaboration through the Radiolab Remix Contest

---

Overview

This special episode of Radiolab dives into the results of the first-ever "Radiolab Remix" contest, in which listeners were invited to remix segments of the show using provided multitrack stems. The hosts, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, play selections from the over 130 submissions, discuss the creative processes behind the winning entries, and reflect on what happens when their meticulously crafted radio stories are reimagined by others. The episode celebrates collaboration and the surprising results that arise when art is opened to community transformation.

---

Key Discussion Points

1. The Concept Behind the Remix Contest

• Launch: Radiolab partnered with Indaba Music to release isolated multitrack elements (voice, music, sound design) of several stories to the public for remixing.
• Goal: To see how listeners "re-imagine" and "re-compose" Radiolab, turning carefully produced pieces into something new and unexpected.
• Volume of Submissions: 136 remixes received, in every style imaginable—from “Broadway” to techno.

2. The Grand Prize Winner: David Minick

Story Remixed: “Some” (from Radiolab’s afterlife episode, written by David Eagleman, read by Jeffrey Tambor)

• Premise: Imagines the afterlife as reliving all the moments in your life, grouped by type (e.g., every minute spent waiting in line).

• Minick’s Approach:

  • Used Tambor’s voice—already “musical”—as the basis for melody and rhythm in each section.
  • "Each line of Tambor's read would guide him to a new melody, a new style." (Jad Abumrad, 06:51)
  • Musical repetition mirrors the story's concepts—longer time blocks ("two years of boredom") become drawn-out musical phrases.
  • Wanted the music to make listeners feel the long durations: "So you actually feel the long lengths of time when it's two years of doing this... a little less when it’s 18 months." (David Minick, 07:51)

• Highlighted Moments:

  • [03:21–07:11] Montage of remixed narrative: layered repetition (“two years of boredom,” “waiting in line,” “having sex”), playful, rhythmic arrangements that literalize the story’s structure.
  • [05:58] Robert: “I would like to do a whole show like that. It's so much fun.”
  • [06:00] Jad (joking): “I'd rather shoot myself if we did a whole show like that.”

• Creative Process:

  • Total work: About 60 hours over a few weeks, balanced around family life.
  • Motivation: Competes in remix contests for fun, not as a primary job.

3. Runners Up: Diverse Musical Interpretations

- Jeff Barr’s “Pacing About the Lab”

• [13:16] Experimental, ambient remix focused on turning non-musical sounds into music.
• [15:16] Jad: “It’s like if Radiolab were an actual place in some alternate dimension, that would be like the sound of the dead space between thoughts where you’re just pacing around.”
• [15:31] Robert: “Random sounds like it means random. That is random sounds like it means random. That is random sounds like it means seven.”

- Director’s Choice: Mark Godfrey (“Daimyo”) & Ryan Vinson (“Sketch Lightly”)

• [16:11] Basis: An essay about vertigo, dramatized by actress Hope Davis.
• Their remix reframed vertigo (a loss of balance) as a metaphor for being swept up and disoriented by love.
• [19:36] Mark: “Just the idea of Vertigo... made me think of love. Love not knowing where you... how the space works anymore. I think it’s a lot like the way people describe falling in love. Where you get dizzy, everything seems different.”
• [21:45–22:18] Ryan’s rap and Hope’s narration blur medical symptoms with emotional states.
• [23:08] The exploration focuses on "the perspective of somebody who’s in the middle of it and not sure if she even really wants to be on the outside of it, but feels like maybe she should." (Mark Godfrey, 23:45)

4. Reflections by Jad and Robert

• Shock at the volume and creativity of entries.
• Robert admits initial skepticism: "I thought, why would people... go into our raw material and re-sculpt it? I said, nobody is gonna do that. It's just dumb." (24:30)
• Jad sees it as humbling, especially when remixers find "something that was in the story that we didn't even know was in there." (24:19)
• Both hosts express gratitude for the "energy, cleverness, and interestingness" of the submissions.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Artistic Reimagination:
  “What we're hoping for is that the stuff ends up in your head and just becomes some set of thoughts that we could have never imagined.”
  —Jad Abumrad [01:19]

• Regarding Minick's Piece:
  “If I could wake up in the morning and say, I think I'm gonna go to the bathroom now... that would be wonderful for me.”
  —Robert Krulwich [06:18–06:26]

• “I just wanted the whole idea of the story to be manifested in music.”
  —David Minick [07:51]

• On Interpreting Vertigo as Love:
  "The idea of Vertigo... just the feelings described in the original piece made me think of love. Love not knowing where you... how the space works anymore."
  —Mark Godfrey [19:36]

• “They found something that was in the story that we didn’t even know was there. I think that’s kind of beautiful.”
  —Jad Abumrad [24:19]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:13]–[02:24] — Introduction to the Radiolab Remix Contest
• [03:07]–[09:19] — Grand Prize Winner David Minick’s remix and interview
• [13:16]–[15:15] — Runner-up Jeff Barr’s entry, discussion of ambient sound as music
• [16:11]–[23:57] — Director’s Choice remix: Mark Godfrey & Ryan Vinson, interpretation and discussion
• [24:19]–[25:10] — Hosts’ reflections on the meaning and power of remixing

---

Tone and Style

• Playful, curious, self-deprecating, and appreciative of both their own meticulous process and the wild unpredictability of what happens when others get involved.
• Jad is open, analytical, occasionally deadpan; Robert is whimsical, eccentric, and delighted by musical risk-taking.
• The remixers are earnest, passionate, and eager to explain their processes.

---

Conclusion

"Radiolab Remixed" is both a showcase of creative reinterpretation and a warm invitation into the collaborative process behind audio storytelling. The hosts celebrate the unpredictable brilliance unleashed by opening their archives and are deeply moved by the new meanings participants have discovered within Radiolab's stories. This episode illustrates how, given the tools and a prompt, audiences can become co-authors—reshaping even the most carefully built work into new, resonant art.

Transcript

[Commercial Announcer]

With Venmo Stash. A taco on one hand and ordering a ride in the other means you're stacking cash back with Venmo Stash. Get up to 5% cash back when you pick a bundle of your favorite brands. Earn more cash when you do more with Stash. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply. Match $100 cash back per month. See terms of Venmo Me Stashterms. One day only Thanksgiving Day deals are coming to Lowes.com/members get early access to online Black Friday doorbuster deals on gifting favorites like the still trending Cobalt Mini toolbox for just $14.98. Or don't miss up to 50% off for one day only. At Lowe's.com we help you save Battle 1127 only on Lowe's.com member only doorbusters and Midnight Eastern loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions. See lowe's.com terms for details. Subject to change while supplies last.

[David Minick]

Wait, you're listening.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Okay, all right.

[Robert Krulwich]

Okay.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

All right.

[Jad Abumrad]

You're listening. I'm listening.

[Robert Krulwich]

Something very cool is not Radiolab the.

[Jad Abumrad]

Real one hour long from N W.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

N N P R Y.

[Jad Abumrad]

Hey, I'm Jan Abumrad.

[Robert Krulwich]

I'm Robert Krulwich.

[Jad Abumrad]

This is Radiolab, the podcast remixed.

[Robert Krulwich]

So here's the thing. We make this show and we worry about each and every word, every sound, every breath.

[Jad Abumrad]

But really what we're hoping for is that the stuff ends up in your head and just becomes some set of thoughts that we could have never imagined. So with that in mind, a couple months ago we teamed up with this site called Indaba Music to host a Radiolab remix contest. What we did was we put out a bunch of our stories, but as multi track versions, so that the voice, the interviews, the music, everything is separated out on its own track.

[Robert Krulwich]

So people could take what we've done and do anything they want with us.

[Jad Abumrad]

Anything.

[Robert Krulwich]

And they did.

[Jad Abumrad]

And our job was to pick a bunch of winners.

[Robert Krulwich]

So here we are with the results of the first ever, not necessarily annual Radiolab Remix contest.

[Jad Abumrad]

Yes.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Five months straight through magazines while sitting on camera.

[Jad Abumrad]

We got 136 submissions, every style that you can imagine, and we're going to play a couple for you right now. Some of the winners, right? So let's just jump in with the grand prize winner. So one of the pieces that we offered as remix material was this one.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

In the afterlife, you relive all your experiences, but this time with the events reshuffled into a new Order.

[Jad Abumrad]

It was from our afterlife show and it was a story called Some, which was written by David Eagleman, read for us by actor Jeffrey Tambor. And the idea of the story was to imagine a version of the afterlife where all the moments of your life would be clumped together by category.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

For five months straight, you flipped through magazines while sitting on a toilet. You take all your pain at once. All 27 intense hours of it.

[Jad Abumrad]

Bones.

[Robert Krulwich]

The story itself is. It's kind of a remix in a way.

[Jad Abumrad]

Yeah, it's a really funny story and poignant at times. And a lot of people chose to remix this story, including our grand prize winner.

[David Minick]

My name is David Minick.

[Jad Abumrad]

That's him.

[David Minick]

Is that all you want?

[Jad Abumrad]

We'll hear more from David Minick in just a second. First, let's hear his remix. This is Some, written by David Eagleman, read by a. Jeffrey Tambor, originally produced by Radiolab and remixed by David Minick.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Alright, time, Take two. In the afterlife, you relive all your experiences. But this time, with the events reshuffled into a new order, you see all the moments that share a quality are grouped together. For instance, two years of boredom, staring at a bus window, sitting in an airport. Two years of boredom staring at a bus window, sitting in an airport. Two years of boredom, staring at a bus window, sitting in an airport. Two years of boredom staring at a bus window, sitting in an airport. Two years of boredom, staring at a bus window, sitting in an airport. Two years of boredom, staring at a bus window, sitting in an airport. Two years of boredom, staring at a bus window, sitting in an airport. Two years of boredom, staring at a bus window, sitting in an airport. 18 months waiting in line 18 months waiting in line 18 months Waiting in line 18 months waiting in line18 months waiting in line, waiting in line, waiting in line 18 months waiting in Line, waiting in line, waiting in line, waiting and waiting and waiting in line.

[Robert Krulwich]

18.

[Jad Abumrad]

18.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

18 months waiting in line wait. Wait. Waiting in line 18 months waiting in line, waiting and waiting and waiting in line 18 months waiting in line, waiting in line, waiting in line, waiting and waiting and waiting in line, waiting in line 18 months waiting in line 15 months looking for lost items, looking for lost items, looking for lost items, looking for lost items 15 months looking for lost items, looking for lost items, looking for lost items, looking for lost items. 15 months looking for lost items, looking for lost items, looking for lost items, looking for lost items. Seven months having sex, Having sex, Having sex, Having sex, Having sex, Having sex, Having sex. Seven months having sex, Having sex, Having sex Having sex, having sex, having sex, having sex. Seven months having sex, sex, sex. And you itch because you can't take a shower until it's time to take your marathon. Two hundred day shower. Two hundred day shower. 200 day shower, 200 day shower. 200 day shower. Hundred day challenge.

[Robert Krulwich]

I would like to do a whole show like that. It's so much fun.

[Jad Abumrad]

I'd better than shoot myself if we did a whole show like that.

[Robert Krulwich]

Really? Oh. Cause you know why? It's too Broadway for you.

[Jad Abumrad]

I'm realizing this. For me, this was like. It was the best. It was like. It was. It was Broadway in a way that made me hurt. But it was also like. It was also just a feat of composing.

[Robert Krulwich]

If I could wake up in the morning and say, I think I'm gonna go to the bathroom now. I think I'm gonna go to the bathroom now.

[Jad Abumrad]

Oh, I could kill myself.

[Robert Krulwich]

That would wonderful for me.

[David Minick]

Hello?

[Jad Abumrad]

Hey.

[Robert Krulwich]

Hey.

[Jad Abumrad]

Is this David?

[David Minick]

Yes, it is. How are you?

[Jad Abumrad]

Hi, David. This is Jad.

[David Minick]

Hi, Jed.

[Robert Krulwich]

We liked your thing a lot. That was really something.

[David Minick]

Thank you so much.

[Jad Abumrad]

Although truthfully, we kind of disagreed. Robert loved it. I was amazed at what you've done, but it was a little too Broadway for me.

[David Minick]

That's. That's not my fault. You gotta talk to Jeffrey Tambor about that. No, I'm not. I don't like show tunes either. But his voice was already musical.

[Jad Abumrad]

David explained to us that each line of Tambor's reed would guide him to a new melody, a new style.

[David Minick]

Because he's an actor. He's a really good actor. And so his voice actually follows pitch patterns.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Five months straight, you flipped through magazines while sitting on a toilet Flip through magazines while sitting on a toilet. For five months straight, you flipped through magazines while sitting on a toilet.

[David Minick]

And a lot of them actually suggested the type of music. Like driving the street in front of.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Your house Driving the street in front.

[David Minick]

Of your house was already in rhythm.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Driving the street in front of you.

[David Minick]

That one I could actually hear the first time, really.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Driving the street in front of your.

[David Minick]

House if you listen to the melody enough times and then you start putting chords to inevitably suggests some sort of style of music.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

5 weeks driving lost 5 weeks driving lost 5 weeks driving Lost 5 weeks driving lost Lost 2 weeks wondering what happens when you die 2 weeks wondering what happens when you Die 2 weeks wondering what happens when youDie 6 days clipping your nails 6 days clipping your nails 6 days Clipping your nails I.

[David Minick]

Just wanted the whole idea of the story to be manifested in music. So you actually feel the long lengths of time when it's two years of doing this a little less when it's 18 months.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Staring into the refrigerator. 15 hours. Writing your signature.

[David Minick]

It's starting to get shorter and shorter.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Seven hours vomiting.

[David Minick]

And then when he describes that, you imagine your life, all the events in your life being in different order. Like real life actually is on earth. I just wanted to cut from one thing to another to another to another in random order. Sort of the way life actually works.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

In this part of the afterlife. You imagine something waiting for a green light analogous to your earthly life. Reading books and the thought. Cars crash. Is blissful. Watching commercials. A life where episodes are split into tiny showers. Swallowable pieces. Swallowing, swallowing moments do not endure. Counting money. You sleep. Where one experiences the joy of jumping from one event to the next. Like a child sitting in thought. Hopping from spot to spot. Skin is cut on the burning sand. Working babies are born, for instance. Flipping your nails. Staring out a bus window. Waiting for a green light.

[Robert Krulwich]

Shower.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Having sex. Reading books. Hopping from spot to spot. Cars crash. Counting money. Swallowing. Swallowing your eyes hurt. Tying shoelaces. Staring into the refrigerator without opening your eyes.

[Robert Krulwich]

Shower.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Vomit.

[Jad Abumrad]

How long did this take you?

[David Minick]

Well, all told, about 60 hours.

[Robert Krulwich]

60 hours?

[Jad Abumrad]

60 straight hours?

[David Minick]

Oh, no, no, no, no. I've got three kids. I can't stay up that 60 hours over a period of a few weeks. My actual job is a piano teacher and church organist and I teach a couple of music theory courses at a two year college. That's what I actually get paid for. I don't get paid for this stuff. It's just fun.

[Jad Abumrad]

How often do you do this kind of thing?

[David Minick]

I've entered probably about 30 contests since 2009.

[Robert Krulwich]

Really?

[Jad Abumrad]

What sorts of contests?

[David Minick]

Well, there was the Snoop Dogg contest and I turned it into a pirate song. Pirate shanty. I just had him singing over pirate music. Change his rhythm to make it a sea shanty.

[Commercial Announcer]

Snoopy is what they say. As if they knew me. Group A's on my head like a koofie.

[David Minick]

My nigga.

[Commercial Announcer]

Kid Cudi. That's my little buddy. Call some holes up and get some Cuddy. Cuddy, what's your life like? Mine's kinda tight. A long way.

[Jad Abumrad]

Well, so David Minick was our grand prize winner. He gets $500, a ticket to the live show and a back rub from Robert.

[Robert Krulwich]

I didn't know. I didn't know I was doing back rubs.

[Jad Abumrad]

I just put that in there. But now it's on tape. You Gotta do it. And let me just say one thing before we do any more winners, and this is in reference to the whole Broadway thing. If we're gonna be representative of the kinds of things that we got in most of the submissions, like, I would say about a hundred of them sounded like this. From wnyc, Just sort of four on the floor techno, which I gotta admit, you know, not being a Broadway guy, I sort of like this stuff.

[Robert Krulwich]

You like this stuff?

[Jad Abumrad]

Yeah. I mean, lower the lights, put the smoke machine on. I am all about that one. I actually listen to stuff like this when I'm writing.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Really?

[Jad Abumrad]

Yeah, it's just like the sound of energy.

[Robert Krulwich]

I am so sorry for you because not only do you lack any Broadway, but you believe in techno.

[Jad Abumrad]

I just think it's a tasty little loop. It's a great loop.

[Robert Krulwich]

How do I know you? Okay, we'll be right back. And we will have the runners up. Some of them pretty fabulous. Could have taken the crown.

[Jad Abumrad]

And one of our remixers actually ended up being Paul Miller, AKA DJ Spooky. He threw together a breakbeat based on some material from Our Limits show. And here it is to lovingly support some underwriting.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Hi, this is Whitney from Richmond, Virginia. Radiolab is supported by gfi, creators of Vyper Antivirus. Vyper is designed to protect personal computers from malware threats including viruses, spyware, Trojans, worms and adware, without slowing down the computer. For a special offer, visit tryviper.com click the mic and enter code Radiolab.

[Robert Krulwich]

Thanks.

[Sponsor Announcer]

End of message. Hello, this is Hannah. And this is Molly. And we're from San Jose, California. Stitcher is having a contest for one of its users to fly to Seattle the weekend of August 25th to see Radiolab's live show in the Dark. The winner of Stitcher's Flyaway contest will receive round trip airfare for two, an overnight stay in a hotel, front row seats, and a meet and greet before the show. Stitcher users can only enter the contest by listening to Radiolab on the Stitcher app and clicking on the contest banner to register. The Stitcher mobile app is available in app stores [e-mail]. that's it. Say bye.

[Jad Abumrad]

Bye. Okay, so we're back with the results from the Radiolab Remix competition. We just heard our grand prize winner.

[Robert Krulwich]

Now, the runners up. This first one is from a fellow named Jeff Barr.

[Jad Abumrad]

He's actually the editor for a really cool podcast named Risk, and he calls this one pacing about the lab, you know, tails.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 18, 27.

[Jad Abumrad]

34, 77, 51, 207, 777.

[Robert Krulwich]

With me.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

I really got tuned into that's Jeff. The sounds that aren't meant to be music but come off as music to me. So I just play with that and turn it into songs.

[Jad Abumrad]

Mother.

[Hope Davis (Actress)]

It never occurred to me that there might be any other extra explanation.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Big fat slice of chocolate cake.

[Robert Krulwich]

What?

[Hope Davis (Actress)]

There was, there was, there was.

[David Minick]

How far are you?

[Ryan Vinson (Sketch lightly)]

Wow.

[Jad Abumrad]

You know what that made me think of? It's like if Radiolab were an actual place in some alternate dimension, that would be like the sound of the dead space between thoughts where you're just pacing around.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

Or perhaps it's what the studio is dreaming about when you're not in it.

[Jad Abumrad]

Ooh, I like that.

[Robert Krulwich]

Random sounds like it means random. That is random sounds like it means random. That is random sounds like it means seven. And of course there are other award winning runners up out there, winners, and you can listen to them, the ones we've chosen on our website, also on Indaba's website. But we now have, I gotta say, the one that really, really delighted us. It's neither a runner up nor the grand prize winner. Maybe we would call this the Director's choice about that. Yes, exactly, the Director's choice. So just to set this one up, we had a show about vertigo, actually about a disease.

[Jad Abumrad]

We turned up an essay from Burton Ruscha of the New Yorker, who pretty much invented the whole genre of like medical mysteries. Anyhow, many, many years ago, he interviews this woman about something she's going through and writes an article about it. And we had actually, actress Hope Davis dramatized the reading.

[Hope Davis (Actress)]

I'd been home about an hour. Dinner was ready and waiting in the oven and I was sitting at the piano, not really playing.

[Robert Krulwich]

Basically, in this essay, this woman loses.

[Hope Davis (Actress)]

Control of her body, started across the room. I felt the floor sort of shake. Good heavens, I said. What was that?

[Jad Abumrad]

Things begin to tilt. The world gets very strange and out of scale. Her arms begin to feel like they're lengthening and then contracting. She just completely loses her relationship to the planet Earth.

[Hope Davis (Actress)]

Frank just looked at me. His face was a perfect blank. He made some remark about old buildings stretching and settling and handed me my drink.

[Jad Abumrad]

No, she's suffering from a disease called vertigo. That's what the whole essay is about. The surprising symptoms that happen when you get vertigo. Listen to what these two remixers, two guys who did this next remix, listen to how they take that idea of vertigo and flip it.

[Hope Davis (Actress)]

Everything was quite ordinary and normal until Dr. Frank came along.

[Ryan Vinson (Sketch lightly)]

He was a presence in a suit. He was smooth, solid and certain she could tell the way he moved he said confidence and savored every breath he ever drew and she was a leaf just let loose from the tree no idea what she was supposed to be or to do. She was just an outline, some notes on some loose leaf. Paper and paper. Paper was something he knew how to use. He worked for the paper capturing the news, A molder of material out looking for amuse or amusement. She was infused with, consumed by his every movement. His blue eyes became her new sky. They spread across the room they bled over the edges of her vision and her view was a hue that colored the few things she thought she knew Two pools that overflowed his face and changed the way she moved.

[Hope Davis (Actress)]

The floor gave shake a shake I could feel a little sank it went down and up. It was as if I were sinking into the floor Tilt and I'd take a step and the floor was like snow. It would give under my foot and I would sink.

[Jad Abumrad]

So can you guys introduce yourselves? Oh, my name is Mark Godfrey and I go by Daimyo as a producer in the world of production. So Chibidi Chang.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

My name is Ryan Vinson. I go by Sketch lightly in the world of hip hop music. Changity Ching.

[Robert Krulwich]

So Ryan's the rapper on this thing and Mark's the guy who makes the music.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

Well, I think all I gave him at first was like, listen to the stems. I think I could write something about this. Interpreting Vertigo as something about love and positives and negatives, and he kind of went from there and made all of the music. Yeah, it was kind of.

[Jad Abumrad]

It's kind of.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

I don't know, came out of nowhere.

[Jad Abumrad]

So I was just trying to make something that would fit with his style. So now, how did you come up with the idea of taking Vertigo, which is a disease where you lose your balance and your relationship to gravity and making that about love and losing yourself in another person?

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

Yeah, I don't know. Listening to the other pieces that were submitted before mine, people would either just leave all the vocals basically the same and just do different musical arrangements underneath. And then there were some that would take the vocals and chop them up in all crazy ways, and it was really awesome to listen to. But being a fan of the show, I guess I kind of miss the story sometimes. Like, just the feeling from the story. So I tried to think of a way that I could kind of sit in between there. So just the idea of Vertigo, just the feelings described in the original piece made me think of love. Love not knowing where you. How the space works anymore. I think it's a lot like the way people describe falling in love. Where you get dizzy, everything seems different. Right, Exactly.

[Jad Abumrad]

Is that just something that made sense to you in the abstract or were you drawing from personal. Personal experience or something? I don't know. Is there something behind that?

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

I guess it's definitely drawing from personal experience, but I guess these two guys.

[Robert Krulwich]

Have been in love for a very, very long time. This is a kind of confessional thing.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

I mean, you could tell if you ever see us in the same room. You both start cranking up towards me.

[Hope Davis (Actress)]

And then I can't help.

[Jad Abumrad]

Sweet.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

Such a sweet guy.

[Jad Abumrad]

No, that's an honest question, isn't it? Is there a real answer that.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

Yeah, no, there is. So when I heard the feeling described in the piece, my question to myself was, why can I relate to this? Like, why does that make sense to me? Because I've never been there. I've never had vertigo. But for me, I guess, I mean, getting really personal. I mean, I'm divorced, really young and divorced, I guess, for most people. But just the second verse talks a lot about this unsure feeling when your identity becomes lost in someone else. When you're not sure where you stop and they begin. And that can be a really great thing, but also can be really troubling and.

[Robert Krulwich]

And.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

When you're not sure what you are on your own anymore. I guess. And I guess I have gone through that.

[Ryan Vinson (Sketch lightly)]

It all happened so quickly. Head spinning. Turned to wedding ring. She was his completely. And he was her everything. And she was everything in turn, but only in turn. She was Frank's wife, first and nobody, third and second. She was someone who. She couldn't quite pin down. The woman that she was before she lost herself in his smile. But he was so handsome and successful. And her husband in the ad, to say something, something about the woman who loved him.

[David Minick]

Right?

[Ryan Vinson (Sketch lightly)]

These were the questions that kept her up at night, eyes wide to the sky, wondering what it would be like if the sun's light didn't strike. The moment she shuddered, shut her eyes and pressed herself against his side.

[Hope Davis (Actress)]

I was jelly. I began to move. I was conscious of a new dimension. I had a new relationship to space. My arms, my whole body felt. I seemed to be completely at the mercy of some outside. Outside force. I was amorphous.

[Robert Krulwich]

Oh, you're right. That's not a person who's safe anymore.

[Jad Abumrad]

It's not a happy feeling. So in that scenario, I don't want to be too literal about this, but who are you? You're talking from the perspective of the woman about a guy named Frank. I assume that you're closer spiritually to the woman's perspective in this case.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

Right. I guess I would say I would more closely associate to the female character. She just has all these thoughts and questions. But then the last line is like she shuttered, shut her eyes and pressed herself against his side. So she's kind of brushing those away because it was scary and going back to security and comfort.

[Robert Krulwich]

But we don't yet know whether she's gonna get, you know, gonna go solo.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

That's very true. Thank you. Paying attention? No, it's like. It's a very subtle, like, line at the end that. I don't know. I meant it to be that way because I didn't want it to feel decisive.

[Jad Abumrad]

So you wrote this from the perspective of somebody who's in the middle of it, right?

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

I guess from the perspective of someone who's in the middle of it and not sure if she even really wants to be on the outside of it, but feels like maybe she should.

[Ryan Vinson (Sketch lightly)]

It's a.

[Mark Godfrey (Daimyo)]

It's a strange place to be. I guess. I. I sat there for a long.

[Jad Abumrad]

Time. You know what's kind of like humbling about that whole thing for me is that like, they found something that was in the story that we didn't even know was in there. I think that's kind of beautiful. Yeah.

[Robert Krulwich]

Well, see, that's the thing. When this idea was created, it wasn't created by me because I thought it was insane. I thought, why would people, in the busyness of their lives go into our raw material and re sculpt it? I said, nobody is gonna do that. It's just dumb.

[Jad Abumrad]

But the fact that 136 people took the time to do it. Yeah, it brought so much talent and energy, cleverness and interestingness to the whole thing. It's quite. It's just. I don't know what to call it.

[Robert Krulwich]

Well, I think it's kind of wonderful is what it is.

[Jad Abumrad]

Yeah. It's just cool. So thank you to everybody that entered.

[Robert Krulwich]

Thank you.

[Jad Abumrad]

And thank you to Indaba for making this possible for us. You can hear a bunch of the remixes on indaba's website.

[Robert Krulwich]

That's indabamusic.com and they run a site that's really extraordinary because it gets a whole bunch of people who love music and love mixing music together. So thank you. Ndaba.

[Jad Abumrad]

Yeah. I'm Chad Abumrad. I'm Robert Krulwich, thank you for re listening.

[Robert Krulwich]

Hi, my name is Marty Fota. I'm a Radiolab listener from Scranton, Pennsylvania.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Radiolab is supported in part by the National Science foundation and by the Alfred P. Sloan foundation, enhancing public understanding of.

[Robert Krulwich]

Science and technology in the modern world.

[Sponsor Announcer]

More information about sloan@@www.sloan.org. thank you.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

End of message.

[Commercial Announcer]

Diego Black Friday at the Home Depot. Black Friday and the Home Depot. When the flu is keeping you up at night, don't try to tough it out. Knock out your flu symptoms with NYQUIL Intense Flu. You got this. It provides powerful relief of your flu symptoms so you can sleep well through the night. NYQUIL Intense Flu. The nighttime sniffling, aching, aching fever. Best sleep with a flu medicine. Use as directed. Keep out of reach of children.