Friday Fun: A Song Inspired by the Crosswalk Signal

Turn it to 11.

1 minute read

March 10, 2017, 2:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Crosswalk Button

Some people get "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" stuck in their heads when crossing the street. | J. NIBO / Shutterstock

"'Wait'" is possibly the catchiest song ever performed by a talking pedestrian traffic signal," according to John Metcalfe.

Credit to Metcalfe for making Michael Nguyen, a computer-science major at the University of Georgia, famous among the urbanist crowd.

In a CityLab post, Metcalfe shares the backstory on how Nguyen built a song out of the "monotonous-yet-catchy voice of a crosswalk indicator" on campus at the University of Georgia.

According to Metcalfe, the song now joins a small but illustrious canon of songs inspired by and inspiring the pedestrian experience. Click through to see that list, but you can listen to "Wait" right here.

Thursday, March 9, 2017 in CityLab

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