Chocolate Rain
You might remember it as Tay Zonday Chocolate Rain, I move away from the mic to breathe in
Viral classics11 of 40
2007·Early YouTube·nostalgic
A song about racism that the internet adopted for the voice it was sung in, and whose author kept saying so.
The line people quote“I move away from the mic to breathe in”
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- Tay Zonday Chocolate Rain
- First known
- 2007
- Began as
- A video upload
- Made by
- Tay Zonday
- Uploaded by
- TayZonday
- Format
- Video
- Performed by
- Tay Zonday, who wrote and recorded it in his Minneapolis apartment in March 2007
- What it said
- The on-screen caption “I move away from the mic to breathe in”
- Origin
- Likely original upload
- Available
- Playable from the source
What this wasThe story
Tay Zonday sings into a condenser microphone in a small studio, in a much deeper voice than his appearance leads a viewer to expect, cutting occasionally to him playing a digital piano. A caption early on reads "I move away from the mic to breathe in", explaining why he keeps stepping back.
It won a 2008 YouTube Award, was covered by John Mayer and Green Day’s Tre Cool, and appeared in South Park and The Office. Zonday has continued to give interviews about what the song is actually about.
Why it matteredWhat changed
A song about racism, sung in a very deep voice by a graduate student in his flat, was passed around as a joke and became one of the first songs whose audience was built entirely on YouTube.
TimelineIn order
- Posted
Tay Zonday uploads the song to his YouTube channel.1
- Mainstream
Zonday performs it on Jimmy Kimmel Live!1
- Remixed
He releases Cherry Chocolate Rain, a version of his own song made to advertise a Dr Pepper drink.1
- Record
It wins the YouTube Award for music.1
- Came back
South Park’s episode Canada on Strike features the song, and the video gains more than a million views.1
- Later
Phish open a concert at Madison Square Garden with it.1
What people misrememberSet straight
Commonly remembered asA nonsense song.
ActuallyZonday wrote it as a metaphor for racism against African Americans.1
LegacyWhat it left behind
- Zonday said the song’s spread “started as a joke at 4chan.org”, though he was only fairly sure of that.1
More from hereIn this collection
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · a moment that changed what the internet did next · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later
Where it came fromWhat we know
High-confidence original source.
Earliest known source: YouTube
Created by Tay Zonday. Originally uploaded by TayZonday. Established by research, not by who posted the copy shown here.
- When
- Originally published April 2007.
More from 2007You were there
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things