Slinky and Log: Childhood by Jingle
Today my son got a Slinky.
Not an app. Not a game. Not even a Nintendo accessory. Just… a Slinky. A tightly coiled, proudly analog piece of wire that’s been falling down stairs since 1945.
And of course, the second he pulled it out of the box and gave it that first wobble I immediately heard the song in my head. You know the one. You have to know the one.
“What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkety sound…”
Yes. That jingle. The original Slinky song. Born in 1962, it was created in Columbia, South Carolina by Johnny McCullough and Homer Fesperman writing the music and Charles Weagly penning the lyrics. It was so popular that it remained the main commercial theme of the product until fairly recently, making it the longest running commercial jingle in history.
It’s one of those jingles that’s more durable than the product. Because let’s be honest: the Slinky itself is pure novelty. Fun for about 7 minutes, or however long it takes to completely tangle it in some kind of unsolvable metal Möbius knot. Then it’s a sculpture. A sad one.
Well, that’s me, anyway. When I was a kid I never had much luck with it. We didn’t have a second floor on our house so there were no stairs for me to send it walking down. I think I tried to make some stacks with books and blocks, but didn’t have enough success to remain excited about the toy.
My son though? He loves it. He sends it down the stairs, he tries to juggle with it, walking it from hand to hand and quickly moving his hand to catch it, so it moves continuously, and other tricks.
Back to that jingle. As if summoned by its sonic cousin, another song burst uninvited into my head — the glorious Ren & Stimpy parody:
“It’s Log! It’s Log!
It’s big, it’s heavy, it’s wood!
It’s Log! It’s Log!
It’s better than bad — it’s good!”
What a time capsule.
I tried to explain all this to my son. That Log was a parody of Slinky. That Slinky was a toy we all knew. That Ren & Stimpy wasn’t just chaos — it was postmodern chaos. That everything in that era was a little warped and brilliant and ran on jingle logic. He just looked at me, then went back to playing with his slinky.
That’s fair. Those strange 90s cartoons, born of MTV and trying to bottle Gen X irony and edginess, haven’t really aged well. I mean, we still love them, but they don’t much appeal to modern kids. Kids today are more innocent than we were, or at least their humor isn’t as satirical.
But I realized something: part of being a parent is this weird form of time travel. Our kids play with something for the first time, and we get thrown decades backward. Back into our own childhoods. Back into TV rooms with static-filled CRTs and commercials for things we wanted but didn’t know why.
I later learned where my son picked up some of his slinky tricks, by the way. It seems like there is a personality on Youtube who makes his living by doing “Slinky Shows”, kind of like magic performance shows, just with slinky tricks. Interesting guy.
Did you ever have a slinky? What were your thoughts about it?
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David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Mastodon. |
I read "Stinky and Log" at first 😅
I used to love slinkies in my childhood, one of the best toys to ever be created for sure!
Stinky and log 🤣
I first learned in your post that this toy is called “Slinky”. I had it in my house as a child and don't know where it came from. I didn't even know that it was meant to be played with by letting it walk on stairs, etc. Before I knew it, it was tangled and clumped up in a toy box 😂
I totally agree with this😉
haha yeah, tangled and buried in a toy box is where mine ended up too when I was a kid.
I never knew they're called slinky, in fact I never thought about them having a name or even an advert or song. It's one of those days things you remember from growing up, think though I can't remember if we ever had one bar home.
A number of people are saying that, that they didn't know the name. I guess maybe the name wasn't so common outside the US.
Speaking of jingles, did you know that Barry Manilow was the creator of some pretty iconic ones before he became the huge star that we all know and love today? The band-aid song... I'm pretty sure that was him. Those plastic slinkys back in the day were a joke. They always broke, then you just had half a slinky!
I didn't know that!
Maybe the plastics are better quality these days, because my son has been abusing it but it's still in good shape (so far).
That's good. The metal ones just always seemed better unless you accidentally bent it, then you were basically screwed.
I was 15 in 1962, freshman in high school. Never watched much TV back then. I don't remember the jingle at all. Slinky..I remember it, but believe I was introduced as an older person. Still found them fascinating. To this day I'm tempted to send a Slinky down the stairs if I come across one.
Of course my kids had a slinky, but I didn't have the sense that you did of reliving a childhood experience. Slinky was just another toy, better than most of the commercially popular toys.
I think there must have been a renewed push of the toy in the late 70s and early 80s, which would account for the commercials hitting me so strongly.
なつかしい！I didn’t know the name of this toy, and I also didn’t know its name in Japanese. Apparently, it’s called トムボーイ. I used to call it ‘ビヨンビヨン,’ either because someone else did or I started it myself… Anyway, it’s nice to remember classic toys. I love the commercial!
ビヨンビヨン I can understand, but トムボーイ is a little strange. Interesting that you liked it too! My wife has no memory of having played with it when she was young.
it's slinky, it's slinky,
oh what a wonderful toy..
😉😁👊
Yes!