My Name Is Richard and I'm Sitting In the Corner — Man in black blazer playing a recorder flute while staring at camera

My Name Is Richard and I'm Sitting In the Corner

2023viral videosemi-active

Published October 26, 2026

'My Name Is Richard and I'm Sitting In the Corner' is a short recorder song written and performed by TikToker Richard Lindesay, who posted it to his account in May 2023. The two line tune about sitting in a corner playing a recorder reached millions of plays within days of a reposted version appearing on May 24th. By late May, creators were setting the audio over 8 Mile rap battle edits and photo slideshows of a totaled car.

tiktok sound trends audio memes viral song memes earworm memes tonal whiplash memes

Overview

On TikTok, users typically replace the audio of unrelated clips with Lindesay's recorder tune, letting his earnest deadpan singing play over violent, dramatic, or absurd footage1. The joke rides on the gap between the childlike melody and whatever appears on screen, with the two line hook being easy to catch after a single listen.

One common application is the 'X If They Were Good' template, where a famous musical scene is overlaid with the recorder song to argue it would be improved by the swap5. A second strain of the trend uses photo slideshows set to the song, often ending on a frame showing something destroyed or ruined6. Sped up and slowed down remixes also circulated on the platform, keeping the audio in rotation after the first clip's sound was taken down4.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok
Creator
Richard Lindesay
Date
2023

Richard Lindesay first posted the song to his TikTok account @therichardlindesay on May 17th, 2023, filming himself seated against a plain white wall and playing the recorder while singing, 'My name is Richard and I'm sitting in the corner. Sitting in the corner playing my recorder.'2. That original upload collected around 451,200 plays and 50,500 likes over 13 days before its audio was removed from TikTok for reasons that were never made public3.

A week later, on May 24th, Lindesay reposted the clip with a Spotify watermark attached, this time hitting roughly 2.8 million plays and 342,600 likes within six days1. The repost gave the sound a stable home on the platform and set up the burst of remixes that followed.

How It Spread

TikTok edits picked up the audio within two days of the second upload. On May 26th, 2023, @i_like_clam_chowder posted a sped up and slowed down remix of the song, which gathered roughly 32,800 plays and 910 likes in four days4. That same day, @stage_maniac uploaded a photo slideshow claiming the song was banned from his car, finishing on a shot of what looked like a totaled vehicle, and the post collected around 563,800 plays and 68,300 likes6.

The format broke into bigger numbers on May 27th, when @pumpkincheesecakes posted a video setting Eminem's 8 Mile rap battle to Lindesay's tune in the 'X If They Were Good' template, which took in 1.2 million plays and 213,400 likes in three days5. Know Your Meme documented the song's rapid memetic turn in a late May 2023 entry on the trend3.

Timeline

2023-05-17

Richard Lindesay posts the original recorder video to @therichardlindesay on TikTok, which later has its audio removed from the platform[2].

2023-05-24

Lindesay reposts the clip with a Spotify watermark, and this upload hits 2.8 million plays within six days[1].

2023-05-26

@i_like_clam_chowder posts a sped up and slowed down remix[4], and @stage_maniac posts a slideshow framing the song as banned from his car[6].

2023-05-27

@pumpkincheesecakes posts an 8 Mile rap battle edit in the 'X If They Were Good' template, reaching 1.2 million plays in three days[5].

How to Use This Meme

To use the format, creators pick the sound from Lindesay's May 24th post and lay it over an unrelated clip whose own audio has been muted, often one with a sharp emotional or visual contrast to the gentle recorder playing. The 'X If They Were Good' variant drops the song into a well known musical sequence, while the slideshow variant builds to a payoff image at the end of the clip.

Frequently Asked Questions