The Rainbow Road Song — A bearded man in a grey blazer stands in front of a green-screened Rainbow Road stage from Mario Kart with HUD elements visible.

The Rainbow Road Song

2008Viral music video / parody songclassic

Published March 30, 2026

Also known as: Rainbow Road Song · "It's Called a Road · It's Called a Rainbow Road"

The "Rainbow Road" Song is a viral music video uploaded to YouTube in 2008, featuring singer Mark Kump performing an original tribute song set to the background music of Rainbow Road from *Mario Kart: Double Dash!!*2. Written in memory of Kump's recently deceased uncle Walter, the earnest yet absurd lyrics spawned an internet inside joke that Rainbow Road is where people go when they die3. The video generated dozens of remixes and YouTube Poop edits throughout the late 2000s and 2010s4.

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Overview

The "Rainbow Road" Song is a fan-made tribute video featuring Mark Kump singing original lyrics over the Rainbow Road background music from *Mario Kart: Double Dash!!*, the fourth installment in Nintendo's kart racing series released on the GameCube in 20036. The song blends genuine grief with surreal humor, as Kump sings about Rainbow Road being "a road that you go when you die" while referencing Princess Peach, Mario, and Toad3. The tonal whiplash between a sincere memorial for a dead uncle and a Mario Kart level gave the video its distinctive comedic quality, making it a staple of early YouTube remix culture.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube
Key People
Mark Kump, RhymesWithStomach
Date
2008

Rainbow Road first appeared as the final course of the Special Cup in *Super Mario Kart*, released for the SNES on September 1, 1992 in North America1. The course became a signature element of every subsequent *Mario Kart* game, known for its extreme difficulty, lack of guardrails, and rainbow-colored floating track set against deep space backdrops1.

On February 20, 2008, the YouTube account RhymesWithStomach uploaded a video titled "Rainbow Road" in which Mark Kump sings to the Rainbow Road audio track from *Mario Kart: Double Dash!!*4. According to multiple sources, the song was written as a tribute to Kump's "beloved uncle Walter," who had recently passed away3. The full lyrics open with the now-iconic lines: "It's called a road, it's called a Rainbow Road / It is a road that you go"2.

How It Spread

The video quickly gained traction in YouTube's early meme ecosystem. The song's repetitive structure and the unexpected emotional sincerity of its premise made it prime material for remixing4. YouTube Poop creators latched onto the video, producing numerous edits that distorted, rearranged, and recontextualized the lyrics4.

The most lasting cultural contribution was the internet inside joke that Rainbow Road is the afterlife. This concept spread beyond the original video and became a recurring reference in gaming communities2. When former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata died on July 11, 2015, and a rainbow was spotted over Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto, the joke took on unexpected poignancy as fans shared images of the rainbow alongside references to the song's core idea that Rainbow Road is "where you go when you die"2.

The song also gained coverage from gaming music blogs. Original Sound Version featured an article praising the track, writing: "I don't know what exactly it is, but I haven't been able to stop listening to and singing along with Mark Kump's YouTube video tribute Rainbow Road"3.

How to Use This Meme

The "Rainbow Road" Song is typically referenced in two ways:

1

Direct quoting — People quote or sing the lyrics ("It's called a road, it's called a Rainbow Road") in gaming discussions, especially when playing any *Mario Kart* game's Rainbow Road course.

2

Afterlife joke — When a beloved figure (particularly in gaming or internet culture) dies, fans sometimes reference Rainbow Road as their destination, drawing on the song's central lyric that it's "a road that you go when you die"2.

Cultural Impact

The "Rainbow Road" Song sits at an interesting intersection of gaming nostalgia and early YouTube culture. While modest in view counts compared to later viral hits, its influence on internet humor around death and video games proved durable. The Satoru Iwata rainbow incident in 2015 demonstrated how deeply the "Rainbow Road as afterlife" joke had embedded itself in Nintendo fan culture2.

Rainbow Road itself, independent of the song, has appeared across numerous Nintendo properties and other media. The course featured in *Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS* as a playable stage1 and appeared in *The Super Mario Bros. Movie*1. The *Mario Kart* series has sold over 189 million copies worldwide, making Rainbow Road one of the most recognized course designs in gaming history5.

Fun Facts

The song is set to the background music specifically from *Mario Kart: Double Dash!!*, the 2003 GameCube entry that introduced two-rider karts and character-specific special items6.

The full lyrics mention Princess Peach, Mario, and Toad by name, placing them as fellow travelers on Rainbow Road3.

Rainbow Road courses typically feature few or no guardrails and are set in deep space or Earth's atmosphere, making them among the most punishing tracks in each *Mario Kart* game1.

*Mario Kart: Double Dash!!* sold around 7 million copies worldwide, making it the second best-selling GameCube game behind *Super Smash Bros. Melee*6.

The uploader's YouTube handle, RhymesWithStomach, does not in fact rhyme with stomach.

Derivatives & Variations

YouTube Poop remixes

— The song's repetitive lyrics and earnest delivery made it a popular source for YTP creators who spliced and rearranged the audio into absurd edits[4].

"When you die" meme format

— The lyric about Rainbow Road being where you go when you die became a standalone joke format applied to various deaths and departures in internet culture[2].

Iwata memorial posts

— Following Satoru Iwata's death in 2015, fans circulated images of the rainbow over Nintendo HQ paired with references to the song, creating an organic memorial meme[2].

Frequently Asked Questions