Amber Lamps

About & Origin

Amber Lamps is the internet-given name of the mysterious purple spandex-wearing brunette riding an Oakland, CA city bus in the Epic Beard Man video. Her name comes from a misunderstanding of Michael’s call for “Ambulance” through his battered mouth as “Amber Lamps,” which became arbitrarily associated with the girl sitting behind Michael in the video.

As other people on the bus ride were yelling and screaming, Ms. Amber Lamps sat there cooly, simply observing the escalating conflict while listening to some music. As Encyclopedia Dramatica puts it,

She lives in the hood and doesn’t afraid of anything.

Earlier Mentions of “Amber Lamps”

In September 2005, the French hip hop producer Wax Tailor, with The Others, released the song “Where My Heart’s At”, that makes mention of “amber lamp” for the need to call the paramedics. Around the 1:32 mark of the song, one singer raps: “Somebody call the paramedics / because hip hops been shot by an MC spittin’ nursery rhymes over ebonics” with another singer rapping in: “Someone call the amber lamp / they got shot up in the dance….”

Spread & Use

It’s simple to figure out just why Amber Lamps has stolen the heart of many meme participants: Her passive gaze and seeming fearlessness has made her an object of the internet’s affections. There have been countless YouTube tributes,(here and here are two examples) songs written about her (in particular, one to the tune of “Hey There Delilah”), and two tribute sites registered at amberlamps.co.cc and amberlamps.org) to profess love for her.

Her mystery is endearing. Her collected demeanor has Holy Taco has gone so far as to come up with a satirical version of what her inner monologue could have been during the incident.

On March 9th, 2010, Rapper Cam’ron (feat. Vado) released a single titled “Amber Lamps,” sampling the sound clip of Michael saying “bring the amber lamps” in the footage (note: lyrics irrelevant):

On June 6, 2010, Will Smith called for an Amber Lamps during the opening skit of the MTV Movie Awards:

Further Questions

Who is this calm, quiet girl? What is she listening to? Why are her headphones so big? Where does she get such amazing tights? These are just a few questions that are left answered. Perhaps someday she will come across a video and realize that she is a meme. But even then, she probably wouldn’t even care.