| "Do the Bartman" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Artwork for commercial European releases | ||||
| Single byThe Simpsons | ||||
| from the albumThe Simpsons Sing the Blues | ||||
| B-side | "Sibling Rivalry" | |||
| Released | November 20, 1990 | |||
| Recorded | September 1990 | |||
| Studio | Record One (Los Angeles)[1] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
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| Label | Geffen | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| The Simpsons singles chronology | ||||
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| Michael Jackson singles chronology | ||||
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"Do the Bartman" is a song from the 1990 albumThe Simpsons Sing the Blues, featuring the voice cast of the American animated television seriesThe Simpsons. It was performed byThe Simpsons cast memberNancy Cartwright (the voice ofBart Simpson), with backing vocals from American singerMichael Jackson, alongside additional vocals fromDan Castellaneta (voice ofHomer Simpson). Jackson also produced the song, which was written by American recording artistBryan Loren, andGeffen Records released it as a single on November 20, 1990.
Despite receiving much radio airplay in the United States, "Do the Bartman" was never officially released as a single there. It topped the charts in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The song additionally reached the top 10 in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden. A music video, directed byBrad Bird, was released for the song in 1991. The video became a hit on the American networkMTV, and received a nomination at the1991 MTV Video Music Awards.
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The albumThe Simpsons Sing the Blues was released in December 1990. The first single from it was the rap song "Do the Bartman", performed byBart Simpson's voice actorNancy Cartwright and released on November 20, 1990.[3] Rumors began spreading in the summer of 1990 thatMichael Jackson would write a song for Bart on the album.
This song was reported early on to be "Do the Bartman", but executive producerJames L. Brooks issued a press release in September 1990 apologizing for the misunderstanding and stating that song was actually written by one of Jackson's friends,Bryan Loren.[4]
However, by the middle of the decadeThe Simpsons creatorMatt Groening was routinely giving interviews crediting Jackson with the song. In an August 1996 interview withLoaded he stated: "[Jackson] also anonymously wrote the `Do The Bartman' single and I'm still stunned that no one figured it out, especially when the lyrics had `I wanna be bad like Michael Jackson'! It's never been picked up by anyone in all this time... until I just told you!"[5]
Groening also later stated during an appearance at the February 1998 World Animation Celebration convention inPasadena, California that "Do the Bartman" was actually co-written and co-produced by Jackson,[6][7][8] but he could not receive credit for it because he was under contract toEpic Records.[9] Groening told a crowd at the convention that had gathered for a "The Simpsons tribute" that it had "always [been] amazing to me that no one ever found out that Michael Jackson wrote that song. [...] He was a big fan of the show."[10]
Jackson was a fan ofThe Simpsons, especially Bart,[11] and had called the producers one night offering to write Bart a number one single and do a guest spot on the show, which is how "Do the Bartman" came about.[12] Jackson eventually guest-starred in the episode "Stark Raving Dad" (season three, 1991) under the pseudonym John Jay Smith.[13]
He also wrote the song "Happy Birthday Lisa" for the episode "Stark Raving Dad", which was later included in the albumSongs in the Key of Springfield.[14] Bryan Loren has stated that Jackson had provided background vocals for "Do the Bartman".[15][8]
In July 2015, when Bryan Loren was selling the publishing and songwriting rights for the song, Loren stated that "despite Matt Groening's repeated confessions, I am the sole writer of the song".[8] Loren stated that Jackson's contributions included backup vocals and providing the title "Do the Bartman" and that Jackson insisted his own name be mentioned in the lyrics.[8]
Critical reviews of "Do the Bartman" were mostly positive.Larry Flick fromBillboard said the single "seems like a logical extension of the public's love affair withFox TV's popular cartoon characters. This cute and amusingpop/new jack novelty doesn't actually teach any new dance steps, but that hasn't kept radio from jumping on it out of the box."[16] Monika Bartyzel of Cinematical, however, thought the song was a "cheesy number".[17] The Daily Vault's Benny Balneg liked that it disengaged itself from the album's "blues tag" and incorporated more "contemporary elements" into its sound.[18] He added that he thought the song had a "catchy beat" and an "infectious chorus".[18] Ken Tucker ofEntertainment Weekly described it as "not bad," and commented thatBart's high voice "echoes the beats nicely".[19] TheLong Beach Press-Telegram's Patricia Smith called "Do the Bartman" a "surprisingly funky tune".[20]James Hamilton fromMusic Week named it Pick of the Week in the category of Dance, adding, "Satellite TV cartoon characters' novelty rap jiggler withTurtles-type kids appeal".[21]David Quantick fromNME also felt it's "not bad", adding that the song's "natural vivacity may well make it a hit".[22] A reviewer fromPeople Magazine stated, "Yes, of course the first single, 'Do the Bartman', will be a novelty hit. Written byBryan Loren, it's a white-breadrap featuringNancy Cartwright's vocals, reeling off tales of Bart's mischievous ways."[23]
The song topped the charts in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, the song spent three weeks at the top of theUK Singles Chart, and became Britain's seventh best selling song of 1991.[24] "Do the Bartman" has shipped at least 400,000 units in the United Kingdom, and was certified gold by theBritish Phonographic Industry on February 1, 1991.[25][26] The song's success in the United Kingdom was remarkable, given that at that timeThe Simpsons was airing only on British satellite television stationSky One. It would be five years before it first aired on terrestrial television in Britain, airing onBBC One and laterBBC Two.[27][28]
In Ireland, "Do the Bartman" spent nine weeks at number one on theIrish Singles Chart from January 24, 1991, to March 24, 1991.[29] Only nine singles have ever managed a longer run at number one in that country.[30] The song also charted at number one onNew Zealand'sRIANZ Singles Chart on the issue date of January 25, 1991, and peaked at number one on the chart again, for a total of two weeks, from February 8, 1991, to February 15, 1991.[31]
In March 1991, "Do the Bartman" became the first single to reach number one in Australia that was not available on7-inch vinyl.[32]
The accompanying music video for "Do the Bartman" features the typical plot of Bart rebelling against authority when he decides to put his own spin on a rigidly choreographed dance presentation atSpringfield Elementary School. The music video for "Do the Bartman" was directed byBrad Bird, with dance choreography byMichael Chambers. Nobody from the staff ofThe Simpsons wanted to direct it because they were busy doing the show, but Bird finally agreed to do it after having been asked four times. He had a very short amount of time to finish the video because it was supposed to coincide with the release ofThe Simpsons Sing the Blues.[7]
The entire music video was storyboarded in only two days in the United States. Bird then got on a plane toBudapest,Hungary, where the video was animated byVarga Studio. They thought the video was going to be animated as simply as the originalThe Simpsons shorts, shown onThe Tracey Ullman Show, so when Bird told them that it was going to be done in full animation with no repeated scenes, they "went into deep shock".[7]
The animators added the wraparound at the beginning to set Bart against the crowd and put the video in "some sort of context".[7]
The video was nominated forBest Special Effects at the1991 MTV Video Music Awards.[33][34] It originally premiered onFox after the episode "Bart the Daredevil" on December 6, 1990,[citation needed] and was the number one music video on rotation onMTV between January and March 1991.[35] Along with the music video for "Deep, Deep Trouble", the video was included onThe Simpsons: The Complete Second Season DVD boxset in 2002.[36][37] Following thedeath of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, the music video was broadcast by Fox on June 28, 2009—ahead of a rerun of the episode "Wedding for Disaster"—and featured a title card paying tribute to Jackson.[38]
There is an alternative version of the music video that removes the references to Michael Jackson's "hair strand" (by not including said hair strand in frame), people dancing to the Bartman on a cruise ship with theStatue of Liberty in the background moving side to side with the rhythm of the song and replaces it with extra frames of the Springfield "cool kids" dancing along. The alternative version also removes the lyric, "She can do it, you can do it, so can I".
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[56] | Gold | 35,000^ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[64] | Gold | 5,000* |
| Sweden (GLF)[65] | Gold | 25,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[67] | Gold | 451,000[66] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | November 20, 1990 | 7-inch vinyl | Geffen | [3] |
| United Kingdom | January 14, 1991 |
| [68] |
