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Do the Bartman

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"Do the Bartman"
Song

"Do the Bartman" is a pop rap song from The Simpsons 1990 album The Simpsons Sing the Blues. The song was performed by The Simpsons cast member, Nancy Cartwright, and was released as a promotional single from the album on November 20, 1990. The song was written by American recording artist Michael Jackson and Bryan Loren, although Jackson did not receive any credit because he was under contract to another record label. Jackson was a fan of The Simpsons—especially Bart—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 the song came about.

Although the song was never officially released as a single in the United States, it was very successful internationally, reaching the top of the singles chart in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom, while reaching the top ten in Sweden and the Netherlands. "Do the Bartman" was certified gold in the United Kingdom. A music video, which was directed by Brad Bird, was released for the song in 1991. The storyboard for the video was written in two days.

Background

A mid-twenties African American man wearing a sequined military jacket and dark sunglasses. He is walking while waving his right hand, which is adorned with a white glove. His left hand is bare.
Michael Jackson wrote the song "Do the Bartman".

The album The Simpsons Sing the Blues was released in September 1990. The first single from the album was the pop rap song "Do the Bartman", performed by Bart Simpson's voice actor Nancy Cartwright and released on November 20, 1990.[1] Rumors began spreading in the summer of 1990 that Michael Jackson would write a song for Bart on the album. The song was reported early on to be "Do the Bartman", but executive producer James 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.[2]

However, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening revealed during an appearance at the 1998 World Animation Celebration convention in Pasadena, California that "Do the Bartman" was actually co-written and produced by Jackson,[1][3] but he could not receive credit for it because he was under contract to another record label.[4] 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."[5]

Jackson was a fan of The Simpsons, especially Bart,[6] and had called the producers one night offering to write Bart a number one single and do a guest spot on the show.[7] Jackson eventually guest-starred in the episode "Stark Raving Dad" (season three, 1991) under the pseudonym John Jay Smith.[8] He also wrote a song for that episode called "Happy Birthday Lisa", which was later included in the album Songs in the Key of Springfield.[9] It has been reported that Jackson also provided background vocals for the song.[10]

Critical reception

Critical reviews of the song were mostly positive. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly described the song as "not bad", and commented that Bart's high voice "echoes the beats nicely".[11] The Daily Vaults Benny Balneg liked that the song disengaged itself from the album's "blues tag" and incorporated more "contemporary elements" into its sound.[12] He added that he thought the song had a "catchy beat" and an "infectious chorus".[12] Monika Bartyzel of Cinematical called the song a "cheesy number".[13] Long Beach Press-Telegrams Patricia Smith called the song a "surprisingly funky tune".[14] The song and its music video has become study material for sociology courses at University of California Berkeley, where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show", and to figure out what it is "trying to tell audiences about aspects primarily of American society, and, to a lesser extent, about other societies."[15]

Chart performance

While the song was never officially released as a single in the United States, it was very successful in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom, countries where it peaked at number one on the singles chart. In 1991 it was the number one song in the United Kingdom for three weeks from February 16 to March 9 and was the seventh best-selling song of the year.[16] "Do The Bartman" has shipped at least four hundred thousand units in the United Kingdom and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry on February 1, 1991.[17][18] The song's success in the United Kingdom was remarkable, given that at that time The Simpsons had not yet been shown on British terrestrial television, and was not for a further five years.[19][20] In Ireland, "Do The Bartman" spent nine weeks at number one on the Irish Singles Chart, from the issue date January 24, 1991 to March 24, 1991.[21] Only seven singles have ever managed a longer run at number one in that country.[22] "Do The Bartman" also charted at number-one on New Zealands RIANZ 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.[23] "Do the Bartman" was also the best-selling single of 1991 in Australia and New Zealand, as well as the second best-selling single in Holland.[24]

Music video

An animated picture of yellow children and adults jumping in the air, at an angled position, with both they're arms up, while three other people are bent over with one of they're arms in front of them and the other behind them while walking to the left. There is also a yellow male sticking his body (head to slightly past his shoulders) out of a sewer hole with a sewer cap on top of his head. On the ground, there is a grey street that has two yellow line markings diagonal from each other.
Bart Simpson, and other Simpsons, dancing in the music video.

The music video features the typical plot of Bart rebelling against authority when he decides to put his own spin on a rigidly choreographed dance presentation at Springfield Elementary School. The music video for "Do the Bartman" was directed by Brad Bird, with dance choreography by Michael Chambers. Nobody from the staff of The 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 an "unbelievably" short amount of time to finish the video because it was supposed to coincide with the release of The Simpsons Sing the Blues.[3]

The entire music video was storyboarded in only two days in the United States. Bird then got on a plane to Budapest, Hungary, where the video was animated by Varga Studio. They thought the video was going to be animated as simply as the original The Simpsons shorts, so when Bird told them that it was going to be done in full animation with no repeated scenes, they "went into deep shock".[3] The animators added the wraparound at the beginning to set Bart against the crowd and put the video in "some sort of context."[3]

The video was nominated for Best Special Effects at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.[25][26] "Do the Bartman" was the number one music video on rotation on American MTV network between January and March 1991.[27] Following the death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, the music video was broadcast by Fox on June 28, 2009—ahead of a rerun of "Wedding for Disaster"—and featured a title card paying tribute to Jackson.[28]

Charts

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by UK number-one single
February 16, 1991 - March 2, 1991 		Succeeded by
Preceded by RIANZ number-one single (first run)
January 25, 1991 		Succeeded by
Preceded by RIANZ number-one single (second run)
February 8, 1991 - February 15, 1991 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Irish Singles Chart number-one single
January 24, 1991 - March 24, 1991 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Australian Singles Chart number-one single
17/03/1991 		Succeeded by
"Sucker DJ (A Witch For Love)" by Dimples D

Track listing

References

  1. ^ a b "Michael Jackson Update: News From Korea, Poland And Groening". MTV.com. Viacom. 1998-02-23. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  2. ^ Deborah Hastings (1990-09-26). "'Simpsons' head to recording studio". Tampabay.com. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  3. ^ a b c d Season 2 DVD commentary for the special feature "Do the Bartman".
  4. ^ "Bart Simpson's secrets revealed". Enquirer.com. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
  5. ^ Ray Richmond (1998-02-20). "Gloved one secret 'Simpsons' fan". Variety.com. Reed Elsevier Inc. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  6. ^ Cartwright, Nancy (2000). My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy. New York City: Hyperion. pp. 115–117. ISBN 0-7868-8600-5.
  7. ^ Brooks, James L. (2003). Commentary for "Stark Raving Dad", in The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  8. ^ Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood (2000). "Stark Raving Dad". BBC News. BBC Online. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  9. ^ Jean, Al. (2003). Commentary for "Stark Raving Dad", in The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  10. ^ Michael Schneider and Andrew Stewart (2009-06-28). "Michael Jackson tributes across TV". Variety.com. Reed Elsevier Inc. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  11. ^ Ken Tucker (1990-12-14). "The Simpsons Sing the Blues". Entertainment Weekly. Time Warner, Inc. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  12. ^ a b "The Daily Vault Music Reviews : The Simpsons Sing The Blues". Dailyvault.com. David Geffen Co. 2007-05-21. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  13. ^ Monika Bartyzel (2007-08-10). "'Powder Blue' Adds The Swayze". Cinematical.com. Weblogs, Inc. Network. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  14. ^ Patricia Smith (1990-12-11). "Funky Bart". Long Beach Press-Telegram. pp. D7. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  15. ^ Thomas B. Gold (2008) "The Simpsons Global Mirror" University of California Berkeley.
  16. ^ a b "All the Number 1 Singles–1990s". TheOfficialCharts.com. The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  17. ^ a b "Certified awards". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  18. ^ a b "Certified Awards Search". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
  19. ^ "Simpsons celebrate 10 years". BBC News. BBC Online. 2000-01-13. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  20. ^ Kate Whiting (2008-05-05). "Telly's first family". Manchester Evening News. M.E.N. Media. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  21. ^ a b "The Simpsons - Do The Bartman (song)". Irish-Charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  22. ^ "Facts and Figures Most Weeks at No.1". IrishCharts.ie. Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h i "The Simpsons - Do The Bartman (song)". Charts.org.nz. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  24. ^ Michael Jackson - The solo years. AuthorsOnLine. Retrieved 2010-01-25. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  25. ^ "1991 Video Music Awards". MTV. Viacom. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  26. ^ Hastings, Deborah (1991-07-29). "R.E.M. leads nominations for Video Music Awards". The Deseret News. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  27. ^ Chuck Barney (2007-07-23). "The evolution of 'The Simpsons'". Pop Matters. PopMatters Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  28. ^ Dan Snierson (2009-06-27). "Michael Jackson: 'The Simpsons' to re-air 'Do the Bartman' video in tribute on Sunday". Entertainment Weekly. Time Warner Inc. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  29. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th ed.). New York: Billboard Books. ISBN 0823074994.

External links

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