Do the Bartman
"Do the Bartman" is a song from the 1990 album The Simpsons Sing the Blues, featuring the voice cast of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It was performed by The Simpsons cast member Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson), with backing vocals from American singer Michael Jackson, alongside additional vocals from Dan Castellaneta (voice of Homer Simpson). Jackson also produced the song, which was written by American recording artist Bryan Loren, and Geffen Records released it as a single on November 20, 1990.
Not to be confused with Do the Bart."Do the Bartman"
"Sibling Rivalry"
November 20, 1990
September 1990
Record One (Los Angeles)[1]
- 5:10 (album version)
- 3:59 (single version and video edit)
- Bryan Loren
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 by Brad Bird, was released for the song in 1991. The video became a hit on the American network MTV, and received a nomination at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.
Critical reception[edit]
Critical reviews of "Do the Bartman" were mostly positive. Larry Flick from Billboard said the single "seems like a logical extension of the public's love affair with Fox TV's popular cartoon characters. This cute and amusing pop/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."[15] Monika Bartyzel of Cinematical, however, thought the song was a "cheesy number."[16] 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.[17] He added that he thought the song had a "catchy beat" and an "infectious chorus."[17] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly described it as "not bad," and commented that Bart's high voice "echoes the beats nicely."[18] The Long Beach Press-Telegram's Patricia Smith called "Do the Bartman" a "surprisingly funky tune."[19] James Hamilton from Music Week named it Pick of the Week in the category of Dance, adding, "Satellite TV cartoon characters' novelty rap jiggler with Turtles-type kids appeal."[20] David Quantick from NME also felt it's "not bad", adding that the song's "natural vivacity may well make it a hit."[21] A reviewer from People Magazine stated, "Yes, of course the first single, 'Do the Bartman', will be a novelty hit. Written by Bryan Loren, it's a white-bread rap featuring Nancy Cartwright's vocals, reeling off tales of Bart's mischievous ways."[22]
Chart performance[edit]
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 the UK Singles Chart, and became Britain's seventh best selling song of 1991.[23] "Do the Bartman" has shipped at least 400,000 units in the United Kingdom, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry on February 1, 1991.[24][25] The song's success in the United Kingdom was remarkable, given that at that time The Simpsons was airing only on British satellite television station Sky One. It would be five years before it first aired on terrestrial television in Britain, airing on BBC One and later BBC Two.[26][27]
In Ireland, "Do the Bartman" spent nine weeks at number one on the Irish Singles Chart from January 24, 1991, to March 24, 1991.[28] Only nine singles have ever managed a longer run at number one in that country.[29] The song also charted at number one on New Zealand's 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.[30]
In March 1991, "Do the Bartman" became the first single to reach number one in Australia that was not available on 7-inch vinyl.[31]
Music video[edit]
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 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 a very short amount of time to finish the video because it was supposed to coincide with the release of The Simpsons Sing the Blues.[6]
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, shown on The 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".[6]
The animators added the wraparound at the beginning to set Bart against the crowd and put the video in "some sort of context."[6]
The video was nominated for Best Special Effects at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.[32][33] It originally premiered on Fox after the episode "Bart the Daredevil" on December 6, 1990, and was the number one music video on rotation on MTV between January and March 1991.[34] Along with the music video for "Deep, Deep Trouble", the video was included on The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season DVD boxset in 2002.[35][36] 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 the episode "Wedding for Disaster"—and featured a title card paying tribute to Jackson.[37]
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 the Statue 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".