"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 ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

''. It was performed by ''The Simpsons'' cast member

Nancy Cartwright Nancy Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress. She is the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', for which she has received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Perform ...

(the voice of

Bart Simpson Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in '' The Tracey Ullman Sh ...

), with backing vocals from American singer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

, alongside additional vocals from

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...

(voice of

Homer Simpson Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared, along with the rest of his family, in '' The Tracey Ullman Show'' short ...

). Jackson also produced the song, which was written by American recording artist

Bryan Loren Bryan Loren Hudson (born May 5, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter, recording artist and record producer. Hudson is professionally known as Bryan Loren, although he started his music career using his given name, and has significant accomplis ...

, and

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

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 by

Brad Bird Phillip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor. He has had a career spanning forty years in both animation and live-action. Bird was born in Montana and grew up ...

, was released for the song in 1991. The video became a hit on the American network

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, and received a nomination at the

1991 MTV Video Music Awards The 1991 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 5, 1991, honoring the best music videos from June 2, 1990, to June 15, 1991. The show was hosted by Arsenio Hall at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. This year saw the introduction ...

Michael Jackson's involvement

The album '' The Simpsons Sing the Blues'' was released in December 1990. The first single from it was the rap song "Do the Bartman", performed by

's voice actor

and released on November 20, 1990. Rumors began spreading in the summer of 1990 that

would write a song for Bart on the album. This song was reported early on to be "Do the Bartman", but executive producer

James L. Brooks James Lawrence Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. His television and film work includes ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Taxi'', ''The Simpsons'', '' Broadcast News'', ''As G ...

issued a press release in September 1990 apologizing for the misunderstanding and stating that song was actually written by one of Jackson's friends,

. However, ''The Simpsons'' creator

Matt Groening Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...

later stated during an appearance at the February 1998 World Animation Celebration convention in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

that "Do the Bartman" was actually co-written and co-produced by Jackson,Season 2 DVD commentary for the special feature "Do the Bartman". but he could not receive credit for it because he was under contract to

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical m ...

. Groening told a crowd at the convention that had gathered for a "''The Simpsons'' tribute" that it had "always

een Een ːnis a village in the Netherlands. It is part of the Noordenveld municipality in Drenthe. History Een is an ''esdorp'' which developed in the middle ages on the higher grounds. The communal pasture is triangular. The village developed dur ...

amazing to me that no one ever found out that Michael Jackson wrote that song. ..He was a big fan of the show." 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 "Do the Bartman" came about.Brooks, James L. (2003). Commentary for "Stark Raving Dad", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season'' VD 20th Century Fox. Jackson eventually guest-starred in the episode " Stark Raving Dad" ( season three, 1991) under the pseudonym John Jay Smith. He also wrote the song "Happy Birthday Lisa" for the episode "Stark Raving Dad", which was later included in the album '' Songs in the Key of Springfield''.Jean, Al. (2003). Commentary for "Stark Raving Dad", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season'' VD 20th Century Fox. Bryan Loren has stated that Jackson had provided background vocals for "Do the Bartman". 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". 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.

Critical reception

Critical reviews of "Do the Bartman" were mostly positive.

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' said the single "seems like a logical extension of the public's love affair with

Fox TV The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations and ...

's popular cartoon characters. This cute and amusing

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

new jack Jerome Young (January 3, 1963 – May 14, 2021) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name New Jack. He was best known for his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where he became notorious for his willingnes ...

novelty doesn't actually teach any new dance steps, but that hasn't kept radio from jumping on it out of the box." Monika Bartyzel of Cinematical, however, thought the song was a "cheesy number." The Daily Vault's Benny Balneg liked that it disengaged itself from the album's "

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

tag" and incorporated more "contemporary elements" into its sound. He added that he thought the song had a "catchy beat" and an "infectious chorus." Ken Tucker of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' described it as "not bad," and commented that

Bart Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartho ...

's high voice "echoes the beats nicely." The '' Long Beach Press-Telegrams Patricia Smith called "Do the Bartman" a "surprisingly funky tune." A reviewer from ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

'' stated, "Yes, of course the first single, 'Do the Bartman', will be a novelty hit. Written by

, it's a white-bread rap featuring

's vocals, reeling off tales of Bart's mischievous ways."

Chart performance

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 The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and became Britain's seventh best selling song of 1991. "Do the Bartman" has shipped at least 400,000 units in the United Kingdom, and was certified gold by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

on February 1, 1991. 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 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

. It would be five years before it first aired on terrestrial television in Britain, airing on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

and later

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

. In Ireland, "Do the Bartman" spent nine weeks at number one on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

from January 24, 1991, to March 24, 1991. Only nine singles have ever managed a longer run at number one in that country. The song also charted at number one on

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

'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. In March 1991, "Do the Bartman" became the first single to reach number one in Australia that was not available on 7-inch vinyl.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

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 Springfield is the primary fictional setting of the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' and related media. It is an average-sized, fictional city within an indeterminate state in the United States. The fictional city's geography, surroundi ...

. The music video for "Do the Bartman" was directed by

, with dance choreography by

Michael Chambers Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers (born November 13, 1967) is an American dancer and actor, known for his role as "Turbo" in the 1984 film '' Breakin and its sequel '' Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo'', in which he is credited as "Boogaloo Sh ...

. 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''. The entire music video was storyboarded in only two days in the United States. Bird then got on a plane to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

, where the video was animated by

Varga Studio Varga Studio, Ltd. was an animation studio located in Budapest, Hungary. It operated from 1988 to 2005 and was one of Europe's nine leading animation houses. While most of its work was for European animation, it occasionally animated for American ...

. They thought the video was going to be animated as simply as the original ''

'' 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". The animators added the wraparound at the beginning to set Bart against the crowd and put the video in "some sort of context." The video was nominated for Best Special Effects at the

. 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

between January and March 1991. Along with the music video for "

Deep, Deep Trouble "Deep, Deep Trouble" is a rap song from the 1990 ''Simpsons'' album '' The Simpsons Sing the Blues'', performed by the fictional character Bart Simpson (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) about his trouble-making antics. It was written by Matt Groening ...

", the video was included on '' The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season'' DVD boxset in 2002. Following the

death of Michael Jackson On June 25, 2009, American singer Michael Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication at his home on North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. His physician, Conrad Murray, said th ...

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. 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 The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...

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, he can do it, so can I".

Track listings

* 7-inch single: # "Do the Bartman" (7" House Mix/Edit) – 3:54 # "Do the Bartman" (LP edit) – 3:59 * CD single: # "Do the Bartman" (7" House Mix/Edit) – 3:54 # "Do the Bartman" (LP edit) – 3:59 # "Do the Bartman" (Bad Bart House Mix) – 4:49 # "Do the Bartman" (a cappella) – 3:44 * Digital download: # "Do the Bartman" (

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD wit ...

's Bartman So So Krispy Remix) – 4:27

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– backing vocals *

Julie Kavner Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950) is an American actress. Best known for her voice role as Marge Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', Kavner first attracted notice for her role as Brenda Morgenstern, the younge ...

Yeardley Smith Martha Maria Yeardley Smith ( ; born July 3, 1964) is an American actress, artist and writer. She currently stars as the voice of Lisa Simpson on the long-running animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Smith became an actress in 1982 aft ...

, and

– additional voices *

– backing vocals, instruments *

Paul Jackson Jr. Paul Milton Jackson Jr. (born December 30, 1959) is an American fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional musi ...

– additional guitar * Laurie Rox, Bart Stevens, and Richard Voltrop – background shouting

Production

* Richard Cottrell – recording engineer * Bryan Loren & Michael Jackson – producers * Julie Last & Bart Stevens – assistant recording engineers * Mixed at

Larrabee Sound Studios Larrabee Sound Studios is a recording studio complex in North Hollywood, California, originally established in 1969. Facilities Located at 4162 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, Larrabee has six studios, three tracking spaces, and a produ ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control The Simpsons songs 1990 debut singles 1990 songs Irish Singles Chart number-one singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Norway New jack swing songs Hip hop songs Novelty songs Songs written by Bryan Loren Geffen Records singles Songs about dancing Novelty and fad dances