“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 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.
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.
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, but he could not receive credit for it because he was under contract to another record label.
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.”
REMOVE THAT SCARF! YOUR HANDSOME!
Awww…
