Music
The rights to "Do The Bartman" could have been yours for under $40,000
by Dan MacRae
July 22, 2015
Michael Jackson may or may not have ghostwritten this Bart Simpson rap.
How would you like to own the rights to a Michael Jackson affiliated classic that conquered the globe and came equipped with its own dance? That doesn’t sound like a bad proposition, eh? Well, one savvy buyer snapped up such a thing for under $40K.
The publishing and songwriting rights for the early-90s-tastic jam “Do The Bartman” have been sold for $38,500 to an anonymous bidder at auction. It’s not on the same quality level as “The Monorail Song” or “Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?” but “Do The Bartman” is an important piece of Simpsons pop cultural lore to dork out over. Anyone born before 1985 has the choreography burnt into their very being.
NME reports (with credited info from Music Business Worldwide) that the song was up for sale alongside other numbers co-written by Bryan Loren. There seems to be a bit of debate over whether or not Jacko had a hand in writing the song. Simpsons creator Matt Groening says yes, while Loren says no. The latter does acknowledge that MJ performed backing vocals on the track but we’ll leave up to you to decide how much of a gloved hand Jackson had in crafting this thing.
[h/t NME]
