#jazz-rap

"Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)" is a song by American musician Scatman John. It was released in November 1994 by RCA Records as his debut single, and was later re-released in July 1995 for his second album, Scatman's World (1995). The song was co-written by John and produced by Ingo Kays and Tony Catania. It has been described as "a blend of jazz scatting, rap, and house beats", and reached number-one on the charts in at least ten countries.

"Scatman" peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and number 60 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song won the March 1996 Echo Award in Germany for the best Rock/Pop single. The accompanying music video was directed by Kerstin Mueller. It was shot in black-and-white and received heavy rotation on music channels.

Born in El Monte, California, Scatman John (a.k.a. John Paul Larkin) stuttered from the time he learned to speak, which led to an emotionally traumatic childhood. At age twelve, he began to learn piano and was introduced to the art of scat singing two years later, through records by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, among others. Larkin became a professional jazz pianist in the 1970s and 1980s, playing many engagements in jazz clubs around Los Angeles.

His first known performance on a studio album was in 1981 on the album Animal Sounds by Sam Phipps. In 1986, he released the self titled album John Larkin on the Transition label. This album was produced by John himself, along with Marcia Larkin.

To advance his career in 1990, Larkin moved to Berlin, Germany. From there, he discovered the appreciative jazz culture and started playing jazz gigs. This was when he first decided to take a monumental step away from his insecurities and add singing to his act for the first time. His agent Manfred Zähringer from Iceberg Records (Denmark) thought of combining scat singing with modern dance music and hip hop effects. Larkin was resistant at first, terrified of being laughed at and criticized once again, but BMG Hamburg was open. Larkin was worried that listeners would realise he stuttered, and his wife, Judy, suggested that he talk about it directly in his music.

In two days, working with producers Ingo Kays and Catania, the new single, "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)" was created. Catania added, "Those days, the sounds were always the same, and I was coming up with an old jazz guy that had the talent to scat, something like that would shock the scene. I was right, Scatman John was a huge success worldwide." After the success of his first single, Larkin adopted the new name and persona of "Scatman" John.

Some lyrics from the song are reused from "The Misfit", a song from Larkin's 1986 debut album John Larkin.

In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton viewed it as "a bizarre part-rapped, part spoken, part-scatted dance hit performed by the enigmatic Scatman John who is almost as old as my father and really should know better. Still, a culpable hit it is and destined apparently for the Top 3." Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Try to say that title in one go without choking on your words. Impossible! But Scatman has no problems scatting his nonsensical rhyme, a serious candidate for a novelty dance hit."

James Hamilton from Music Week's RM Dance Update described it as "John Larkin's jaunty ragga scatted and 'I'm a Scatman' chanted Italian galloper" in his weekly dance column. Debby Peterson from The Network Forty considered it a "hellacious techno-dance groove". Mark Frith from Smash Hits gave "Scatman" a top score of five out of five and named it Best New Single, writing, "Now, there is every reason to hate this record: it's cheesey, it's a novelty, the lyrics are largely meaningless. Except that when you put in on it is just so infectious, fun, loud, meaningless and stupid that you can't resist. Loads of people who are too old to know, will offer this as further evidence that music "isn't like it used to be". Indeed it's not, thank God. They make this instead! Fantastic."

The song was very successful on the charts all over the world, reaching number-one in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100 and the Canadian RPM Dance/Urban chart. It entered the top 10 in Australia (8), Germany (2), Italy (3), the Netherlands (2), Sweden (2), and the United Kingdom. The single reached number three in its third week at the UK Singles Chart, on May 21, 1995.

It became a top-20 hit in Iceland (20), and Poland, and a top-40 hit in Japan (36), and New Zealand (39). In the US, the single charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Dance Club Play charts and the Cash Box Top 100, peaking at numbers 60, 10 and 62, respectively.

Scatman John was awarded the March 1996 Echo Award in Germany for the best Rock/Pop single with "Scatman". The single was awarded a gold record in Australia (35,000), Austria (25,000), Norway, Switzerland (25,000), and the United Kingdom (400,000), and a platinum record in France (500,000), and Germany (500,000).

Producer Tony Catania then received a VHS from Zähringer. On the tape, he observed Larkin playing piano songs from Fitzgerald, Armstrong etc. He told in an interview, "The sound was a little crazy but at the end of this tape, I remember it like yesterday, he starts his scat singing improvisation. I was thinking at the moment that this is a great idea. I say to his management to bring John Larkin from L.A. to my studio and in this moment, Scatman John was born!!!".

Larry Flick from Billboard magazine named "Scatman" a "novelty dance tune", noting that it "has a giddy Euro-NRG tone" and that Scatman John "bends his tongue to rapid, ear-popping effect." Dimitri Ehrlich from Entertainment Weekly wrote that "this synth-pop hit defines novelty: A chintzy drum machine pitter patters at a frantic pace while John, a Los Angeles jazz vocalist who has stuttered since childhood, frees himself from his speech impediment by scatting for three minutes and twenty seconds."

The music video for "Scatman" was released in 1994 and directed by Kerstin Mueller. It was produced by Ariola Records. It was shot in black and white, and features a fractured screen with several box shots, almost in the style of Cubism, showing John singing, along with people dancing, miming, lip-syncing and playing the drums, bass and trumpet. The video was played in heavy rotation on music channels in 1995. In 2013, it was made available on Scatman John's official YouTube channel, having generated more than 267 million views as of late 2025.

In 2013, Vibe ranked "Scatman" number 28 in their list of "Before EDM: 30 Dance Tracks from the '90s That Changed the Game". In 2017, BuzzFeed ranked it number 94 in their "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s". In 2024, MTV 90s ranked "Scatman" number seven in their list of "Top 50 Rhythms of Eurodance".

In 2021, music producers Alan Walker and Imanbek sampled the song and additionally used wording from the title of the song in their hit "Sweet Dreams".

"Scatman's World" is a song by American musician Scatman John, released in June 1995 by RCA Records as the second single from his album of the same name (1995). Co-written by John, the song was the follow-up to the international hit "Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)" and reached number-one in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary and Spain. Its accompanying music video was directed by Zowie Broach.

In his weekly UK chart commentary for Dotmusic, James Masterton said, "Now he is back with the followup in pretty much the same vein. Without the novelty value of the first hit it will be interesting to see if this manages to top the Number 3 peak of its predecessor."

"Scatman's World" was successful on the singles charts in Europe, peaking at number one in Belgium (in both Flanders and Wallonia) (6 and 9 weeks), Finland, France (1 week), Germany (3 weeks), Hungary and Spain. On the Eurochart Hot 100, it became John's second number-one hit in August 1995, after 8 weeks on the chart and with 3 weeks as number one in total.

The single was a top-10 hit in Austria (4), Denmark (3), Iceland (9), Ireland (7), Italy (2), the Netherlands (3), Norway (4), Sweden (10), Switzerland (3), and the UK. In the latter, it peaked at number 10 in its second week at the UK Singles Chart, on September 3, 1995. It stayed for seven weeks within the chart. Outside Europe, "Scatman's World" charted on the RPM Dance/Urban chart in Canada and on the ARIA singles chart in Australia, peaking at numbers 21 and 84.

The single earned a gold record in Belgium (25,000), France (250,000) and Switzerland (25,000). In Germany, it was awarded with a platinum record after 500,000 units were sold.

James Hyman from Music Week's RM Dance Update wrote, "Currently number one in Germany and hitting hard across the rest of Europe, more novelty Euro from a 53-year-old former jazz singer and pianist. Semi-social scat-raps reside over a backing track not too dissimilar from his previous 'Scatman' single as well as Village People's 'Go West'."

Helen Lamont from Smash Hits commented, "It's a happy tune, catchy too. If you listen to the words, however, you'll notice he's trying to teach us something. There's a groovy bit of chorus and then each verse contains a "helpful" lecture, on subjects from the state of humanity to world pollution."

The music video for "Scatman's World" was directed by Zowie Broach. It begins with a news reporter standing "outside the world of Scatman" and declaring how people appear happy upon leaving such an establishment. He turns to a child and asks why they are visiting, only for the child to declare that they are bored and that there is nothing to do, confusing the news reporter.

The footage cuts to the child suddenly submerged in water as they see Scatman John, who stands in front of many backgrounds in different locations (through chroma key), as he sings about the problems of the world, and invites the viewer to escape into his utopian fantasy world called Scatland. There are locations in London including Liverpool Street station, London Bridge and Oxford Circus. The song satirises the divide in the modern world between cultures and races, while expressing hope that there will be a place they can live in harmony.

p.s. ...

According to YouTube  “ This video is age-restricted and only available on YouTube”, and I’ve got no idea why!

So, sorry about that!

Miles Davies Fantasy (Doo-bop, 1992)

I never expected the revolutionary call to arms to be so smooth. Blowout Comb succeeded upon Digable Planets’ debut in most ways, one of the most essential hip hop records ever made. Less commercially-tuned in its instrumentals and lyrics, more direct in its messaging and supplied by seamless intermingling of sampling and live instrumentation, it was an escalation of jazz-rap.

Rooted in the experiences and pride of black art and communities in America (specifically Brooklyn), Blowout Comb realised more fully many of the themes hinted on Reachin’. Its topics include inner-city life, black creativity and politics: jazz mentions link up with lines referencing the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party. The vocals are mixed back, adding to Blowout Comb’s intimacy but also giving full space to the instrumentals.

That instrumental prominence is important because it is instrumentally, too, that Blowout Comb especially succeeds. The production deftly layers live, jazz-influenced play and samples. The mix is crisp, close to immaculate. The beats show their sublimity over track-lengths that aren’t afraid of venturing further than five minutes.

The result is somewhat of a deception. On the one hand, Blowout Comb is smooth in a disarming, jazz-loving manner – a pinnacle of the jazziest jazz-rap of the ‘90s. On the other, its lyrics captivate as a defiant celebration of a culture, history and way of life. Blowout Comb straddles those two listening experiences, a masterpiece.

Colors of Jazz by Blazo