| "Splish Splash" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Bobby Darin | ||||
| B-side | "Judy Don't Be Moody" | |||
| Released | May 19, 1958 | |||
| Format | LP | |||
| Recorded | April 10, 1958 Atlantic Studios (New York, NY) |
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| Genre | Rock and roll | |||
| Label | Atco Records 6117 | |||
| Writer(s) | Bobby Darin, Murray Kaufman | |||
| Bobby Darin singles chronology | ||||
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"Splish Splash" is a 1958 song performed and co-written by Bobby Darin. It was written with DJ Murray the K (Murray Kaufman), who bet that Darin couldn't write a song that began with the words, "Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath", as suggested by Murray's mother, Jean Kaufman. The song was credited to Darin and "Jean Murray" (a combination of their names) to avoid any hint of payola. The song helped to give Darin a major boost in his career, reaching No. 3 on the U.S. pop singles charts. It was recorded in a session at New York's Atlantic Studios on the evening of April 10, 1958.[1]
Original copies of "Splish Splash" (Atco 6117) feature echo in the song. For the reissue (Atlantic Oldies Series 13055), the echo is filtered out.
The lyrics mention several characters from other songs of the period, including "Lollipop", "Peggy Sue", and "Good Golly Miss Molly".
The song was remade in 1979 by Barbra Streisand for her album Wet. It features new lyrics by Streisand and backing vocals from Toto lead singer Bobby Kimball and Chicago keyboardist Bill Champlin.
The song was featured in the trailer for the Patrick Dempsey film Loverboy. The song appears in the soundtrack for the 1998 movie, You've Got Mail, and also in an episode of Happy Days where Richie Cunningham becomes a DJ, 'Richie The C' (possibly a play on Murray the K). It was also featured as a DTV music video on The Disney Channel, set mostly to clips of Disney characters bathing, particularly from the 1948 cartoon Mickey and the Seal (illustrating the singer's bath in the first verse), but also Mickey's Birthday Party (to illustrate the party he walks in on). Kevin Spacey performs the song in the Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea.
The song can also be heard in the film Because of Winn-Dixie, in a scene where Opal (AnnaSophia Robb) gives the title dog a bath.