BOBBY DARIN - SPLISH SPLASH

SPLISH SPLASH

BOBBY DARIN

SONGWRITERS: BOBBY DARIN; JEAN MURRAY & MURRAY THE K KAUFMAN

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: SPLISH SPLASH

LABEL: ATCO RECORDS

GENRE: ROCK

YEAR: 1958

 

            Bobby Darin(born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936–December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, impressionist, and actor in film and television. He performed jazz, pop, rock and roll, folk, swing, and country music.

       He started his career as a songwriter for Connie   Francis. He recorded his first million-selling single, "Splish Splash", in 1958. That was followed by "Dream Lover", "Mack the Knife", and "Beyond the Sea", which brought him worldwide fame. In 1962 he won a Golden Globe Award for his first film, Come September, co-starring his first wife, actress Sandra Dee.

      During the 1960s, he became more politically active and worked on Robert F. Kennedy's Democratic presidential campaign. He was present on the night of June 4/5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at the time of Kennedy's assassination. During the same year, he discovered the woman who had raised him was his grandmother, not his mother as he thought, and learned that the woman he thought was his sister was actually his mother. Those events deeply affected Darin and sent him into a long period of seclusion.

        Although he made a successful comeback (in television) in the early 1970s, his health was beginning to fail, as he had always expected, following bouts of rheumatic fever in childhood. The knowledge of his vulnerability had always spurred him on to use his musical talent while still young. He died at the age of 37 after a heart operation in Los Angeles.

      "Splish Splash" is a 1958 novelty rock song performed and co-written by Bobby Darin. It was written with DJ Murray the K(Murray Kaufman), who bet that Darin could not 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. It was Darin's first hit and the song helped to give him a major boost in his career, reaching No. 3 on the U.S. pop singles chart and No. 2 on the R&B Best Sellers chart. "Splish Splash" was Darin's only entry on the C&W Best Sellers in Stores chart, where it peaked at No. 14. In a 1967 interview, Darin claimed that he was so happy about having his first hit that his skin condition cleared up.

Splish, splash

I was takin' a bath

Long about a Saturday night … yeah!

Rub-a-dub

Just relaxin' in the tub

Thinkin' everything was all right.

 

Well … I stepped out the tub

Put my feet on the floor

I wrapped the towel around me

And I opened the door.

 

And … then-a … splish, splash

I jumped back in the bath

Well … how was I to know

There was a party going on.

 

They was a splishin' and a splashin'

Reelin' with the feelin'

Moving and a groovin'

Rockin' and a rollin' … yeah!

 

Bing, bang

I saw the whole gang

Dancin' on my living room rug… yeah…

Flip flop

They was doin' the bop

All the teens had the dancin' bug.

 

There was Lollipop with-a Peggy Sue

Good Golly, Miss Molly was-a even there, too!

A-well-a… splish, splash

I forgot about the bath

I went and put my dancin' shoes on… yea!

 

I was a rollin' and a strollin'

Reelin' with the feelin'

Movin' and a groovin'

Splishin' and a splashin'… yeah!

 

Yes… I was a splishin' and a splashin'

I was a rollin' and a strollin'

Yeah… I was a movin' and a groovin'... woo!

We was a reelin' with the feelin'… ha!

We was a rollin' and a strollin'

Movin' with the groovin'

Splish, splash … yeah!

 

I was a splishin' and a splashin'… one time…

I was a splishin' and a splashin'… woo-woo!

I was a movin' and a-groovin'…