Scatman's World - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Scatman's World is debut album by American musician Scatman John

Scatman John

John Paul Larkin , better known by his stage name Scatman John, was an American musician who created a fusion of scat singing and dance music, best known for his 1995 hit "Scatman "....

, recorded after the worldwide success of his debut single "Scatman

Scatman (song)

"Scatman " is a song by Scatman John. The song was released as the first single from his second album Scatman's World. The lyrics detail how he overcame his difficulties with stuttering by turning them into the ability to scat-sing, and encourages children who stutter not to give up...

". It is somewhat of a concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

dealing with an imaginary Utopia

Utopia

Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...

n society named "Scatland". He speaks about this at length in the liner notes: "If you're wondering where Scatland is, you don't have to look too far; it's between your deepest dreams and warmest wishes".

The songs deal with various elements of American society and many of them draw on Scatman's personal experience; "Popstar" is a tongue-in-cheek number about the shallow nature of stardom

Stardom

Stardom is a 2000 Canadian film written by J.Jacob Potashnik & Denys Arcand and directed by Denys Arcand and starring Jessica Paré and Dan Aykroyd. It tells the story of a young girl who tries to cope with her rise to stardom after being discovered by a fashion agency...

, "Quiet Desperation" deals with the homeless problem and "Time (Take Your Time)" is a harrowing song about his time in Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...

.

The album climaxes with "Song of Scatland

Song of Scatland

"Song of Scatland" is the third single from Scatman John's debut album, Scatman's World..The song is a slow ballad about the imaginary Utopian kingdom of "Scatland"...

", a ballad dedicated to the imaginary kingdom that was notoriously released as a single. "Hi, Louis" closes the album proper with traditional scatting over jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

piano and steady beats; the title is probably a reference to Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

, who he later paid tribute to on the track "Everybody Jam!

Everybody Jam! (song)

"Everybody Jam!" is a song by Scatman John, released as a single from the album of the same name. It is a tribute to the music of Louis Armstrong with samples of his voice edited into the track as if in conversation with the Scatman....

".

Scatman's World was very popular internationally, particularly in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, where it reached No. 2 and stayed on the charts for 40 weeks, selling over 1,500,000 copies overall.

Track listing

"Welcome to Scatland" – 0:49
"Scatman's World
Scatman's World (song)
"Scatman's World" is a song by Scatman John, the second single from the album of the same name and the follow-up to the international hit "Scatman "...

" – 3:40
"Only You
Only You (Scatman John song)
"Only You" is a song by Scatman John. It was released in Japan as the fourth single from the album Scatman's World, with identical artwork to the "Song of Scatland" single released in other countries.-Single track listing:#"Only You"...

" – 3:42
"Quiet Desperation" – 3:51
"Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)" – 3:30
"Sing Now!" – 3:38
"Popstar" – 4:13
"Time (Take Your Time)" – 3:41
"Mambo Jambo" – 3:30
"Everything Changes" – 4:38
"Song of Scatland
Song of Scatland
"Song of Scatland" is the third single from Scatman John's debut album, Scatman's World..The song is a slow ballad about the imaginary Utopian kingdom of "Scatland"...

" – 5:05
"Hi, Louis" – 2:34
"Scatman" [Game Over Jazz] – 5:03 (Bonus track)
"Scatman" [Spike Mix] – 6:43 (Japan bonus track)

Charts

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position
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|align="left"|Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

(Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

Belgium

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

Japan

ese Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

Albums Chart
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