About The Song
“Splish Splash” is a 1958 novelty rock song performed and co-written by Bobby Darin.
This song was written quickly, but it wasn’t written by Darin alone. Peter Altschuler at the Murray the K archives explained to Songfacts:
“The title was suggested by Murray ‘the K’ Kaufman’s mother, Jean, but she also penned the music; Bobby and Murray wrote the lyrics. Murray was a very influential DJ in New York, and had been championing Bobby for awhile, but Darin’s recordings weren’t going anywhere. The two, however, had become good friends and, one weekend, played together in a softball game in Central Park. Afterward, they walked to Murray’s apartment just south of the park and recovered by soaking their feet in basins of Epsom salts.
As she did every day, Murray’s mother Jean called to check on her only son, and Murray told her about the game (a celebrity event to promote some good cause or other) and about ‘the agony of de feet.’ As soon as the call ended, the phone rang again, and Jean, who’d been a piano player in vaudeville, announced she had an idea for a song – ‘Splish, splash, take a bath.’ With that as a starting point, Murray and Bobby worked on the lyrics, Jean collaborated on the tune, and they marched the song over to Atlantic Records, which was Darin’s label. At Atlantic, according to Jerry Wexler when I spoke with him in the mid ’80s, he thought that the song had a chance, but Ahmet Ertegun was dead set against it. Jerry, of course, prevailed, and the tune became Darin’s first of many hits.
Whether Wexler’s story is accurate (Ertegun claimed in a PBS documentary about Darin that he was the song’s defender) is moot. Yet the notion that ‘Splish Splash’ leapt fully formed from Darin’s mind like Athena from the head of Zeus is just as mythological.”
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, No. 2 on the R&B Best Sellers chart, and No. 3 in Canada. “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 was recorded in a session at New York’s Atlantic Studios on the evening of April 10, 1958. The personnel on the original recording included Jesse Powell on tenor sax, Al Caiola, Billy Mure on guitar, Wendell Marshall on bass, and Panama Francis on drums.
Video
Lyrics
Splish-splash, I was taking a bath
Long about a Saturday night, yeah
Rub dub, just relaxin’ in the tub
Thinkin’ everything was alright
Well, I stepped out the tub, put my feet on the floor
I wrapped the towel ’round 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’
Movin’ 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 doing 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, forgot about the bath
I went and put my dancin’ shoes on, yeah
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’
Hey, I was a-movin’ and a-groovin’
Whoo, we was a-reelin’ with the feelin’, huh
It was a-rollin’ and a-strollin’, movin’ with the groovin’
Splish-splash, yeah
Mmm, splishin’ and a-splashin’, one time
I was a-splishin’ and a-splashin’, woo-wee
I was a-movin’ and a-groovin’, yeah
I was a-splishin’ and a-splashin’, huh
Yeah-yeah-yeah