"Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" is a song by English garage duo
Artful Dodger
Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket, so called for his skill and cunning in that occupation. He is the leader of the gang of child criminals ...
, featuring
Craig David
Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta), Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger (UK band), Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, ' ...
on vocals. Released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 1999, the song reached number two, giving both Artful Dodger and David their first chart hit. In his dean's list for the annual
Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
critics' poll,
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
of ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' named "Re-Rewind" the fifth-best single of the year.
Background
The melody in the verses was lifted from an older
Craig David
Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta), Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger (UK band), Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, ' ...
demo called "Last Night", which was re-recorded for his debut studio album, ''
Born to Do It
''Born to Do It'' is the debut studio album by English singer Craig David, released in the United Kingdom on 14 August 2000 by Wildstar Records and in the United States later in 2001 by Atlantic Records. Following exposure from his work with Bri ...
''. A slightly different version of the song, simply titled "Rewind", was featured on ''Born to Do It'' and was credited solely to Craig David and contained no vocals but David's. "Re-Rewind" is notable for being the first record signed by influential label
Relentless Records
Relentless Records is a British boutique and independent record label currently headed by co-founder Shabs Jobanputra. Originally known for UK garage singles such as Artful Dodger's " Re-Rewind" and B-15 Project's " Girls Like Us", Relentles ...
and as such the first one to establish the imprint as a pioneering force within mainstream music.
In February 2016, David revealed that, after the recording session, the song was nearly lost forever: "We finished the song and dubbed it onto a little
TDK
is a Japanese multinational electronics corporation that manufactures electronic components and recording and data-storage media. Its motto is "Contribute to culture and industry through creativity".
"TDK" is an initialism of the original Ja ...
D90 cassette to go and play it in the car," he says. "It sounded good but there was a couple of little tweaks we wanted to do – and literally as
roducer Mark Hillturned the computer on, all we saw was this 'error, file number' message. The only way to get rid of it was to press OK. So we pressed OK, and it kept coming up with new error numbers. So we'd press OK, press OK, press OK. But when we looked at the session, all that we saw was the hi-hats. I was like, 'are you actually for real?' So that plastic TDK tape became gold dust. We had the whole song on there, and we had to use the recording as our reference, playing it very carefully so it didn't get chewed up, and trying to remember all the things we did. And that was 'Re-Rewind'."
Track listings
Standard CD single and UK cassette single
# "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" (radio edit)
# "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" (
Bump 'N' Flex Sweet 'N' Low mix)
# "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" (Sharp Club vocal remix)
UK 12-inch single
:A1. "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" (radio edit)
:A2. "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" (Bump 'N' Flex Sweet 'N' Low mix)
:B1. "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" (Sharp Addiction to DTPM dub)
European CD single
# "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" (radio edit)
# "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" (Sharp Club vocal remix)
US cassette single
# "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" (radio edit)
# "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" (Sweet n' Low mix)
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
In popular culture
It is from this song that
Leigh Francis
Leigh Izaak Francis (born 30 April 1973), known professionally as Keith Lemon, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television presenter. He is best known for creating and starring in Channel 4's sketch comedy show ''Bo' Selecta!'' (200 ...
's
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
comedy series ''
Bo' Selecta!
''Bo' Selecta!'' is a British television sketch show written and performed by Leigh Francis. It was broadcast on Channel 4 from 2002 until 2009 and lampooned popular culture, becoming known for its often surreal, abstract toilet humour. Seaso ...
'' took its name.
References
{{Authority control
1999 songs
1999 singles
Artful Dodger (duo) songs
Craig David songs
Relentless Records singles
Republic Records singles
Songs written by Craig David
Songs written by Mark Hill (musician)