"When You Gonna Learn" is a song by British

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

/ acid jazz band

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in the ...

, released as their debut single. It was originally released in 1992 by

Acid Jazz Records Acid Jazz Records is a record label based in East London formed by Gilles Peterson and Eddie Piller in 1987. The label is the namesake of the acid-jazz subgenre of jazz music for which it is most famously known for producing. Background The la ...

before being re-released on Sony Records in 1993 as the lead single from the band's debut studio album, ''

Emergency on Planet Earth ''Emergency on Planet Earth'' is the debut studio album by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai, released on 14 June 1993 under Sony Soho Square. Prior its release, the band debuted in 1992 with "When You Gonna Learn" under Acid Jazz Rec ...

'' (1993). The lyrical themes, like many of Jamiroquai's early songs, speak of environmental awareness and unfettered capitalism.

History

The demo was recorded without

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

player Wallis Buchanan. While the most commonly known version of the song lasts for 3:50, and can be found on the band's album, another, longer version exists. Known as the "JK mix", it lasts for 6:20 and appears on the vinyl version of the ''

'' album as well as on the "When You Gonna Learn?" and "Blow Your Mind" singles.

Samples

"When You Gonna Learn" was not actually the first single written and issued by

Jay Kay Jay Kay (born Jason Luís Cheetham; 30 December 1969) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and lead vocalist of the acid jazz and funk band Jamiroquai, which was formed in 1992. Early life Jay Kay was bo ...

, although it is the first single as Jamiroquai. Kay's first single was a white-label acetate called "Natural Energy", which was pressed only in three copies.

Kiss 100 FM Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network. It is primarily aimed at the 15-34 age group and broadcasts nationally to the UK on DAB Digital Radio, as well as on FM in London, Bristol and ...

was the first radio station to play the single. The chord progressions of the song bear a striking resemblance to the chord progressions of a

Johnny "Hammond" Smith John Robert "Johnny Hammond" Smith (December 16, 1933 – June 4, 1997) was an American soul jazz and hard bop organist. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he was a renowned player of the Hammond B-3 organ so earning "Hammond" as a nickname, wh ...

track called "Los Conquistadores Chocolatés", taken from his 1975 album ''

Gears A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic p ...

''. The booklet of the Acid Jazz Records release of the single bears a "special thanks" note to Smith, who gave permission to Kay to use the composition's structure. It is unknown whether Hammond received any royalties. "Natural Energy" can be found on YouTub

The chord progressions of the Cantè Hondo Mix of the song bear even more resemblance to "Los Conquistadores Chocolatés". The Cantè Hondo Mixes also uses the wind sound effect from Hammond's song. The cover used by Acid Jazz Records is completely different from the cover on Sony's release, although a Spanish promo issued by Sony bears the Acid Jazz Records cover. There have been legal disputes between Acid Jazz Records and

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

because Epic re-released the single without Acid Jazz Records' consent.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' felt that the UK nouveau-soul artist "kicks a hearty vocal performance, amid a stack of brassy horns and jiggly

guitars. Comparisons to

Simply Red Simply Red are a British soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since the ...

are in the offing, even though J's composition has a more

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

-injected tone." He also wrote that he thought it was a "wonderfully creative and accessible shoulder-shaker". Dave Sholin from the ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The pu ...

'' said, "Music with a message can be exciting. Woven into this retro-melody are some disturbing yet thought-provoking lyrics about the state of our environment." Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' commented, "Hats off for J.K.'s original idea to introduce a digeridoo to '70s soul. Even better are the intelligent anti-war lyrics. Perhaps Arafat and

Rabin Rabin is a List of Jewish surnames, Hebrew surname. It originates from the Hebrew word ''rav'' meaning Rabbi, or from the name of the specific Rabbi Abin I, Abin. The most well known bearer of the name was Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel ...

have received a copy." Andy Beevers from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' gave "When You Gonna Learn" five out of five, stating that "this is arguably his best song". James Hamilton from the '' RM'' Dance Update described it as a "

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

-ish "Johannesburg"-style jogger with strange didgeridoo and strings woven rare groove-type

ong Ong or ONG may refer to: Arts and media * Ong's Hat, a collaborative work of fiction * “Ong Ong”, a song by Blur from the album The Magic Whip Places * Ong, Nebraska, US, city * Ong's Hat, New Jersey, US, ghost town * Ong River, Odisha, ...

. Also Tom Doyle from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' rated it four out of five, declaring it as a "brilliant eco-friendly dance tune", noting "its lazy rare groovy feel and top lyrics about the mindless exploitation of the planet". The magazine's Pete Stanton remarked that it "feature a multitude of enticing grooves (plus plenty of do-do-do-dad-dos)."

Music video

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was shot for "When You Gonna Learn". It was directed by Morgan Lawley and interspersed artistic shots of lead singer Jay Kay as well as footage of the band playing while graphic

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

of animals being experimented on and

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

operations are intercut within the video. The original version was banned from

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

because of the confronting imagery; it was replaced with a "cleaner" edit. The uncut video can be viewed on YouTube.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
When Kay talked about the video in an interview, he stated that it had been his intention to make an intense 'shock video', depicting various experiments done on animals, whaling operations, and the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

, all in the most negative light: "I remember I did the video in America, and I remember the video got banned—you know, the video got banned. Well, because I just went to

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

and just took loads of footage of stuff... stuff that I just didn't think was right. So, well, they he American censorssaid, 'Hey, we can't play that; it's got, like, the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

in there—we can't play that' ".Interview with Jay Kay (2005) –

Behind the Music ''Behind the Music'' is a documentary television series on VH1. Each episode profiles and interviews a popular musical artist or group. The program examines the beginning of their career, their road to success, and the hardships they may have ...

He also said in 1993 that "I wasn't trying to compare it to environmental issues. But I put in those images of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

because if you can't see that Nazism is on the rise, if you don't remind people, then it's just going to come back."

Track listing

* Acid Jazz Records CD single # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridoo) – 3:47 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridon't) – 3:55 # "When You Gonna Learn" (JK Extended Mix) – 6:20 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Canté Hondo Mix) – 5:47 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Original Demo) – 4:50 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Canté Hondo Instrumental) – 5:47 * Acid Jazz Records 12" vinyl # "When You Gonna Learn" (JK Extended Mix) – 6:20 # "When You Gonna Learn" (JK Instrumental) – 6:20 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Canté Hondo Mix) – 5:47 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Original Demo) – 4:50 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridoo Instrumental) – 6:28 * Acid Jazz Records 7" vinyl # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridoo) – 3:47 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridon't) – 3:55 * Sony Records CD single # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridoo) – 3:47 # "Didgin' Out" (Live at the Milky Way, Amsterdam) – 3:27 # "Too Young to Die" (Live at Leadmill, Sheffield) – 5:25 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Canté Hondo Mix) – 5:47 * Sony Records Cassette single # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridoo) – 3:47 # "Didgin' Out" (Live at the Milky Way, Amsterdam) – 3:27 * Sony Records 12" vinyl # "When You Gonna Learn" (JK Extended Mix) – 6:20 # "When You Gonna Learn" (JK Instrumental) – 6:20 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Live at Leadmill, Sheffield) – 9:50 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Canté Hondo Mix) – 5:47 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Original Demo) – 4:50 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridoo Instrumental) – 6:28 * Australian CD single / American CD single / American 12" vinyl # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridoo) – 3:47 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridon't) – 3:55 # "When You Gonna Learn" (JK Extended Mix) – 6:20 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Canté Hondo Mix) – 5:47 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Original Demo) – 4:50 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridoo Instrumental) – 6:28 * American promotional CD single # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridoo Edit) – 2:57 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridon't Edit) – 3:01 * Japanese CD single # "When You Gonna Learn" (Digeridoo) – 3:47 # "Too Young To Die" (7" Edit) – 3"22 # "When You Gonna Learn" (Canté Hondo Mix) – 5:47 # "Too Young To Die" (12" Version) – 6:04

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1992 songs 1992 debut singles 1993 singles Jamiroquai songs Songs against racism and xenophobia Protest songs Songs written by Jason Kay Epic Records singles S2 Records singles Music Week number-one dance singles