It Wasn't Me
Encyclopedia
"It Wasn't Me" is the first official single from reggae
artist
Shaggy
's multi-platinum studio album Hot Shot
, released on February 26, 2001. The song has since been regarded as Shaggy's breakthrough in the pop market, and is his highest charting song to date, topping the charts in Australia, Austria, France, Holland, Ireland, America and the United Kingdom
. The song features vocals from collaborator Ricardo "RikRok
" Ducent.
-like MP3 site he won’t name" and discovered that It Wasn't Me "was the album’s standout cut." He played the song on American radio the next day, and in an interview, claimed, "The phone lines lit up right away. Within a couple of days, it was our number-one requested song." The song was then released as the album's first official single in February 2001, following its radio success. The lyrics
of the song depict one man asking his friend what to do after his girlfriend caught him with another woman. His advice is to deny everything with the phrase "It Wasn't Me", despite all evidence to the contrary. The clean version of the song replaces the lyric "Picture this; we were both butt-naked banging on the bathroom floor" with "Picture this; we were both caught making love on the bathroom floor." The video for the song starts out with Rik Rok running to Shaggy's mansion to explain to him what has just happened. Rik Rok tells him that he cheated on his girlfriend and got caught. Shaggy tells him to tell her that "It Wasn't Me." The video then cuts into a flashback to earlier that day.
, and the follow-up, "Angel
," also reached number one. The single also reached number one in the UK Singles Chart
on March 4, 2001, making the song a transatlantic chart topper
. It also reached number one in Australia
on April 1, 2001. It is also the 4th biggest selling single of the 21st century in the United Kingdom, and the biggest selling single by a non-British artist.
writer Josh Levin
to coin the term the "Shaggy defence" to describe R. Kelly
's defence at his child pornography trial stemming from the production of a sex tape: "I predict that in the decades to come, law schools will teach this as the 'Shaggy defence.' You allege that I was caught on camera, butt naked, banging on the log cabin floor? It wasn't me." Levin repeated the term on NPR
. The term effectively describes when someone denies a sexual encounter, or any other act, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Contrary to popular belief that Shaggy coined this phrase, it was actually comedian Eddie Murphy who had done so having used it several years earlier in a bit that was part of his regular comedy routine and would eventually be featured in his 1987 movie, "Eddie Murphy: RAW." The "Shaggy defence" was later referenced by Matthew Wilkening on AOL Radio
, who ranked the song at #55 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating that the song was "[s]o bad it further corrupted lawyers. Meet the Shaggy Defence: Lying in the face of overwhelming evidence."
CD Single
Cassette single
1 Import
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
artist
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
Shaggy
Shaggy (musician)
Orville Richard Burrell , better known by his stage name Shaggy, is a Jamaican-American reggae singer and rapper. He is perhaps best known for his 1995 single "Boombastic" and 2000 single "It Wasn't Me"...
's multi-platinum studio album Hot Shot
Hot Shot (album)
Hot Shot is the fifth studio album released by Jamaican rapper Shaggy. The album was first released on August 8, 2000, in the United States, before being issued in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2001, with a revised tracklisting. Hotshot was certified Diamond in the US, and has sold 8.8 million...
, released on February 26, 2001. The song has since been regarded as Shaggy's breakthrough in the pop market, and is his highest charting song to date, topping the charts in Australia, Austria, France, Holland, Ireland, America and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The song features vocals from collaborator Ricardo "RikRok
Rikrok
Ricardo George Ducent better known by his stage name Rikrok is an English singer. Rikrok is most famous for the single "It Wasn't Me" from Shaggy's Hot Shot album.-Life and career:...
" Ducent.
Background
It was revealed at the time that the song was originally never intended to be released as a single. Before the original version of Hot Shot was released in August 2000, Hawaiian DJ Pablo Sato downloaded the album from "a NapsterNapster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
-like MP3 site he won’t name" and discovered that It Wasn't Me "was the album’s standout cut." He played the song on American radio the next day, and in an interview, claimed, "The phone lines lit up right away. Within a couple of days, it was our number-one requested song." The song was then released as the album's first official single in February 2001, following its radio success. The lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
of the song depict one man asking his friend what to do after his girlfriend caught him with another woman. His advice is to deny everything with the phrase "It Wasn't Me", despite all evidence to the contrary. The clean version of the song replaces the lyric "Picture this; we were both butt-naked banging on the bathroom floor" with "Picture this; we were both caught making love on the bathroom floor." The video for the song starts out with Rik Rok running to Shaggy's mansion to explain to him what has just happened. Rik Rok tells him that he cheated on his girlfriend and got caught. Shaggy tells him to tell her that "It Wasn't Me." The video then cuts into a flashback to earlier that day.
Chart performances
The song was Shaggy's first number-one hit in the U.S.United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and the follow-up, "Angel
Angel (Shaggy song)
"Angel" is a 2001 number one hit song by reggae artist Shaggy featuring Rayvon. It was the follow-up to Shaggy's U.S. number-one hit "It Wasn't Me". "Angel" reached number one in the U.S...
," also reached number one. The single also reached number one in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
on March 4, 2001, making the song a transatlantic chart topper
Chart topper
Chart topper may refer to:*Record chart, a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time**Billboard charts, a ranking of the relative popularity of songs or albums in the United States...
. It also reached number one in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on April 1, 2001. It is also the 4th biggest selling single of the 21st century in the United Kingdom, and the biggest selling single by a non-British artist.
The Shaggy Defence
The song's lyrics inspired SlateSlate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
writer Josh Levin
Josh Levin
Josh Levin is a senior editor at Slate magazine. He also hosts the magazine's sports podcast Hang Up and Listen.-Early life:Levin was born and raised in New Orleans...
to coin the term the "Shaggy defence" to describe R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
's defence at his child pornography trial stemming from the production of a sex tape: "I predict that in the decades to come, law schools will teach this as the 'Shaggy defence.' You allege that I was caught on camera, butt naked, banging on the log cabin floor? It wasn't me." Levin repeated the term on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
. The term effectively describes when someone denies a sexual encounter, or any other act, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Contrary to popular belief that Shaggy coined this phrase, it was actually comedian Eddie Murphy who had done so having used it several years earlier in a bit that was part of his regular comedy routine and would eventually be featured in his 1987 movie, "Eddie Murphy: RAW." The "Shaggy defence" was later referenced by Matthew Wilkening on AOL Radio
AOL Radio
AOL Radio powered by Slacker, , is an online radio service available only in the United States.- Roots :...
, who ranked the song at #55 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating that the song was "[s]o bad it further corrupted lawyers. Meet the Shaggy Defence: Lying in the face of overwhelming evidence."
Track listings
- UK
CD Single
- "It Wasn't Me" (Radio Edit) — 3:43
- "It Wasn't Me" (Vocal 12" Mix) — 3:49
- "Dance & Shout" (Pussy 2000 Club Mix Edit) — 8:07
- "It Wasn't Me" (Enhanced Video) — 3:43
Cassette single
- "It Wasn't Me" (Radio Edit) — 3:43
- "It Wasn't Me" (Album Version) — 3:47
- America
- "It Wasn't Me" (Album Version) - 3:47
- "It Wasn't Me" (Squeaky Remix) - 4:25
- "It Wasn't Me" (Instrumental) - 3:47
- "It Wasn't Me" (Sports Remix) - 3:27
- Australia
- "It Wasn't Me" (Radio Edit) — 3:43
- "It Wasn't Me" (Vocal 12" Mix) — 3:49
- "Dance & Shout" (Pussy 2000 Club Mix Edit) — 8:07
- "Dance & Shout" (Dancehall Version) - 3:46
- "It Wasn't Me" (Enhanced Video) — 3:43
Peak positions
| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
|---|
1 Import
End of year charts
| End of year chart (2001) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 2 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 25 |
| Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart | 6 |
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 6 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 7 |
| French Singles Chart | 7 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 2 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 17 |
| UK Singles Chart | 1 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 3 x Platinum | 2001 | 210,000 |
| Austria | Gold | July 26, 2001 | 15,000 |
| France | Platinum | June 20, 2001 | 500,000 |
| Germany | Gold | 2001 | 150,000 |
| Netherlands | Platinum | 2001 | 60,000 |
| Norway | Platinum | 2004 | 10,000 |
| Switzerland | Gold | 2001 | 20,000 |
| UK | Gold | March 2, 2001 | 400,000 |
Chart successions
See also
- Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 2001 (USA)
- Top selling singles and albums in Ireland 2001Top selling singles and albums in Ireland 2001This is a list of the top selling singles and top sellings albums in Ireland in 2001.- Top selling singles :# "Uptown Girl" - Westlife# "It Wasn't Me" - Shaggy# "I'm a Slave 4 U" - Britney Spears# "Hey Baby" - DJ Ötzi# "Teenage Dirtbag" - Wheatus...
- List of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK)