Young MC - Bust A Move
Young MC - Bust A Move


Young MC - Bust A Move Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Stone Cold Rhymin'
Released: 1989

Bust A Move Lyrics


This here's a tale for all the fellas
Tryin' to do what those ladies tell us
Get shot down cause ya over-zealous
Play hard to get females get jealous
Okay smarty go to a party
Girls are scantily clad and showin' body
A chick walks by you wish you could sex her
But you're standing on the wall like you was Poindexter
Next days function high class luncheon
Food is served and you're stone-cold munchin'
Music comes on people start to dance
But then you ate so much you nearly split your pants
A girl starts walking guys start gawking
Sits down next to you and starts talking
Says she wants to dance cause she likes to groove
So come on fatso and just Bust A Move

Just bust a move

You're on a mission and your wishin'
Someone could cure your lonely condition
Lookin' for love in all the wrong places
No fine girls just ugly faces
From frustration first inclination
Is to become a monk and leave the situation
But every dark tunnel has a light of hope
So don't hang yourself, with a celibate rope
Your movie's showin', so you're goin'
Could care less about the five you're blowin'
Theater gets dark just to start the show
Then ya spot a fine woman sittin' in your row
She's dressed in yellow, she says "Hello,
come sit next to me you fine fellow."
You run over there without a second to lose
And what comes next hey bust a move

You want it, you got it,
You want it, baby you got it (Just bust a move)
You want it, you got it,
You want it, baby you got it

In this city ladies look pretty
Guys tell jokes so they can seem witty
Tell a funny joke just to get some play
Then you try to make a move and she says, "No way"
Girls are fakin' goodness sakin'
They want the man who brings home the bacon
Got no money and you got no car
Then you got no women and there you are
Some girls are sadistic, materialistic
Lookin' for a man makes them opportunistic
They're lyin' on a beach perpetrating a tan
So a brother with the money can be their man
So on the beach you're strollin' real high rollin'
Everything you have is yours and not stolen
A girl runs up with somethin' to prove
So don't just stand there bust a move

If you want it, you got it
You want it, baby you got it (Just bust a move)
You want it, you got it,
You want it, baby you got it (Break it down for me fellas)

Your best friend Harry has a brother Larry
In five days from now he's gonna marry
He's hopin' you can make it there if you can
'Cause in the ceremony you'll be the best man
You say neat-o, check your libido
And roll to the church in your new tuxedo
The bride walks down just to start the wedding
And there's one more girl you won't be getting
So you start thinkin' then you start blinking
The bridesmaid looks and thinks that you're winking
She thinks your kinda cute so she winks back
And now your feelin' really firm 'cause the girl is stacked
Reception's jumpin' bass is pumpin'
You look at the girl and your heart starts thumpin'
Says she wants to dance to a different groove
Now you know what to do G bust a move

If you want it, you got it
You want it, baby you got it (Just bust a move)
You want it, you got it,
You want it, baby you got it (Break it down for me fellas)

Writer/s: MATT DIKE, MARVIN YOUNG, MIKE ROSS
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Bust A Move
  • We can thank Young MC for popularizing the phrase "Bust A Move," which means to take action of some kind. The song follows a guy who seems hapless with women, but somehow keeps getting lucky. In the first first, he busts a move by dancing with a girl who shows interest. Later, he considers becoming a monk but meets a girl in a movie theater. At the end of the song, he's the best man at a wedding, and when a bridesmaid shows interest, he gets to bust a different kind of move when she wants to "dance to a different groove." It's all good fun, and it helped make rap music acceptable for a much wider audience.
  • Flea from The Red hot Chili Peppers played bass on this song and appeared in the video, but he didn't reap the rewards. He explained to Bass Player magazine: "I have a bitter taste in my mouth about that, because I feel as though I got ripped off. The bass line I wrote ended up being a major melody of the tune, and I felt I deserved songwriting credit and money because it was a #1 hit. They sold millions of records, and I got $200! Afterwards, my lawyer told them, 'You should throw down Flea some cash,' but the record company said, 'We told him exactly what to play.' No one was even in the room at the time but me and the engineer! It was ridiculous, but I learned from it."
  • Young MC's real name is Marvin Young. He wrote this and also composed Tone Loc's hits "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina."
  • This was Young MC's only big hit, although he did have another US Top 40 with "Principal's Office." He was one of the first to write catchy, fun rap songs that crossed over to the world of Pop. Young MC recalled to Rolling Stone: "People looked at rap and hard rock as the type of music that you slam your door after you argue with your parents, and bang your head in defiance. My record wasn't necessarily rebellious, but it was clever enough to grab in a decent segment of people that didn't listen to rap music."
  • This won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance. It was only the second year the category existed, and the next year it was eliminated to recognize Rap Solo and Rap Duo Or Group performances. The previous years' winner was DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince for "Parents Just Don't Understand."
  • The main sample in this song is a loop from a song called "Found A Child" by a Seattle Funk group called Ballin' Jack. Their song came out in 1970, and it's amazing that it took 19 years for a rapper to boost it - the 15 seconds of bass, drums and vocal stabs on the song makes a perfect foundation for a rap hit in an era when sampling was widespread.
  • Young MC performs this in the film Up In The Air, where George Clooney plays a guy who is constantly traveling. Clooney crashes a convention at the hotel where he's staying, and Young MC is the performer. These private functions are lucrative gigs for artists who have fallen out of the spotlight (and for some still in it), but they are rarely portrayed in movies.
  • A bunch of commercials have featured this song. Among them, a 2013 spot for Payday candy bars, an Old Navy commercial that same year ("Bust in to Old Navy's huge gift sale...") and a 2014 commercial for Southwest Airlines that shows a woman dancing to the song at a wedding.
  • In the 2016 episode of The Big Bang Theory, "The Positive Negative Reaction," the characters Raj and Leonard sing this in karaoke. A tipsy Sheldon proclaims, "I'm being musically encouraged to bust a move. If I knew what that meant, I might just do it."