From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Can We Fix It?

Theme song of television programme Bob the Builder

Summary

Theme song of television programme Bob the Builder

Field	Value
name	Can We Fix It?
cover	Bob_the_Builder_Can_We_Fix_It_art.jpg
type	single
artist	Neil Morrissey as Bob the Builder
album	Bob the Builder: The Album
B-side	Bob's Line Dance
released
* novelty<ref name	"sexton"/
length	3:09
label	BBC
writer	Paul K. Joyce
producer	Grant Mitchell
chronology	Bob the Builder
next_title	Mambo No. 5
next_year	2001

| B-side = Bob's Line Dance

Children's
novelty "Can We Fix It?" is the name of the theme song from the British children's animated television programme Bob the Builder. It was written by Paul K. Joyce and produced by Hot Animation. Vocals on the song are provided by Neil Morrissey, who voiced Bob at the time of the track's recording. It was released as a single on 4 December 2000 in the United Kingdom.

"Can We Fix It?" became the UK Christmas number-one single of 2000, beating Westlife's "What Makes a Man" to the top spot and ending the group's run of seven consecutive number-one singles. It was the biggest-selling single of 2000 in the United Kingdom, appearing at number 10 on the decade-end chart in 2009. The song has sold over one million copies in the United Kingdom according to the Official Charts Company. In August 2001, the song was released in Australia and reached number one that September, becoming the ninth-best-selling single of the year there.

A second single by Bob the Builder, "Mambo No. 5", with the lyrics adapted from Lou Bega's 1999 hit version, also reached number one on the UK chart in September 2001. An album entitled The Album followed, which debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart.

Critical reception

The song was rated 8/10 by Stylus Magazine, saying "kids TV themes getting to number one is a thing to be savoured, especially when a), it stops pretentious tosh like "Stan" from reigning at the top of the charts and b), when it actually has a much better 2-step beat than any of the garage number ones from the previous 18 months."

NME named it one of the worst songs of the 2000s. Staff writer Jamie Milton said: "When you become a parent, you tacitly sign up to watch an endless amount of children’s TV. [...] But nothing excuses a throwaway, novelty kids TV song about a builder fixing things, managing to shift over a million copies, becoming the highest-selling song of 2000 and the first Christmas number one of the ‘00s. There’s innocent fun, and then there’s ruining a new millennium before it’s barely begun." Milton said the worst part of the song was its "constant, cheap garage beat, the audio equivalent of someone drilling a hole in your conscience."

Track listings

UK and Australian CD single

"Can We Fix It?"
"Bob's Line Dance"
"Can We Fix It?" (karaoke version)
"Can We Fix It?" (video)

UK cassette single

"Can We Fix It?"
"Bob's Line Dance"

Personnel

Personnel are adapted from the UK cassette single sleeve.

Paul K. Joyce – writing
Neil Morrissey – vocals
Grant Mitchell – production, arrangement
Graham Dickson – mixing, engineering

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2000–2001)	Peak
position	Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)
6

Year-end charts

Chart (2000)	Position	Ireland (IRMA)	UK Singles (OCC)
41
1

Chart (2001)	Position	Australia (ARIA)	Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)	Ireland (IRMA)	UK Singles (OCC)
9
90
67
72

Decade-end charts

Chart (2000–2009)	Position	UK Singles (OCC)
10

Certifications

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref(s).	United Kingdom	Australia
4 December 2000	BBC
13 August 2001		CD

References

Masterton, James. (24 December 2000). "Week Ending December 30th 2000". Chart Watch UK.
Sedghi, Ami. (4 November 2012). "UK's million-selling singles: the full list". [[The Guardian]].
"Stylus".
Milton, Jamie. (2017-10-17). "The 20 worst songs of the '00s".
(2000). "Can We Fix It?". [[BBC Records]].
(2000). "Can We Fix It?". BBC Records, [[Universal Music Australia]].
(2000). "Can We Fix It?". BBC Records.
(13 January 2001). "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles".
"Top 100 of 2000". [[Raidió Teilifís Éireann]].
"Yearly Best Selling Singles". [[British Phonographic Industry]].
"ARIA Top 100 Singles for 2001". [[Australian Recording Industry Association.
(22 December 2001). "Year in Review – Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 2001".
"Ireland – Top Singles for 2001". Allcharts.
"The Official UK Singles Chart 2001". [[UKChartsPlus]].
(30 January 2010). "The Noughties' Official UK Singles Chart Top 100". [[UBM plc.
Sexton, Paul. (16 December 2000). "Novelty Tunes Have Good Shot at Top Spot on Brit Christmas List".
(2 December 2000). "New Releases – For Week Starting December 4, 2000: Singles".
(13 August 2001). "The ARIA Report: ARIA New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 13th August 2001". ARIA.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1999-quotations 2000-songs 2000-debut-singles animated-music-videos bbc-records-singles bob-the-builder-songs christmas-number-one-singles-in-the-united-kingdom english-children's-songs number-one-singles-in-australia number-one-singles-in-scotland songs-written-for-animated-series animated-series-theme-songs children's-television-theme-songs uk-independent-singles-chart-number-one-singles uk-singles-chart-number-one-singles universal-music-australia-singles songs-about-occupations

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Can We Fix It? — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report