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Can't, Won't And Don't Stop / Grasshopper Unit
First Appearance: Hello Nasty LP, 14 July 1998
Written by: Beastie Boys/Melvin Glover/Sylvia Robinson
Performed by: Beastie Boys and Biz Markie (guest vocals)
Production Notes: Produced by Beastie Boys and Mario Caldato. Engineered by Mario Caldato. Recorded at G-Son Studios (Los Angeles, CA), The Dungeon (New York, NY), The Tree House (New York, NY), Ted Diamond's House of Hits (New York, NY), Soho Music Studios (New York, NY), Dessau Studios (New York, NY), RPM Studios (New York, NY). Second engineers: Steve Revitte and Sue Dyer at RPM Studios, mixed at RPM Studios (New York, NY). Mastered by Howie Weinberg and Andy van Dette at Masterdisk (New York, NY)
Click for Can't, Won't And Don't Stop / Grasshopper Unit Lyrics
Behind the Beats and Lyrics...

Samples

  • "Flash to the Beat" by Grand Master Flash & the Furious Five
  • "I've Gotta Keep Movin'" by Alex Bradford & Company
  • "Superrappin'" by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five & Company

References

  • Alex & Marilyn - producer/director Alex Grasshoff & his wife, LA studio-owner Marilyn Grasshoff. Owners of the "G-Spot" house the Beastie Boys rented in Los Angeles during the Paul's Boutique period
  • Lovey and Thurston Howell - wealthy characters from the television series Gilligan's Island
  • Rufus - Mike Diamond's dog
  • Hornblower - Nathaniel Hornblower, Adam Yauch's Swiss "uncle" and director/producer of several Beastie Boys projects
  • Lederhosen - leather shorts usually worn with suspenders
  • Walt Disney - cartoon/animation pioneer
  • HAL 9000 - computer name from the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Inspector Clouseau - a French detective from The Pink Panther cartoons/films
  • Derek Flint - a fictional spy portrayed by James Coburn
  • Dechen - Dechen Wangdu, Adam Yauch's wife
  • Chuck D - a lyricist and member of the popular rap group Public Enemy

Sample & Reference Breakdown

  • "That's right, comin' to you all day and all night..." - a sample of Biz Markie
  • "And Rufus is back home growllin'!" - Mike Diamond has a pet dog named Rufus. It could also be a reference to the song "Walkin' the Dog" by Rufus Thomas, in which he barks and growls
  • "Like Walt Disney he'll be frozen" - Walt Disney's body is rumored to have been cyrogenically preserved after his death in 1966
  • "Like Chuck D with the where you never been I'm in" - the lyrics from a Public Enemy song called "Rebel Without a Pause" from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back are similar (The hard rhymer, where you never been I'm in / You want stylin', you know it's time again)
  • "Can't, won't, don't stop rockin' to the rhythm / Cause I get down, cause I get down, cause I get down" - a sampld from "Superrappin" by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
Footnotes

Lyrics from "Ah, Scorpio" by Grandmaster Flash could have inspired the titles of "Can't, Won't, and Don't Stop" and "Putting Shame in Your Game" (Because you can't stop, won't stop playin' the game / And I know that you can do it if you show no shame)

Released Versions:
Can't, Won't and Don't Stop
Can't, Won't and Don't Stop (Instrumental)
The Biz Grasshopper Experiment
The Grasshopper Unit (Keep Movin')
The Grasshopper Unit (Keep Movin') (Acapella)
Live Versions:
No Known Performances in Concert.
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