You've Come a Long Way, Baby is the second studio album by English electronic music producer Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook). It was first released on 19 October 1998 in the United Kingdom by Skint Records and a day later in the United States by Astralwerks. You've Come a Long Way, Baby proved to be Cook's global breakthrough album, peaking at number one on the UK Albums Chart and number 34 on the US Billboard 200. Praised by critics for its sound and style, the album brought international attention to Cook, earning him a Brit Award in 1999, and was later certified four times platinum by the BPI and platinum by the RIAA. Four singles were released from the album: "The Rockafeller Skank", "Gangster Tripping", "Praise You", and "Right Here, Right Now", all of which peaked within the top ten on the UK Singles Chart. "Build It Up – Tear It Down" was also released as a promotional single.
Contents
Background
Cook bought obscure vinyl records and sampled elements that he liked. Throughout the 1990s he built up a library of these samples on floppy discs to create collages. He loaded these into an Akai S900 sampler connected via MIDI to an Atari ST computer with C-Lab Creator software to record and manipulate the samples. For most of the songs he added the bassline and sampled the other elements in a Big Beat style. In early 1998 Cook had success with several remixes while trying out some of the obscure records during his DJ sets. Through the use of a time-stretch method and collaborating with his mixer/engineer Simon Thornton, Cook compiled the songs at his home studio in Brighton, known as the House of Love.
Title and artwork
The title You've Come a Long Way, Baby was derived from a marketing slogan for Virginia Slims cigarettes. The cover art, conceived by Red Design, uses a photograph of an obese young man dressed in a T-shirt bearing the words "I'm #1 so why try harder", wearing a WAKG pin-back button, while holding a cigarette. The photograph was taken at the 1983 Fat People's Festival in Danville, Virginia, spotted by Cook in the Guardian, and provided by the Rex Features photo library. Cook spent years attempting to identify the man on the cover, hoping to pay him, but as of 2025 had not been successful.
Additional photography for the You've Come a Long Way, Baby liner notes was provided by Simon Thornton. The cover image was changed in North America to an image of shelves stacked with records.
Critical reception
You've Come a Long Way, Baby was highly praised by critics. According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, it "came damn close to being the definitive big beat album... a seamless record, filled with great imagination, unexpected twists and turns, huge hooks, and great beats." In 2000, the album was ranked number 81 in Q magazine's readers' poll of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever". The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
In 1999, it was certified 3× platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), 3×Platinum by the Australian Record Industry Association and platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Track listing
Notes
Sample credits
"Right Here, Right Now" contains samples of "Ashes, the Rain, and I", written by Dale Peters and Joe Walsh and performed by the James Gang, and a line from the 1995 Strange Days, spoken by actress Angela Bassett.
"The Rockafeller Skank" contains samples of "Vinyl Dogs Vibe", written and performed by Lord Finesse, "Sliced Tomatoes", written by Winifred Terry and performed by the Just Brothers, "Beat Girl", written by John Barry and performed by John Barry and his Orchestra, "Join the Gang", written and performed by David Bowie, "I Fought the Law", written by Sonny Curtis and performed by the Bobby Fuller Four, "Who You Wit II", written and performed by Jay-Z, "Twistin' N' Twangin'", written and performed by Duane Eddy, "Why Can't You Love Me", written by Brian Poole and Alan Blakely and performed by Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, and "Soup", written by Karl "J.J." Johnson and performed by the J.J. All-Stars.
"Gangster Trippin" contains samples of "Entropy", written and performed by DJ Shadow (Josh Davis), "Beatbox Wash", written and performed by the Dust Junkys (Sam Brox, Ganiyu Pierre Gasper, Stephen Jones, Nicholas Lockett and Myke Wilson), "Word Play" and "The Turntablist Anthem", written and performed by the X-Ecutioners, "Change the Mood", written and performed by Jackie Mittoo, "Sissy Walk", written by J.C. Hill, J. Stiles and J. Hopson and performed by Freedom Now Brothers, and "You Do It", written and performed by Ann Robinson.
"Build It Up – Tear It Down" contains samples of "The Acid Test", written by Patricia Miller and performed by the Purple Fox.
"Soul Surfing" contains samples of "I'll Do a Little Bit More", written by Earl Nelson and Fred Smith and performed by the Olympics.
"Praise You" contains samples of "Take Yo Praise", written and performed by Camille Yarbrough, "Balance and Rehearsal", by the audio company JBL, "Lucky Man" written by Jim Peterson and performed by Steve Miller Band, "What I'd Say", written by Ray Charles and performed by Rare Earth, "Running Back to Me", written by Randy Oda, Tom Fogerty and Bobby Chocran and performed by Ruby, "You Should Be High Love", written by Billy Squier and Desmond Child and performed by Squier, "Joe Bell", written and performed by Isaac Hayes, "It's a Small World" from the album Mickey Mouse Disco, written by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, and the theme from the cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, written by Ricky Sheldon and Edward Fournier.
Personnel
Credits for You've Come a Long Way, Baby adapted from liner notes.
Norman Cook – performer, keyboards, synthesisers, bass, samplers, scratching, drum programming, production
Red Design – photography
Simon Thornton – engineering, mixing, photography
Eve – provides the vocals for the song on "Cowboy".
Freddy Fresh – provides the vocal sample for the song on "Fucking in Heaven".
Myriam Tisler – provides the vocals for the song on "Radioactivity".