"Macarena" is a Spanish song by Los del Río about a woman of
the same name. It was popular between 1995 and 1996, although
it continues to have a cult following to this day.
The "Bayside Boys Mix" became the most well known version of
the song, as it had English lyrics, sung by uncredited artist,
Carla Vanessa. Often mistaken for the original female
vocals, sung by Alaska.
The song's dance remains arguably the most popular out of
any club single ever.
The song became the second longest running #1 and best
selling debut single of all time in the U.S. It was ranked the
"#1 Greatest One-Hit Wonder of all Time" by VH1 in 2002.
The song uses a type of clave. The song ranks at #5 on
Billboard's All Time Top 100.It also ranks at #1 on
Billboard's All Time Latin Songs.
As a result of their lounge act, Los del Río were invited to
tour South America in March 1992 and, while visiting Venezuela,
they were invited to a private party held by the Venezuelan
empresario (of Cuban descent) Gustavo Cisneros. Many prominent
Venezuelans were in attendance that night, including former
president Carlos Andrés Pérez.
Cisneros had arranged for a local flamenco teacher, Diana
Patricia Cubillán Herrera, to do a small performance for the
guests, and Los Del Rio were pleasantly surprised by Cubillán's
dance skills. Spontaneously, Romero recited the song's
chorus-to-be on the spot, as an accolade to Cubillán, but
naming her "
Ma'dalena" (Magdalena):
"Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Ma'dalena, que tu cuerpo e' pa'
darle alegría y cosa' güena'"("Give your body some joy,
Magdalene, 'cause your body is for giving joy and good things
too"). In Andalusian culture labeling a woman "Magdalena" is to
give her a faint association with Mary Magdalene's reportedly
seedy past, and more accurately describes her as being sassy or
sensuous.
Romero saw potential in the improvised rhyme and, back at
their hotel, the duo came up with the basic structure of the
song. Since "Magdalena" was also the title of another song by
Spanish singer Emmanuel quite popular at the time, Romero
suggested that they use "Macarena" instead which, besides being
part of the name of one of his daughters, is a popular name in
Andalusia, given its association with the Virgin of the
Macarena, the incarnation of the Virgin Mary that is a
patroness of Seville's
barrio La Macarena. The Virgin-Magdalene dichotomy
probably explains the rest of the lyrics: a song about a young
woman, the girlfriend of a recent recruit to the Spanish Army
named Victorino (whose name may be inspired from a kind of bull
with long horns, evoking the
cornudo, or male victim of his partner's infidelity, a
mental image common in Spanish and Latin American culture), who
celebrates his being drafted by hooking up with two of his male
friends. Macarena has a weakness for males in uniform, spending
summers at Marbella, and dreams of shopping at El Corte Inglés
(
themajor Spanish department store chain), moving to New
York City and getting a new boyfriend.
The song was originally recorded in 1992, and released in
1993 as a rumba. This was the first of six versions of the song
that can be associated to Los Del Rio. Another version, a new
flamenco rumba pop fusion theme with fully Spanish lyrics,
attained significant success in Spain and Mexico. It also
became popular in Puerto Rico because of its use as an
unofficial campaign theme song for then-governor Pedro
Rosselló, who was seeking reelection under the New Progressive
Party of Puerto Rico's ticket. Being the base for many cruise
ships, many visitors to the island were constantly exposed to
the song during their stay in Puerto Rico. This may explain how
the song spread to — and became a smash hit in — cities with
sizable Latino communities in the United States, particularly
Miami and New York City.
After being remixed by the Bayside Boys and having English
lyrics added, it became a worldwide hit in mid-1996. The single
spent 14 weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
singles chart, one of the longest runs atop the Hot 100 chart
in history. During its heyday, the song was played frequently
at professional athletic games, rallies, conventions, and other
places. In 1996, many believe a world record for group dancing
was set, when a crowd of 50,000 people danced the Macarena in
Yankee Stadium in New York City. The song made such an impact
that during the Democratic National Convention in 1996, Al Gore
humorously performed his version of the Macarena by standing
completely still while the song played.
"Macarena" remained popular through 1996, but by the end of
1997, its popularity had diminished greatly. The song also
broke records at the time by remaining in the Hot 100 chart for
60 weeks. The Bayside Boys remix includes a sample from Yazoo
(also known in the United States as Yaz) track
Situation- the laughter of Yazoo vocalist Alison Moyet.
In Addition, the chorus utilized female vocal samples utilized
by The Farm in their song "Higher and Higher (Remix)" from
their album,
Spartacus. The woman singer was hired by the Bayside
Boys from their amateur radio station, although uncredited, she
was the most important part of the promotion of the single
remix, her name is
Carla Vanessa.
In 1997, the song had sold 11 million copies. While having
only a 25% take in royalties from the song, Romero and Ruiz
became immensely wealthy. According to the BBC News Service,
during the year 2003 alone — a full decade after the song's
initial release — Romero and Ruiz made USD $250,000 in
royalties. Julio Iglesias is quoted as congratulating the duo
personally: "My success singing in English from Miami is
nothing compared to yours; coming out of Dos Hermanas with
little international exposure elsewhere and selling these many
records in Spanish takes two huge sets of
cojones."
In VH1's 2002 documentary
100 Greatest One-hit Wonders, "Macarena" was ranked as
#1. "Macarena" was also ranked #1 on a different VH1
documentary,
40 Awesomely Bad No. 1 Songs
On
America's Best Dance Crew, it was danced to on the Whack
Track Challenge, given to the Ringmasters.
In the United Kingdom the song was released in June 1996 and
peaked at number two on August 17, 1996. It was kept off the
number one spot by the Spice Girls song "Wannabe".
There are two different music videos. The most common music
video, directed by Vincent Calvet, was created in 1996,
featuring Los del Rio performing on a white backdrop. Ten women
are also seen dancing with the band. This version samples a
line from
The Graduate("I am not trying to seduce you!") which was
later removed due to possible copyright issues. The other,
similar version of the music video was in black and white and
was more instructional in that the women and men are clearly
shown performing the specific dance moves.
Due to the overwhelming success of the song, a Christmas
version of the song was created for the 1996 Christmas Season.
It involved the original song with short lines from classic
Christmas carols (specifically incorporating: "Joy to the
World," "Jingle Bells," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,"
"White Christmas" and "Auld Lang Syne") in between the popular
verses.
In the music video, the young female dancers wear Christmas
colored attire but there are nine of them compared to the ten
dancers in the original. For the sequence featuring a new
routine (the one being commonly used today), eight of them are
shown with one of them being switched with a ninth dancer at
times throughout the chorus.
The song was also covered by Los del Mar (feat. Pedro
Castaño), which was first released in 1995 and then again at
the same time as the original in the United Kingdom and
Australia in the hope of fooling people into buying their
version by mistake, which could easily happen because the
versions were very similar, thus difficult to distinguish. In
the UK it only reached #43 in the charts (but remained charted
for almost two months); however, the Los del Rio version peaked
at number two. In Australia, the Los del Mar version was more
successful and peaked at number two whilst the Los del Rio
version was still at number one. In Canada, the Los del Mar
version was quite popular on MuchMusic and top 40 radio in the
spring of 1995, eclipsing the later popularity of the
original.
Australian CD Single