Mambo No. 5

"Mambo No. 5" is a mambo and jive dance song originally recorded and composed by Cuban Dámaso Pérez Prado in 1949.^[1]

The song's popularity was renewed by German artist Lou Bega's sampling and vocal version of the original, released under the same name on Bega's 1999 debut album A Little Bit of Mambo.

Lou Bega version

"Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)"
Single by Lou Bega
from the album A Little Bit of Mambo
Released	April 19, 1999 (See release history)
Format	CD, maxi and 7" 45 rpm single
Genre	Latin pop
Length	5:14 (extended version) 3:39 (radio edit)
Label	RCA
Writer(s)	Dámaso Pérez Prado, Lou Bega, Zippy Davids
Producer(s)	Goar B, Frank Lio, Donald Fact, Peter Meisel
Lou Bega singles chronology
"Mambo No. 5" (1999) "I Got a Girl" (1999)

Lou Bega's cover was a hit in the United Kingdom,^[2] and Australia, where it reached number-one in 1999. It stayed at number-one in Australia for eight weeks, ultimately becoming the best-selling single of 1999.^[3] It also topped almost every chart in continental Europe, including Bega's home country, Germany, and set a record by staying at number-one in France for 20 weeks (longer than any stay at the top spot ever on the US or UK charts). The song reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on November 2, 1999, giving Bega his only Top 40 hit in the US.^[4]

With its worldwide success, the song became the subject of a 7-year copyright trial between Prado's estate, Peermusic, and Lou Bega's producers. Bega had only used riffs (which by German law cannot be registered for copyright) from Prado's original and written the entire lyrics, so Bega's producers went to court in order to gain access to all the song's proceedings from Peermusic representing Prado's estate. However, after 7 years the Federal Court of Justice of Germany ruled in favor of Peermusic and Prado's estate in 2008, based upon the fact that Bega's producers had sought a royalty agreement with Peermusic prior to releasing the song. Because of Bega's significant contributions to his version, the court's final ruling declared it a new song co-written by Prado and Bega.

Music video

The music video, directed by Jorn Heitmann, features Lou Bega singing and dancing with flappers, possibly a homage to the music of the 1920s and 1930s. The video includes clips of old-style movies and newsreels showing trumpets, big bands and the like. The Disney version of the music video features Lou Bega performing against a white background with a live band, and the women's names are replaced with names of classic Disney characters. Footage of Mickey Mouse Works cartoons and clips of Lou Bega performing against a checkered background is intercut throughout the video.

Track listings

CD single

1. "Mambo No. 5" (Radio Edit) – 3:39
2. "Mambo No. 5" (Extended Mix) – 5:14
3. "Mambo No. 5" (Enhanced CD-ROM Video) - 3:42

Maxi single

1. "Mambo No. 5" (Radio Edit) – 3:39
2. "Mambo No. 5" (Extended Mix) – 5:14
3. "Mambo" (Havanna Club Mix) – 5:48
4. "Mambo" (The Trumpet) – 6:01

7" 45 rpm single

1. "Mambo No. 5" (Radio Edit) - 3:39
2. "Beauty on the TV Screen" - 4:03^[5]

Charts and sales

Chart successions

Release history

Other cover versions

• CKBE-FM David Tyler 1999.
• A Bob the Builder version of the song, with the female names replaced with types of construction supplies and building tasks (timber, saw, waterproofing, tiling) reached number one in the UK, number two in Australia and number four in Ireland in 2001.^[18]
• A ninety-second cover version was created for the Korean rhythm dance game Pump It Up.
• A cover of the original Perez Prado version appeared in Guinness's famous 1998 "Swimblack" advertisement.
• Max Raabe backed by the Palast Orchester included a vintage arrangement version of the song on their 2001 Superhits album.^[51]
• Filipino jazz singer Richard Poon covered the song on the Filipino compilation album 90's Music Comes Alive in 2012.
• Cover versions, with slightly different lyrics in each version, have been heard in Party City commercials.
• Dutch children's TV character Ome Henk, took a parody of the song to #9 titled "Mambo Nr 6". The lyrics referred to a medicine prescribed to him, which causes hallucinations of the girls he mentions in the song. A parody of commercials for the fictional product is also heard.

Parodies

• WHTZ DJ David Brody released a parody version named "Matzah No. 5" which aired on radio stations throughout the country. Performed by "Louie Bagel", the parody takes on various Jewish stereotypes. He also released a parody entitled "Bimbo No. 5"^[52] referring to the Monica Lewinsky scandal, wherein DJ Nelson imitates the voice of Bill Clinton. The song is commonly mis-attributed to both "Weird Al" Yankovic and Paul Shanklin. Also released was "Combo No.5"; the parody takes on ordering combo dinners from a Chinese take-away.
• ApologetiX released "Micah No. 5", with lyrics concerning the Christmas story.

Legacy

• The original recording by Pérez Prado was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.^[53]
• "Mambo No. 5" was ranked sixth in a 2007 poll conducted by Rolling Stone to identify the 20 most annoying songs.^[54]
• This song was initially selected as the theme song of the 2000 Democratic National Convention, but this plan was scrapped due to the possibility of people associating the song with the Monica Lewinsky scandal.^[55]
• In the Philippines, the song has gained popularity when Tinidora (played by Jose Manalo) of Kalyeserye, a live soap opera within the Juan For All, All For Juan segment of noontime variety show Eat Bulaga!, dances to its tune with a ladder.

References