Macarena
"Macarena" is a song by Spanish pop duo Los del Río, originally recorded for their 1993 album A mí me gusta. A dance remix by the electropop group Fangoria was a success in Spain, and a soundalike cover version by Los del Mar became popular in Canada. Another remix by Miami-based producers the Bayside Boys, who added a section with English lyrics, expanded its popularity, initially peaking at No. 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in late 1995.
The Bayside Boys mix enjoyed a significant revival the following year when it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 1 for 14 weeks between August and November 1996. Its resurgence was aided by a dance craze that became a cultural phenomenon throughout the latter half of 1996 and early 1997. The song got the group ranked the "No. 1 Greatest One-Hit Wonder of All Time" by VH1 in 2002. In 2012, it was ranked No. 7 on Billboards All Time Top 100. It also ranked at No. 7 on Billboards All Time Latin Songs list. In 2023, Billboard ranked "Macarena" number 500 in their list of Best Pop Songs of All Time.
Composition
The composition of "Macarena" features a variant on the clave rhythm. The song is written in the key of A♭ major, moves at a tempo of 103 beats per minute, and follows the repeated chord progression A♭–G♭ throughout.Origin and history
As a result of their lounge act, Los del Río were invited to tour South America in 1992 and, while visiting Venezuela, they were invited to a private party held by the Venezuelan impresario Gustavo Cisneros. During the celebration, a local flamenco teacher, Diana Patricia Cubillán Herrera, performed a dance for the guests, and Los del Río were pleasantly surprised by Cubillán's dance skills. Spontaneously, Antonio Romero Monge, one half of the Los del Río duo, recited the song's chorus-to-be on the spot, as an accolade to Cubillán: "¡Diana, dale a tu cuerpo alegría y cosas buenas!'". When Monge wrote the song, he changed the name to Macarena, in honor of his daughter Esperanza Macarena.Spanish-language remix
In 1993, RCA Records released "Macarena" as a single in Spain along with two house remixes by Spanish group Fangoria, intended to popularize the song in nightclubs and discotheques. These remixes changed the flamenco rhythm of the song to an electronic beat. According to Alaska, member of Fangoria, the Bayside Boys remix that followed in 1996 took their version labelled "Macarena " as its base. The band denounced it as plagiarism on the Court of Justice of the European Union but the case did not go through.English-language remix
In mid-1996, the song became a worldwide hit roughly one year after the Bayside Boys produced a remix of the song that added English lyrics. Jammin Johnny Caride, a radio personality at Power 96 in Miami, first learned of the original "Macarena" when clubgoers at a club where he worked as a DJ requested the song. Caride brought the "Macarena" to his supervisors at Power 96 who asked him to create an English-language version of the song.Caride recruited his two partners at Bayside Records, Mike "In the Night" Triay and Carlos de Yarza, to remix the original song. The new, English-language lyrics were written by Carlos de Yarza. The Bayside Boys, Triay and de Yarza, added a new dance beat with English-language lyrics sung originally by the studio singer Patty Alfaro, then later during a concert tour by Carla Vanessa. Vanessa accepted a fixed-fee contract for her participation and live performances, and so does not receive any residual performer royalties. The finished version was called "Macarena ". The Bayside Boys remix hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1996 and remained at the top of the chart for fourteen weeks. It also topped the US Cash Box Top 100. Remarkably, even this version of the song was completely ignored by the US Hot Dance Club Play chart which represented DJ club playlists.
The Bayside Boys mix of "Macarena" was featured in Sonic Team's Samba de Amigo for the Sega NAOMI arcade system and the Sega Dreamcast.
Critical reception
from Entertainment Weekly wrote, "It says something about our culture—something delightfully devious, probably—that a wink-wink club song has become an all-ages-approved dance step and novelty hit. Like the story it tells, 'Macarena' is a one-night stand, but you won't forget her name in the morning." Dan Glaister from The Guardian said that the track was "imitating the successes of previous summer pop sensations such as 'Y Viva Espana', 'Agadoo' and 'Saturday Night'." Melody Maker commented, "Admit it. You loved it. The sarky girlie lyric, the middle-aged Spanish geezers crooning away, the placidly agreeable beat. Eyyyyyy, macarena!" James Hamilton from Music Week's RM Dance Update described the song as an "infectious cheerful girls giggled and guys chanted 'Me No Pop I'-ish original hit version of a jaunty hip wiggling dance craze huge for ages around Europe and now the US, in frisky flamenco clapped jiggling 103.2bpm Bayside Boys Mix". Peter Castro from People Magazine wrote, "The 'Achy Breaky Heart' flatlined years ago and the 'Electric Slide' is short-circuiting, so what's a dance-crazed world to do? The 'Macarena', obviously." Dave Fawbert from ShortList stated that "Macarena" is "a song that exists independently of cool, time, criticism – it's just there." Jordan Paramor from Smash Hits gave it one out of five, saying, "'Macarena' is 1996's answer to Whigfield's 'Saturday Night', overflowing with nauseating Latino-style beats and repetitive lyrics, sung by two suited middle-aged blokes who should know better. And, quelle surprise, there's even a quirky little dance routine to go with it."Popularity
The reworked "Macarena " spent 14 weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, becoming one of the longest runs atop the Hot 100 chart in history. The single spent its final week at No. 1 on its 46th week on the chart, recorded as the latest No. 1 single in Hot 100 history. Billboard ranked it as the No. 1 song for 1996. In the United Kingdom the song was released on 10 June 1996 and peaked at No. 2 on 17 August 1996, kept off the No. 1 spot by the huge popularity of the Spice Girls song "Wannabe". In Australia, it was the most successful song of 1996."Macarena" remained popular through 1996, but by the beginning of 1997, its popularity had begun to diminish. The song stayed in the Hot 100 chart for 60 weeks, the longest reign among No. 1 songs, only surpassed fifteen years later by Adele's "Rolling in the Deep". The Bayside Boys remix includes a sample from the Yazoo track "Situation"—the laughter of Yazoo vocalist Alison Moyet. The chorus uses female vocal samples previously used by the Farm in their song "Higher and Higher " from their album, Spartacus. The Bayside Boys toured the U.S. and the world and featured singer Carla Vanessa.
In the United States, the song, and its corresponding Macarena dance, became popular around the time of the 1996 Democratic National Convention in August of that year. C-SPAN filmed attendees dancing to the song in an afternoon session, a clip of which became popular on YouTube years later. Vice President Al Gore, having a reputation for stiffness, made a joke about doing the Macarena dance during his speech. He said, "I would like to demonstrate for you the Al Gore version of the Macarena," then remained motionless for a few seconds, and eventually asked, "Would you like to see it again?"
By 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 BBC News, during the year 2003 alone—a full decade after the song's initial release—Romero and Ruiz made US$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 No. 1. "Macarena" was also ranked No. 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 July 2020, digital publication The Pudding carried out a study on the most iconic songs from the 1990s and songs that are most known by Millennials and the people of Generation Z. "Macarena" was the eighth song with the highest recognisability rate. In a December 1, 1996, Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy is about to join Woodstock and an unnamed identical bird at a frozen-over birdbath for a hockey game, but they start off by doing the Macarena dance first before playing, much to his embarrassment.
Music video
The music video for the reworked Bayside Boys-remix of "Macarena" was directed by Vincent Calvet. It starred Mia Frye, who was also the choreographer, and features ten different women singing and dancing with Los del Río against a white background. In contrast to the scantily-clad women, Los del Río are dressed in suits. When the music video for the Bayside Boys Remix was filmed, Mia Frye choreographed a greatly simplified version of the Macarena dance that already existed at the time. Frye and director Calvet drew inspiration from video footage from clubs in Mexico that showed large crowds of people dancing the original, more complex, Macarena.According to Los del Rio, the dance originated from the interaction between the band and the audience at concerts. It started with some improvised arm movements from the singers during an instrumental part of the song. Some people in the audience then began to imitate similar dance moves. In the interplay between the band and the audience, an early form of Macarena dance gradually emerged over the course of several concerts because stories about the Macarena dance spread among the band's fans by word of mouth.