In the summer of 1996, Los del Rio sparked a worldwide dancing epidemic by releasing the annoyingly catchy tune Macarena.
It changed dance parties and weddings forever. The song was catchy, the dance was infectious – but have you ever actually listened to the lyrics?
Now, if you’re one of the many that only ever heard and danced to the Spanish version, if you don’t speak Spanish, chances are you’d have no idea what the lyrics were.
But there’s also a ’90s English version. And if you listen closely, it’s a tad more inappropriate than most of us would have imagined.
It begins in the first verse, right after the lyrics: “When I dance they call me Macarena, and the boys they say ‘que estoy buena’…”
So Macarena is a woman. And she’s a siren. She entices young men to come and dance with her, and if she fancies them, she may even take them home with her. Nothing too unusual.
But then things get more explicit.
The second verse goes a little something like this:
Now, don’t you worry ‘bout my boyfriend, the boy whose name is Vittorino.
Ha, I don’t want him, couldn’t stand him, he was no good so I.
Then comes the horrifying, sinister laugh. And we can all pretty much guess what happens next – Macarena has a boyfriend and she doesn’t hide that she plays on the side.
Then, it becomes very clear what’s happening at the end of the second verse:
Now come, what was I supposed to do?
He was out of town, and his two friends were soooooo fine.
Basically, the macarena, the song we all danced to as children and at weddings, is about a woman who waits until her boyfriend is out of town and then bangs his two friends at the same time.
Sorry, ’90s kids.
