1999Released
3:40

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...). By Songfacts®.

This song was originally done in 1952 by the Cuban-Mexican bandleader Perez Prado. Known as the "King of the Mambo," Prado recorded numerous mambos, and when he ran out of inspiration, he would simply number them. "Mambo No 5" was one of a series of eight.

Perez Prado's version was instrumental. In 1999, the German pop musician Lou Bega added lyrics to it, transforming it into a love song for several women, namely Angela, Pamela, Sandra, Rita, Monica, Erica, Tina, Mary and Jessica. It was reported that the girls he mentioned were all Lou's former girlfriends, but it is probably beyond coincidence that eight of the girls in the song have names that end in "A," making them quite singable.

On VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders, Lou Bega said: "When I wrote the song, I believed it could be the thing it is today. All people hate it completely, that's what I thought. I knew it wouldn't swim in the middle because it was too different from all the stuff that was outside, so I'm quite happy with it. Mambo makes you happy, Latin music makes you happy, its sexual, its erotic, energetic, I think that's the point."

Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...).
FKey
MinorMode
4/4Time Signature
174BPM

Album

The album Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...) is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...).
RCA Records Label
(P)1999 BMG Berlin Musik GmbH/Lautstark

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