When I think of lucky musicians, nobody sticks out in my mind more than the two dudes from Los del Río, a Spanish musical duo formed in 1962. You probably know them as the two guys who sing the song "Macarena", which held the world hostage for most of 1996. These guys were some lucky SOBs.
First of all, the original "Macarena" is a flamenco-style song in Spanish, not exactly hit material. It's a good song, just not a hit pop song. It was relased in 1994, and then two years later, Mike Triay, Carlos de Yarza, and Jammin Johnny Caride (the Bayside Boys) created pretty much an entire new song with new lyrics, using the Macarena chorus. It spent 14 weeks at the #1 spot on the Hot 100, credited as "The Bayside Boys Remix" of a Los del Río song. To me, this is like Jay Z crediting his "Forever Young" song to Alphaville and calling it the "Jay Z Remix". Without the Bayside Boys "Macarena" wasn't going any farther than cruise ships and clubs in Miami.
On top of that, when they made the music video for this essentially brand new song, they put these two guys in it, making them international stars overnight. So today, let's watch "Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix)" by Los del Río, directed by Vincent Calvet.
The dichotomy presented in this video is striking. It takes place entirely in front of a white cyc, and we have two groups. One of them is a group of international ladies who are dressed in full on 1996 regalia. They are all sexy and they are all dancing. The other group is Los del Río. They are dressed in suits and look sort of confused but happy to be there. This "version" of "Macarena" is an entirely new song sung by a female, so they are just there for the chorus and to goof around.
The verses are sung by the ladies, and these ladies are sassy modern women. First they sing about how they will only bring the sexiest of men home with them. Then they seem to be singing about how they let their boyfriend's two friends double team them when he was away. I don't know, it's not really that important. The most important mission of these ladies is to do the macarena dance, which became a big part of the popularity of the song. When they aren't being sassy and talking about how they got rid of their boyfriend in an ambigious way (did they kill him?), they are doing the dance.
Los del Río mostly play the part of two goofy grandfathers just havin' fun with all these young ladies around. Really, they should be happy they are even in the video. This video could've been easily made without them, and this is another piece of great luck in their string of amazing luck they had in 1996. They are charming though, and if I saw them go by in a parade float I wouldn't complain. I wouldn't ask for it, but I wouldn't complain if I got it.
By now you have no doubt memorized the appearances and general style of each lady on team macarena dance. Did you notice the one on the far left (our left)? If you watch closely, its obvious this woman has no clue what she is doing. She is behind on every dance cue by at least a second or so. We rarely see her, but when we do she sticks out. I find this somewhat comforting, since my 11 year old self found the macarena dance difficult to do at the time and knowing that one of the 10 people in the world hired for this video couldn't even do it right makes me feel better. Cold comfort.
Amazingly, Los del Río was not able to follow up on "Macarena" with a suitable smash single, but whatever fame they have, they should thank their lucky stars for The Bayside Boys and Vincent Calvet.
