People are shocked by the translation of “The Ketchup Song”. This is because it appears to be just another cheesy song from the early 2000s. Just like the iconic party song “Macarena”, the song’s meaning has remained a mystery to non-Spanish speakers. Some listeners, however, have deciphered the code and discovered that the chorus of “The Ketchup Song” is a mash-up of another classic song.
“The Ketchup Song” Mistery
Instead of being a song about the famous red sauce, the song’s chores is a Spanglish version of “Rapper’s Delight” by the ’80s band, the Sugarhill Gang. There are Youtube mash-ups of the two songs for those who don’t believe. Despite being translated into a whole other language, surprisingly little has changed from the original tune.
The only significant variation is that the song from the 2000s is sung from the perspective of a man named Diego. As the chorus of “The Ketchup Song” approaches, Diego strains to remember the lyrics to “Rapper’s Delight” as he performs it at midnight in a local nightclub. Despite being ubiquitous during the summer of 2002, the song had a large number of people go to social media to share how surprised they were by this discovery.
Fans Are Going Crazy on Twitter!
One Twitter fan wrote that even though he is a Spanish speaker, he only recently discovered that the Las Ketchup chorus is Diego not understanding the actual English lyrics, so he is just sounding them out. Surprisingly, the Spanish name for the Ketchup Song, Asereje, is also derived from the iconic 1980s song. The word has absolutely no definition and was made up by The Sugarhill Gang.
Although the group was never sued over the use of their popular song, Las Ketchup faced a backlash for referencing “Rapper’s Delight” in their 2002 track. After more than two decades, the girl band continues to receive criticism, with one former fan joining on Twitter that they are not copying the Sugarhill Gang. The debut album of Las Ketchup reworks lyrics by De La Soul, Tone Loc, Cypress Hill, and Curtis Blow.