Spanish Flea

"Spanish Flea" is a popular song written by Julius Wechter in the 1960s with lyrics by Cissy Wechter.

Not to be confused with Spanish fly.
Not to be confused with Spanish flu.
"Spanish Flea"
Single by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
from the album Going Places
A-side"What Now My Love"
Released28 February 1966
Recorded1965
GenrePop
Length2:07
LabelA&M Records
Songwriter(s)Julius Wechter
Producer(s)
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass singles chronology
"Tijuana Taxi"
(1965)		 "What Now My Love" / "Spanish Flea"
(1966)		 "The Work Song"
(1966)
Audio sample
Spanish Flea
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The song is best known from an instrumental version by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, released as a B-side to the single "What Now My Love" and on their 1965 album Going Places. The album was a No. 1 hit in the U.S. and the single peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and gained a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental. "Spanish Flea"[1] featured Alpert's trumpet over a Latin rhythm backing.

In the United States, the song is closely associated with the long-running game show The Dating Game, for which it served as the "Bachelor’s Theme".

Chart history
Chart (1966) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) 28
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[2] 6
Canada RPM Top Singles[3] 6
UK[4] 3
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[5] 27
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary 4
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[6] 21

Other recordings

The song was also recorded by Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 on their 1966 debut album, Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66.

"Spanish Flea" was also covered by Trudy Pitts on her debut album Introducing the Fabulous Trudy Pitts (1967), by the Doodletown Pipers on The Doodletown Pipers Sing-along '67 (1967) and by Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley on Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Spotlight on the Moog, also recorded in 1967. Julius Wechter himself, with his Baja Marimba Band, recorded the song on the 1971 album As Time Goes By. Comedian Soupy Sales recorded a straight cover of the song and released it as a single.

The Glenn Miller Orchestra did a rendition of the song as the last track on the album "Something New: The Glenn Miller Orchestra plays the Tijuana Brass" (1966).

Allan Sherman did a parody of this song on his album Togetherness (1967). Another parodic cover version, spoofing Alpert's version, appeared on the mock Alpert tribute album Sour Cream & Other Delights by the Frivolous Five.

In film and television

In addition to its use in The Dating Game, the song has been used in a variety of film and television soundtracks. It was one of two Alpert songs in a 1966 animated cartoon by John Hubley, A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature.

The tune has been featured in four episodes of The Simpsons: "The Otto Show", "Team Homer", "Natural Born Kissers", and "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday".

In the fingerprint scene in Rosewood's home in Beverly Hills Cop II, Eddie Murphy (playing Axel Foley) and Judge Reinhold (playing Billy Rosewood) improvised the idea of humming the tune. When Taggart (John Ashton) asks what the tune is, Rosewood replies, "The Dating Game!".

In the 1997 film Perdita Durango, the two main characters happily groove to the song while abducting two teenagers.

In an episode of The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, Vic Reeves plays the song through a prosthetic arm.

In the Philippine Noontime show It's Showtime on ABS-CBN, this song was played for taking a picture of a person's face with a frame called "Face Dance".

In American Pie 2, the band camp counselor plays the song on his trumpet, not knowing that the trumpet had just been inserted into Jason Biggs' character's anus.

The 1997–2001 Nickelodeon TV show The Angry Beavers had a theme song reminiscent of "Spanish Flea".

In the car dealership scene of the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, a Muzak version of the song is playing in the background.

In an episode of Supernatural, the song is played when a pair of demons call Crowley (the King of Hell) from a hunter's trap.

In the 2013 film White House Down, the ring-tone can be heard repetitively in the film on the character of Richard Jenkins' mobile cell phone.

The song has been heard on The Weather Channel's Local on the 8s time by time between 1999 and 2013.

In the 2019 film Joker, the song plays with the Indian-head test pattern when the broadcast of the Murray Franklin Show gets cut off. In the DVD credits, the song is credited to Ray Davies and His Button Down Brass.

Other uses

"Spanish Flea" acts as the opening and closing music to the Fangraphs audio podcast. The song is also used as the closing music for Low Limit Futbol, hosted by Joe Uccello, Ben The Machine Agombar, Mike Orr and Roberto Rojas. "Spanish Flea" was also used in a mashup with American rapper Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot" on YouTube.[7]

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References
  1. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles
  2. "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1966-03-14. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  3. "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1966-04-18. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  4. "Official Charts Company". Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  5. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 – ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  6. "Cash Box Top 100 4/23/66". Tropicalglen.com. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  7. Mag Magnet (19 February 2014). "...this shouldn't fit". YouTube. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
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