Zara Larsson shares shock at true meaning of ‘The Ketchup Song’

The Independent

Zara Larsson took to TikTok to express her shock at realising the true meaning of 2002 hit ‘The Ketchup Song’.  The lyrics to the noughties anthem aren’t all in Spanish - the chorus is a recreation of the 1979 seminal hip-hop track, ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by the Sugar Hill Gang.  Larsson explained how the song’s lyrics reference a man who asks a DJ to play his favourite song at midnight - but he can’t think of the name and instead sings his own, incorrect, version of the song. The chorus to ‘The Ketchup Song’ is this version of ‘Rapper’s Delight’, though it is quite far removed from the original.

Transcript

00:00 Every European knows this song

00:02 *sings*

00:04 And they are right next to me here

00:06 At the show that I'm playing

00:08 But you wanna know a funny story

00:10 Which I didn't know

00:12 Which to me is so mind blowing

00:14 Back in my hotel room

00:16 Let me tell you why this song is like

00:18 Has levels, it's levels to sh*t

00:20 Okay? So

00:22 I didn't grow up speaking Spanish

00:24 Like, I know a word or two

00:26 Por favor

00:28 Gracias

00:30 Senorita

00:32 But I just thought the whole song was in Spanish

00:34 Including the chorus

00:36 But it's not

00:38 It's only the verses

00:40 And in the verses they're saying

00:42 There's this guy, his name is Diego

00:44 He wants to go out and dance

00:46 And at midnight, like he goes up to the DJ

00:48 And he tells the DJ, at midnight I want my favorite song

00:50 I want my tune to be played

00:52 And it goes like this

00:54 *sings*

00:56 It's not even a language

00:58 Like it's not Spanish

01:00 It's not nothing

01:02 It's not anything

01:04 But it is a song

01:06 And you know which song Diego wants to have the DJ playing at midnight?

01:08 *laughs*

01:10 *music*

01:12 Pause

01:22 *sings*

01:24 Shut up

01:26 Shut up

01:28 It's- shut up

01:30 Diego's favorite song

01:32 Is Rapper's Delight

01:34 He wants to hear Rapper's Delight

01:36 At 12 o'clock

01:38 On the dot

01:40 *laughs*

01:42 I just think it's so smart

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