BEB: Listen to “The Ketchup Song"
“Aserejé, ja deje tejebe tude jebere
Sebiunouba majabi an de bugui an de buididipí
Aserejé, ja deje tejebe tude jebere
Sebiunouba majabi an de bugui an de buididipí
Aserejé, ja deje tejebe tude jebere
Sebiunouba majabi an de bugui an de buididipí…”
What do those lyrics mean? Are they Spanish? Are they Portugese? We don't know. In fact, they are gibberish. And they make up the chorus of “The Ketchup Song,” arguably one of the most iconic songs of all time. It was released in 2002 by Spanish pop group Las Ketchup and became a world-hit. It is shrouded in a mist of confusion and conspiracy yet has remained iconic to this very day.
It has been released in 3 versions: Spanish, Spanglish, and Portuguese. Across these versions, one thing remains: the chorus is completely nonsensical. It is not Spanish or Portguese, yet Americans were bopping along to it fully believing they were speaking a foreign beautiful language. However, the rest of the lyrics are in fact, translatable. The song is about a “pimp-like gypsy (afrogitano) with mystical qualities” (direct quote from Wikipedia - the word “gypsy” is not politically correct) named Diego who arrives at a club. The DJ plays his favorite song, “Rapper’s Delight,” by the Sugarhill Gang, and Diego dances along while imitating the chorus with Spanish gibberish, hence the chorus.
It is fast. It is fun. It is electric. The dance that accompanies it is unforgettable. And the controversy surrounding the song is unforgettable, as well. I had heard that the song was rumoured to be about Satanism and the devil. The exact source of the conspiracy is unclear, but I found some sites indicating that an Evangelical priest from Honduras was the originator. Upon further investigation, I found myself on a few different forums, one known as Sciforums.com and the other called Jehovahswitnesses.com who indicated that an email chain was circulating at the time (this was 2003) claiming the song is, in fact, a song of the occult.
I believe that I was able to find the original email from this priest, but it could very well be a hoax. I decided to pull out some quotes from the email that I found rather striking:
“These girls defend themselves from those statements,
claiming that ' they were trying to sing in English,
but as they can't (because they don't know the
language) they sing what they think is an English
song'. [Yeah right!].”
“and his ocean blue suit (according to the occultists, blue is Satan's favorite color)”
“Diego(Diego seldom taken as the devil) comes dancing rumba”
“he squeezes in to give himself
pleasure, possessed by the Ragadanga rhythm.
(ragadanga has no meaning in Spanish, could be an
occultist thing)”
The last 3 quotes were direct analyses of the Spanish-to-English translation done by this priest. Another important thing to keep in mind: this was sent via Yahoo Mail. Unclear if it should be trusted. And as I look back on some of these quotes, I do wonder if this email is, in fact, real, or if I am as bamboozled as the fans of “The Ketchup Song” were back in 2002.
Essentially, what I am trying to convey is this: listen to “The Ketchup Song.” Listen to it. Praise it. Bask in its glory. Do the fun little dance. If you need to learn the fun little dance, look up “just dance the ketchup song” on Youtube. You can find it. If it is, in fact, a song worshipping the devil, do we really care? It is a song that awakens the spirit, and at the end of the day that is all that matters.
Here is the link. Enjoy!
https://open.spotify.com/track/6UEfyhyfhYQsyipxOd95Ie?si=V_6sPGNnTm-GKlHKzwP6hw