American Musical Novelties: The Mambo That Wouldn’t Die

About a week ago, while doing a family event, in talking with a teenager he mentioned Mambo Number 5, which was a big hit a few years ago. Curiously, the quite dated mambo seems to resurface periodically. Here are some examples:

DURING THE 1950′s Perry Cuomo had a huge hit in “Pappa Loves Mambo,” a song this baby boomer couldn’t get out of his head when he was in pre-school. Here from 1954 is Cuomo (one of the most relaxed stars on TV of his era) doing the song with all the weird grunts. Note how this is live TV and he finishes too soon so he has to fill time with an encore.

Rosemary Clooney (George Clooney’s aunt) had a big hit in the 50s: Mambo Italiano:

When Clooney died, Bette Midler did this tribute version of the song — updated with a modern arrangement:

Midler’s version was used for a line dance competition in Jenjarom, Klang (Malaysia) a year ago:

And then, a few years ago, there was the smash hit Mambo Number 5 by Lou Bega which couldn’t be confused with Cuomo’s or Clooney’s song — but displays the same amount of talent and pizazz. Truly dynamic (Turn down your sound a bit):
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