We all need a certain song and for us Scots that certain song is Spanish disco classic Yes Sir, I Can Boogie.
The story goes that one of the Scottish footballers who qualified for the Euros, Andrew Considine, had sung the song on a bachelor’s party while dressed in drag.
And the squad adopted it and partied to it after they beat Serbia to qualify for the finsls.
Boogie nights
It’s not unusual for Scottish men to wear skirts, of course.
And some of us have even twirled the skirt in destinations from Ireland to France to Turkey.
And all the better when it’s to a Spanish beat.
Mad Madrid for it
Yes Sir I Can Boogie (Baccara): And Mayte and Maria are two Madridistas.
Who reached No.1 in the UK in 1977 for a week at a time when Scotland were again on a roll and preparing for a World Cup.
The two senoritas went onto represent randomly Luxembourg at Eurovision.
Where they finished seventh behind winners Israel but two places ahead of the Spanish entrant.
Maracca cracka
Y Viva Espana (Sylvia): That’ll be Sylvia Vrethammar to you and me.
Sylvia Vretwho… well, yes, she was the chirpy Swede who held her Spanish hat coquettishly before launching into this party favourite.
Which every family sang on their way to Spain, and yes, guilty as I tagged along with my family to Ibiza.
The track which Sylvia took to No.4 in the UK charts was actually written by a couple of Belgians and did the rounds in Europe in a number of languages.
Macarena in the arena
Macarena (Los del Rio): Always better in the Spanish with Los del Rio meaning Those from the River… and Macarena, well the name of a woman
And these guys hail from Dos Hermanas, near Seville in Andalusia.
This duo, Antonio Romario Monge and Rafael Ruiz Perdigones, were formed in 1962 – and remember The Beatles first charted in the UK that year.
It took the two amigos 33 years to get their ten minutes of fame and Billboard named the best one-hit wonder of all time.
Though they had to settle for No.2 in the UK.
Wham bam Bamboleo
Bamboleo (Gipsy Kings): And this literally means wobble although it is slightly more sensual to describe it as swing.
The band are Gitano-French, Romani or gipsies, from Arles and Montpelier in the French Riviera, hence the title they gave themselves,
Can’t find the chart position here for Bamboleo, a bit of a wobble here on my part then.
And La Bamba too
La Bamba (Ritchie Valens): Ritchie Valenzuela achieved immortality through this song.
Born in LA, the son of Mexicans, Ritchie’s life was snuffed out in the same plane crash that claimed the lives of Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper.
Lou Diamond Philipps played Ritchie in the 1987 biopic where Los Lobos had a No.1 international hit with the song (Ritchie had only got to No.49).
So in tribute to the Spanish sound I’m off to practise my boogie ahead of the Euros.
