The Story Behind The Song Macarena Is So Much More Outrageous Than You’d Think

If you are old enough to remember the ′90s, you’ll remember the absolute chokehold that Los Del Rio’s hit Macarena had on our airwaves, school discos and even pubs.

More iconic than than the song, though, was the dance. As soon as those opening beats hit, everything was duly dropped so that we could get in line and mimic the dance moves from the music video.

However, now that I know what the song is actually about, I think that my childhood self was strutting her stuff to some seriously dodgy lyrics.

While it may just seem like a silly pop song, it’s a tale of a dying relationship, and the ways in which a woman, named Macarena, copes with it. 

Educator Hank Green (with the help of translators) explained in a video that the lyrics translate to: “Listen to your body/Listen to it, Macarena/If it makes your body feel good, then it’s gonna be OK now/Listen to your body/Listen to it, Macarena/Hey, Macarena...”

Which, overall, feels quite harmless, right?

However, Green added: “The next verse in the original version of the Macarena, Macarena’s boyfriend gets drafted into the army, and then she ‘listens to her body’ and has sex with two of his friends, and then wants to go shopping a lot.

“It turns out that she’s just a terrible person,” he concluded.

Well... we’re not here to judge but we can’t deny that it maikes for a great pop hit.