Spanish Flea
| Industry | Music |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1960s |
| Founder | Herb Alpert, Julius Wechter |
| Headquarters | Hollywood , United States |
| Products | Music recordings, singles, albums |
| Website | herbalpert |
Spanish Flea is a well-known tune composed by Julius Wechter during the 1960s, initially recorded by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in 1965. Since then, it has been interpreted by a wide range of musicians globally.
Composition and recording
Julius Wechter, a percussionist within Herb Alpert's ensemble, penned "Spanish Flea" among several pieces crafted for the band. The song was issued as the B-side to "What Now My Love", a single from the 1965 album Going Places. This album achieved the No. 1 spot in the United States, while the single reached No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. The instrumental highlights Alpert’s trumpet layered over a Latin-inspired beat.
The initial recording session occurred on August 13, 1965, at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, California, conducted alongside tracks like "And I Love Her" and "More And More Amor". In America, "Spanish Flea" became famously linked with the enduring game show The Dating Game, where it was played during the bachelor’s entrance.
Chart history
Template:Singlechart| Chart (1966) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Argentina | 9 |
| Australia (Kent Music Report) | 28 |
| Canada RPM Adult Contemporary | 6 |
| Canada RPM Top Singles | 6 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 27 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 4 |
| U.S. Cash Box Top 100 | 21 |
Other recordings
Several artists including Teresa Brewer, The Modernaires, Frankie Randall, and Soupy Sales promptly released vocal renditions of "Spanish Flea" using Cissy Wechter’s original lyrics.
The track was featured on Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66’s debut album in 1966, titled Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66. Additional prominent versions were recorded by Trudy Pitts on Introducing the Fabulous Trudy Pitts (1967), the Doodletown Pipers on The Doodletown Pipers Sing-along '67 (1967), and by Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley on Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Spotlight on the Moog (1967). Julius Wechter also revisited the song with his group, the Baja Marimba Band, on their 1971 release As Time Goes By.
Alternative lyrics penned by Marcel Stellman were utilized by Kathy Kirby in her 1966 interpretation.
The Glenn Miller Orchestra included "Spanish Flea" on their album Something New: The Glenn Miller Orchestra plays the Tijuana Brass released in 1966.
Parodic versions have been created, such as Mel Blanc’s "The Flea" featured on the Jack Benny show in 1966, Allan Sherman’s take on Togetherness (1967), and a satirical piece on the mock tribute album Sour Cream & Other Delights by the Frivolous Five.
In popular culture
In film and television
"Spanish Flea" has been extensively incorporated into movie and television soundtracks. It was included in a 1966 animated short by John Hubley, titled A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature.
During the 1970s, Mazda employed this melody in commercials promoting their GLC model.
The song appeared in four episodes of The Simpsons, notably "The Otto Show", where Homer performs its original lyrics.
In Beverly Hills Cop II, actors improvised humming this tune during a fingerprinting scene.
It serves as background music in films such as Striptease (1996), Perdita Durango (1997), American Pie 2, The Dish (2000), and Ocean’s Eleven (2001).
Nickelodeon's series The Fairly OddParents features it across multiple episodes, and it also appears in an episode of Supernatural.
In the movie White House Down (2013), it is used as a character’s ringtone.
Between 1999 and 2013, it was occasionally broadcast during The Weather Channel's segment Local on the 8s.
In the 2019 film Joker, it plays during a scene involving a broadcast interruption, attributed to Ray Davies and His Button Down Brass.
Within the 2023 HBO miniseries Love & Death, a character performs this song during a dinner scene.
In podcasts
"Spanish Flea" functions as both opening and closing music for the podcast Fangraphs, serves as closing theme for soccer podcast Low Limit Futbol, and is featured during advertisement segments on 'We Hate Movies'. It also concludes Chris & Andi Porter’s 'One Millionth Podcast' with varied vocal interpretations, and is included in John C. Dvorak’s “Three by Three” segment on the “No Agenda” podcast.