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((distinguish|Spanish fly|Spanish flu))

((Infobox song
| name       = Spanish Flea
| cover      =
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass]]
| album      = [[Going Places (Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass album)|Going Places]]
| A-side     = [[What Now My Love (song)|What Now My Love]]
| released   = 1966
| recorded   = 1965
| studio     = [[Gold Star Studios]], Hollywood
| venue      =
| genre      = [[Pop Music|Pop]], [[Jazz]]
| length     = 2:07
| label      = [[A&M Records]]
| writer     = [[Julius Wechter]]
| producer   = ((hlist|[[Herb Alpert]]|[[Jerry Moss]]))
| prev_title = Tijuana Taxi
| prev_year  = 1965
| title      = [[What Now My Love (song)|What Now My Love]]
| title2     = Spanish Flea
| next_title = The Work Song
| next_year  = 1966
| misc     = ((External music video|header=Official audio|((YouTube|aBE9EQ7gXKI|"Spanish Flea"))))
((Audio sample
 | type        = single
 | file        = Herb_Albert_and_the_Tijuana_Brass_-_Spanish_Flea.ogg
 | description = Spanish Flea
))
))
"'''Spanish Flea'''" is a [[popular music|popular]] song written by [[Julius Wechter]] in the 1960s with lyrics by his wife Cissy Wechter. The original version was recorded by [[Herb Alpert|Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass]]. Cover versions of the song have been recorded by dozens of artists worldwide.

==Composition and recording==
[[Julius Wechter]] was a percussionist in [[Herb Alpert|Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass]], most notably on [[marimba]]. "Spanish Flea" was one of several songs he wrote for the group. It was released as an instrumental on the [[A-side and B-side|B-side]] to the single "[[What Now My Love (song)|What Now My Love]]" from their 1965 album ''[[Going Places (Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass album)|Going Places]]''. The album was a No. 1 hit in the U.S., and the single peaked at No. 27 on the ''[[Billboard Hot 100|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]]. "Spanish Flea" featured Alpert's [[trumpet]] over a [[Latin American music|Latin rhythm]] backing.<ref>''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles''</ref>

The original version was recorded on August 13, 1965 at [[Gold Star Studios]] in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], [[Los Angeles]], [[California]].<ref name=":0">((Cite web|date=August 13, 1965|title=Phonograph Recording Contract Blank - American Federations Of Musicians|url=https://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/afmcontracts/Alpert+TJB_SpanishFlea.pdf|website=Wrecking Crew Film))</ref> Two other songs were recorded during that session, those being "And I Love Her" and "More And More Amor"<ref name=":0" /> In the [[United States]], the song is closely associated with the long-running [[game show]] ''[[The Dating Game]]'', for which it was played when the bachelor entered into the stage to ask questions to learn and choose which bachelorette had best suited the needs of that bachelor.<ref>Madrid, Alejandro. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=GR5wAgAAQBAJ&dq=the%20dating%20game%20spanish%20flea&pg=PA240 Transnational Encounters: Music and Performance at the U.S.-Mexico Border]''. [[Oxford University Press]], 2011. 240.</ref>

==Chart history==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart (1966)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|Argentina
|align="center"|9
|-
|Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])
| style="text-align:center;"|28
|-
|Canada ''[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]'' Adult Contemporary<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.5706&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.5706.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5706|title=Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=1966-03-14 |accessdate=2018-09-09))</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|6
|-
|Canada ''[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]'' Top Singles<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.5724&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.5724.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5724|title=Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=1966-04-18 |accessdate=2018-09-09))</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|6
|-
|[[UK Singles Chart|UK]]<ref>((cite web|title=Official Charts Company |url=http://Officialcharts.com |date= |accessdate=2018-07-16))</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|U.S. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]]<ref>''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990'' – ((ISBN|0-89820-089-X))</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|27
|-
|U.S. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Adult Contemporary (chart)|Adult Contemporary]]
| style="text-align:center;"|4
|-
|U.S. [[Cash Box (magazine)|''Cash Box'']] Top 100<ref>((cite web|url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/19660423.html|title=Cash Box Top 100 4/23/66|website=Tropicalglen.com|accessdate=16 February 2019))</ref>
|align="center"|21
|}

==Other recordings==
[[Teresa Brewer]], [[The Modernaires]], [[Frankie Randall (singer)|Frankie Randall]], and [[Soupy Sales]] were among the artists who quickly recorded vocal versions of "Spanish Flea" with Cissy Wechter's original lyrics.<ref>[https://www.discogs.com/Teresa-Brewer-Texas-Leather-And-Mexican-Lace/release/5177908 Teresa Brewer – Texas Leather And Mexican Lace] at [[Discogs]]</ref><ref>[https://www.discogs.com/The-Modernaires-With-Paula-Kelly-The-Modernaires-With-Paula-Kelly-Salute-Herb-Alpert-And-The-Tijuana/release/9237514 The Modernaires With Paula Kelly – Salute Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass] at Discogs.</ref><ref>[https://www.discogs.com/Frankie-Randall-Spanish-Flea/release/10279500 Frankie Randall – Spanish Flea] at Discogs.</ref><ref>[https://www.discogs.com/Soupy-Sales-Spanish-Flea-That-Wasnt-No-Girl/release/18622546 Soupy Sales - – Spanish Flea / That Wasn't No Girl] at Discogs</ref>

The song was also recorded by [[Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66]] on their 1966 debut album, ''[[Herb Alpert Presents|Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil ''66]]''.

"Spanish Flea" was also covered by [[Trudy Pitts]] on her debut album ''[[Introducing the Fabulous Trudy Pitts]]'' (1967), by the [[Doodletown Pipers]] on ''The Doodletown Pipers Sing-along '67'' (1967) and by [[Perrey and Kingsley|Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley]] on ''[[Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Spotlight on the Moog]]'', also recorded in 1967. Julius Wechter himself, with his [[Baja Marimba Band]], recorded the song on the 1971 album ''As Time Goes By''.

[[Marcel Stellman]] wrote a different set of lyrics for "Spanish Flea". [[Kathy Kirby]] used them in her 1966 recording of the song.<ref>[https://www.discogs.com/Kathy-Kirby-Spanish-Flea/release/6080430 Kathy Kirby - Spanish Flea] at Discogs</ref>

The Glenn Miller Orchestra included the song as the last track on their album "Something New: The Glenn Miller Orchestra plays the Tijuana Brass" (1966).

[[Mel Blanc]] parodied the song as 'The Flea' on the Jack Benny variety show in December 1966 during a "Si-Sy-Sue" skit along with his group 'The Tijuana Strings'.

[[Allan Sherman]] also parodied the song on his album ''Togetherness'' (1967). Another parodic cover version, spoofing Alpert's version, appeared on the mock Alpert tribute album ''Sour Cream & Other Delights'' by the Frivolous Five.

==In film and television==
((refimprove-section|date=May 2022))
"Spanish Flea" has been used in a variety of film and television soundtracks.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0917069/#soundtrack Julius Wecther] at [[IMDb]]</ref> It was one of two Alpert songs in a 1966 animated cartoon by [[John Hubley]], ''[[A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature]].''

The song was used by Mazda in TV commercials during the 1970's to advertise their GLC model, "Its a great little car"

The tune has been featured in four episodes of ''[[The Simpsons]]'': "[[The Otto Show]]" (with Homer singing the original lyrics), "[[Team Homer]]", "[[Natural Born Kissers]]", and "[[Sunday, Cruddy Sunday]]".

In the fingerprint scene in Rosewood's home in ''[[Beverly Hills Cop II]]'', [[Eddie Murphy]] (playing [[Axel Foley]]) and [[Judge Reinhold]] (playing Billy Rosewood) improvised the idea of humming the tune. When Taggart ([[John Ashton (actor)|John Ashton]]) asks what the tune is, Rosewood replies, "''The Dating Game''!".

In the 1996 film ''[[Striptease (film)|Striptease]]'', the song is played inside a laundromat while Erin Grant ([[Demi Moore]]) and her daughter Angela ([[Rumer Willis]]) take all the clothes out of the dryer machine.

In the 1997 film ''[[Perdita Durango]]'', the two main characters happily groove to the song while abducting two teenagers.

In an episode of ''[[The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer]]'', [[Vic Reeves]] plays the song through a prosthetic arm.

In the Philippine Noontime show ''[[It's Showtime (Philippine TV program)|It's Showtime]]'' on [[ABS-CBN]], this song was constantly played for taking a picture of a person's face with a frame called "Face Dance".  Soon after the "Face Dance" game became a regular staple on the network's out-of town shows.

In ''[[American Pie 2]]'', the band camp counselor plays the song on his trumpet, not knowing that the trumpet had just been inserted into [[Jason Biggs]]' character's anus.

In the 2000 film ''[[The Dish]]'', it plays at 12:03 before showing a ball preparation at the town hall.

The Nickelodeon TV series ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' uses the song in many episodes such as episode 4b season 1 “Apartnership”.

In an episode of ''[[Supernatural (U.S. TV series)|Supernatural]]'', the song is played when a pair of demons call Crowley (the King of Hell) from a hunter's trap.

In the 2013 film ''[[White House Down]]'', the ring-tone can be heard repetitively in the film on the character of [[Richard Jenkins]]' mobile cell phone.

The song has been heard on [[The Weather Channel|The Weather Channel's]] [[Local on the 8s]] time by time between 1999 and 2013.

In the 2019 film, ''[[Joker (2019 film)|Joker]]'', the song plays with the [[Indian-head test pattern]] when the broadcast of Live with Murray Franklin gets cut off after [[Joker (character)|the titular character]] shoots the titular host. In the DVD credits, the song is credited to ''[[Ray Davies (trumpeter)|Ray Davies]] and His Button Down Brass''.

In the 2023 HBO Miniseries "Love and Death" in the episode "Encounters." It was performed by the character Pat on his trumpet at the dinner table.

==Use in podcasts==
"Spanish Flea" acts as the opening and closing music to the ''[[Fangraphs]]'' audio podcast. The song is also used as the closing music for the soccer podcast ''Low Limit Futbol'', hosted by Joe Uccello and Roberto Rojas. It is used as background music for the ad-reads on the 'We Hate Movies' podcast. It is also used as the closing theme for Chris & Andi Porter's 'One Millionth Podcast', although it is sung by the siblings themselves - a different way every time. It also appears in the jingle that precedes the ‘Three by Three’ segment by [[John C. Dvorak]] during the “[[No Agenda]]” podcast.

==References==
((Reflist))

==External links==
*[http://www.juliuswechter.com/gallery/julius.php Juliuswechter.com]
*[http://www.tijuanabrass.com/ Tijuanabrass.com]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBE9EQ7gXKI Spanish Flea] [[Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass]]  - [[YouTube]]

((Authority control))

[[Category:1960s songs]]
[[Category:1965 singles]]
[[Category:Herb Alpert songs]]
[[Category:Songs about insects]]
[[Category:Songs about Spain]]
[[Category:A&M Records singles]]
[[Category:Pop instrumentals]]
[[Category:1960s instrumentals]]
[[Category:Year of song missing]]

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