The 1999 song that made Lou Bega an international one-hit wonder by reviving a 1949 mambo was “Mambo No. 5.”
The full title is “Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of…),” and it is built around a sampled section of “Mambo No. 5,” composed and recorded by Cuban musician Dámaso Pérez Prado in 1949. Lou Bega added new lyrics, vocals, and a pop arrangement to the instrumental foundation.
The single became a major hit across Europe and reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. Its list of women’s names and its punchy brass-led arrangement made it one of the most recognizable crossover pop songs of 1999.
The number five refers to Pérez Prado’s original composition, not to the number of women named in Bega’s lyrics. The song is therefore both a modern pop hit and a revival of an earlier mambo recording, rather than an entirely new composition.