"Butse Kik" (also spelled as "Buchikik" or "Abuchikik" or "Butsikik"
) is a 1980 novelty song by
Yoyoy Villame
Roman Tesorio Villame (November 18, 1932 – May 18, 2007), better known as Yoyoy Villame, was a Filipino singer, composer, lyricist, actor and comedian.
Early life
A native of Calape, Bohol Province, Villame was the youngest of ten children ...
that is widely regarded as one of his hits in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, becoming a radio staple.
[Humor in his chromosomes]
Cora Lucas, ''Inquirer'', May 20, 2007 The song title was originally released by Yoyoy Villame in 1971 as "Vietcong Palagdas" performed by Villame with the Embees and the MB Rondalla Band through Kinampay Records.
The music and the concept itself is a parody of the song "Baby Cakes" by the American singer
Dee Dee Sharp
Dee Dee Sharp (born Dione LaRue; September 9, 1945, in Philadelphia) is an American R&B singer, who began her career recording as a backing vocalist in 1961.
Career
Although Sharp had been playing the piano from an early age and directed chur ...
, released in 1962. "Butse Kik" ("''buche cake''") is a play on the title "Baby Cakes". In Filipino cuisine,
"''butse''", "''buche''" "''butsi''" or "''buchi''" is a deep-fried pastry made of sticky rice flour with sweet red bean filling. The song consists of
gibberish nonsense
Nonsense is a communication, via speech, writing, or any other symbolic system, that lacks any coherent meaning. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous. Many poets, novelists and songwriters have u ...
lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...
that sound vaguely like
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
which the
Chinese community in
Cebu
Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...
took umbrage and demanded that it be removed from
jukebox
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to sele ...
es as the song's faux-Chinese lyrics were perceived to be racially insensitive, but according to Villame, a plan to bring the case to court failed because the complainants could not find a single Chinese word in the song.
References
1971 songs
1980 songs
Yoyoy Villame songs
Year of song missing
Song articles with missing songwriters
Novelty songs
Stereotypes of East Asians
Obscenity controversies in music
Musical parodies
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