"We No Speak Americano" is a song by Australian band

Yolanda Be Cool Yolanda Be Cool are an Australian music duo made up of Andrew Stanley and Matthew Handley. Biography In 2010, they collaborated with Australian producer DCUP (real name Duncan MacLennan) to release an international single " We No Speak American ...

and producer

DCUP Duncan MacLennan (born 13 March 1985), better known by his stage name DCUP (pronounced "D-cup"), is an Australian record producer, DJ and remixer. He is best known for his collaboration with fellow Australian band Yolanda Be Cool on their inte ...

. It was released on the independent Australian label Sweat It Out on 27 February 2010. The song samples the 1956 Italian song " Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano" in the

Neapolitan language , altname = , states = Italy , region = Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Marche, Molise , ethnicity = ''Mezzogiorno'' Ethnic Italians , speakers = 5.7 million , date ...

Renato Carosone Renato Carosone (; born Renato Carusone; 3 January 1920 – 20 May 2001) was an Italian musician. He was a prominent figure of the Italian music scene in the second half of the 20th century. He was also a modern performer of the so-called ' ...

, written by Carosone and

Nicola Salerno Nicola Salerno, also known as Nisa (11 March 1910 – 22 May 1969) was an Italian lyricist. He formed a famous songwriting duo with Renato Carosone. Career Nicola Salerno was born in Naples, Italy. His first hit was "Eulalia Torricelli" of ...

. "We No Speak Americano" became a hit in Europe, Australia, and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

(where the song is also known as ''Pa-Panamericano'') as well as a top 40 hit in the U.S. and Canada. It also won the 2010 ARIA award for "Best Dance Release." The song had sold over 1 million digital copies in the United States The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 2011 films ''

The Inbetweeners Movie ''The Inbetweeners Movie'', known simply as ''The Inbetweeners'' in North America, is a 2011 British coming-of-age teen adventure comedy film based on the E4 sitcom ''The Inbetweeners'', written by series creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris ...

'' and '' Hop'', the 2012 film '' Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted'', the 2013 film ''

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'' and the 2018 film ''

Peter Rabbit Peter Rabbit is a fictional animal character in various children's stories by English author Beatrix Potter. A mischievous, adventurous young rabbit who wears a blue jacket, he first appeared in ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in 1902, and subs ...

''. It also featured in Episode 2 of the 2011 Korean drama adaptation ''

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'' and on the

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

'' Zumba Fitness 2'' and '' Just Dance 4''. "We No Speak Americano" was later sampled by Cuban American rapper

Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...

for his Spanish-language tune "

Bon, Bon "Bon, Bon" is a song by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull from his fifth studio album, '' Armando''. It was released as the album's third official single on August 27, 2010. It heavily uses portions of the song " We No Speak Americano" by Yolanda Be ...

", crediting Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP as producers of his song. American gymnast

Gabby Douglas Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all around champion and the 2015 World all-around silver medalist. She was a member of the gold-winning teams at both the 20 ...

used the song in her gold medal-winning final floor routine at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Composition

The song is performed in the key of

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes n ...

with a tempo of 125 beats per minute in cut () time. The vocals in the song span from A₄ to E₅.

Music video

The official

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for the song, directed by Andy Hylton is a take on classic

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

comedies and features a

Chaplinesque ''White Buildings'' was the first collection (1926) of poetry by Hart Crane, an American modernist poet, critical to both lyrical and language poetic traditions. The book features well-known pieces like "For the Marriage of Faustus and Helen," t ...

Italian protagonist during 1910s

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, in a bid to raise some quick cash to propose to the young woman that he met earlier in the video. This music video appeared in an episode of ''

Beavis and Butthead ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, an ...

''.

Cover versions

The Chipettes The Chipettes are a group of three female anthropomorphic chipmunk singers: Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor who first appeared on the cartoon series ''Alvin and the Chipmunks'' in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as fem ...

covered this song for the '' Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked: Music from the Motion Picture'' album and in '' Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked''. This version is mashed with

Miami Sound Machine Miami Sound Machine was an American band of Latin-influenced music that had featured the vocals of Cuban-born recording artist Gloria Estefan (née Fajardo). Established in 1975 by Emilio Estefan Jr., the band was originally known as the Miami ...

's "

Conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...

". * For the video game '' Just Dance 4'', a cover by in-house artists was produced. Said artists are credited as "Hit the Electro Beat". The same name was later used for the cover of "

Blue (Da Ba Dee) "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" is a song by Italian music group Eiffel 65. It was first released in October 1998 in Italy by Skooby Records and became internationally successful the following year. It is the lead single of their 1999 debut album, ''Europop' ...

" in '' Just Dance 2018'', then of "

Mi Mi Mi "Mi Mi Mi" is a song by Russian girl group Serebro from their third studio album '' Sila tryokh''. It was released on 14 June 2013 in Russia as a digital download, while an accompanying music video premiered on 10 June 2013. Although not a commerc ...

" in ''

Just Dance 2019 ''Just Dance 2019'' is a 2018 dance rhythm game developed and published by Ubisoft. It was unveiled on June 11, 2018, during its E3 press conference as the tenth main installment of the series, and was released on October 23, 2018 on Nintendo ...

''.

Credits and personnel

*Lead vocals – Renato Carosone *Lyrics – Johnson Peterson, Sylvester Martinez, Duncan Maclennan,

*Producer – Johnson Peterson, Sylvester Martinez, Duncan Maclennan *Mastering engineer – Robin Petras (PureFocus Mastering)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other versions

Marco Calliari version

In the United Kingdom, a cover version sung by Quebec-born Italian singer-songwriter

Marco Calliari Marco Calliari is a singer-songwriter born in Quebec from Italian parents. He began his career in 1989 in forming the thrash metal group Anonymus alongside Carlos Araya and brothers Daniel and Oscar Souto. Since 2003, he pursued a solo career ...

entered and peaked at number 26 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Russian Parody

In Russia, a parody version of the track appeared in the summer 2010, with vocals in Russian by the band Трикотаж (Knit-Wear) featuring Dj Solovey. This version was entitled Подзаебало (Sick of it), with the lyrics па-падзаебало mirroring pa-parle americano of the original. The new lyrics make references to the record heat wave in Russia of summer 2010, ''The Twilight Saga'',

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

, and other current socio-cultural events.

"Por Panamericana" and "El Chocoano"

In Argentina, various parody versions of the song were made. Among them, one resulted in very successful hit, that would even be played at discos as a companion for the original song. The best-known version is called "Por Panamericana", and the voice recorded on the record tell a story about being stopped by the police at the

Panamerican Highway The Pan-American Highway (french: (Auto)route panaméricaine/transaméricaine; pt, Rodovia/Auto-estrada Pan-americana; es, Autopista/Carretera/Ruta Panamericana) is a network of roads stretching across the Americas and measuring about in to ...

for speeding. Los Cantores de Chipuco (Colombia) also made their own parody of this song, called "El Chocoano".

"Bi Bi pro Americano"

After

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

's speech to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

Noy Alooshe Noy Alooshe ( he, נוי אלוש; born 13 August 1979) is an Israeli journalist and musician. His family is of Tunisian-Jewish descent. Best known outside Israel for his Zenga Zenga spoof song on Muammar Gaddafi. He lives in Tel Aviv and is a m ...

spoofed it by using parts of the speech to the tune of "We No Speak Americano".

Hand dance video

In July 2010, Irish dancers Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding (who perform as the group Up and Over It) released a music video filmed by Jonny Reed. Using "We No Speak Americano" as background music, the video features Cleary and Harding performing an elaborately choreographed tabletop dance using only their hands and arms, and wearing deadpan expressions throughout the song. By July 2020 it had been watched 10.257.000 times.

"We No Speak Huttese"

A parody of the song titled "We No Speak Huttese" can be found in ''

Kinect Star Wars ''Kinect Star Wars'' is a '' Star Wars'' video game developed by Terminal Reality and published by LucasArts and Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 that uses the Kinect motion peripheral. The game features four game modes: "Jedi Destiny", the p ...

'' for the

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peripheral. It is featured in the Galactic Dance Off mini game. The vocals are replaced with

Jabba the Hutt Jabba Desilijic Tiure, more commonly known as Jabba the Hutt, is a fictional character and minor antagonist in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Created by George Lucas, Jabba is voiced by Larry Ward with several puppeteers inside a one-ton puppet po ...

's and the instrumentals are replaced with the

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band.

"Angry (We No Speak Americano)"

Korean idol group LPG covered the song in 2011.

References

External links