If there are two things I know to be unequivocally true about the Irish as a people, they would be (1) that they are incredibly proud of their heritage and enjoy celebrating it every year on St. Patrick’s Day, and (2) that they, to a person, love to mambo. LOVE IT. Just can’t get enough. Why, one time I lived in an apartment below a freshly immigrated older couple from Ireland, and they kept me up all night long with their fiery Latin dancing. “WILL YOU IRISH BASTARDS KNOCK IT OFF WITH THAT INCESSANT MAMBOING?!” I would scream toward the ceiling as I tossed and turned in bed at 3 a.m. “SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP.” But, alas, my cries fell on deaf ears, and they would keep going until the sun came up. Mambo is just in their blood, I guess.
And so, it makes perfect sense that noted chintzy kazoo purveyors Party City would use Lou Bega’s “Mambo #5” to advertise their St. Patrick’s Day costumes and decorations. What a fitting and accurate tribute! I mean, they even put one guy in there who was wearing a cowboy hat with a shamrock on it, because nothing says “Irish heritage” quite like a tipsy doofus in a cowboy hat swaying back and forth to a song about a popular dance that originated in Cuba. Erin go Bragh, everybody.
(Via Commercial Society)
