Las Ketchup’s The Ketchup Song was everywhere in the early 00s. Everywhere. Released in 2002, the catchy song soon became the new Macarena, dominating radios worldwide, and clubs all over Malta. Millions of people broke into song as soon as that catchy Asereje chorus kicked in, but many thought it was some Spanish gibberish. Well, it turns out there’s actually a meaning behind it all.

A BuzzFeed story shared this week brought to light a Twitter thread by user @Kueaff, who spilled the beans on the meaning behind that string of heys and has. 

So long story short, the song is about a guy named Diego, who was clearly high on something (Kueaff actually calls him “muy muy drogado”). The lyrics in the first verse say, “with the moon in his pupils, and leftover contraband on his blue suit”. Yeah, you do the math.

As soon as Diego gets to a packed club, he asks his DJ-friend to play his favourite song at midnight. 

So what is Diego’s favourite tune? 

Well, it’s Rapper’s Delight by The Sugarhill Gang, but Diego couldn’t really remember the name. So instead, he tries to sing the American hit in his drugged-up state. The result? Well, you all know the result. We all knew it all along.

So there you have it folks; whenever you were in the middle of Footloose, or Havana, or literally anywhere else in Malta, in the early 00s, and wanted to sing along to Las Ketchup’s big hit but couldn’t remember the lyrics, there was a very simple solution.

Just remember the famous lyrics of Rapper’s Delight, and turn them into a Spanglish slurry singalong, just like you’re Diego back in 2002.

Tag someone who definitely remembers The Ketchup Song!

READ NEXT: These Scenes From Malta In The 90s Are The Ultimate Throwback Thursday

David Grech Urpani

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).