Magazine 60 ~ Don Quichotte 1984 Disco Purrfection Version

The enigmatic lyrics of this synth driven dance tune lend it a literary air with its casual referencing to Miguel de Cervantes classic tale of "Don Quixote". The song opens with an Englishman mispronouncing the name and trying to reach a "Don Key Shot" by calling an increasingly alarmed woman who tells him in Spanish that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are not there. I listened to the lyrics and found that they are actually saying "Sancho Pantha" and "Don Quixote" although the printed title is "Don Quichotte" which is pronounced the same way, I'm guessing to avoid copyrights. The English translation of the lyrics go like "Today they are still fighting" and "dance little donkey, dance" (donkey?) are fanciful images that again reinforce the Cervantes story where Quixote is presented as a delusional character who sees himself as a knight on a crusade against evil and inducts his neighbor Sancho Panza into his virtual reality. Magazine 60 was put together by French music producer Jean-Luc Drion who along with recruits Dominique Régiacorte, Pierre Mastro and Véronique Olivier committed this unusually catchy tune to vinyl. The band started off in 1981 being signed to Barclay Records, releasing an eponymously named EP that went gold in France, producing two music videos to support it. A follow up release was their first LP called "60's Slows" which was a Stars on 45 type megamix that included "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", "Without You", "Blueberry Hill" and other 60's ballads tied together with the chorus of "60's are back again". Hungering for more, Drion embrace the synthesized sounds of the 80's creating "Don Quichotte" as a European single in 1984, and then including the tune on their subsequent LP "Costa Del Sol" in 1985. The tune hit the Hot 100 in May of 1986 peaking at #56, but went to #16 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Disco Chart earlier that same year. The album release was held back in the US and not made available domestically until 1987 which was too late and the band lost momentum, never again to make the listings. An interesting side note comes from the Spanish lyrics of "Baila, borriquito. Baila, borriquito oh oh" which have been widely misinterpreted as "Vaya pour Equis Dos" some said meant "Lets go for a beer (Dos Equis). Fun, but they could not have been more wrong. I thought the same thing for years until I found the Spanish lyrics were saying "Dance little donkey, dance" something that Quixote might have seen in his imaginary world. Now, I have to get and read the story of Cervantes "Don Quixote", made even more famous as a film named "The Man Of La Mancha". Wow, pop music putting you in touch with classic literature. PS I just picked up my copy of Don Quixote, its a big book but Cervantes starts if off with a preface and immediately addressed me as "idle reader". I'm hooked.