Wall Of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

title : Mexican Radio
artist : Wall Of Voodoo
year charted : 1983
chart : #58 Billboard Hot 100
album : Call Of The West (1982)

the band in brief :
Wall Of Voodoo was a Los Angeles New Wave band active. Mexican Radio is their only (minor) hit in the US

about the song :
i was watching Seinfeld Season 9 Episode : The Reverse Peephole, when i was reminded of this song by Kramer. He was humming the tune as he was fixing the peephole on his door.
The song gained notoriety for its line sung and written by lead vocalist Stan Ridgway , "I wish I was in Tijuana / eating barbecued iguana."
A video on MTV in 1982-83 helped as well
vocalist Stan Ridgway and guitarist Marc Moreland traced the inspiration for the song to listening to high-wattage unregulated AM Mexican radio stations (among them XERF, XEG, and XERB) which, starting circa the 1930s, were received practically around the globe

The occasional interjections in Spanish in the song were recorded off a real Mexican radio station
The 7" single version differs slightly from the album cut, most notably in the way Ridgway's vocals are mixed, and in the addition of a louder bass drum part in the song's chorus. The single mix is sometimes called the oleo mix, because Ridgway chants "radio, radio, oleo, radio" at the song's end, rather than "radio, radio, radio, radio" as he does on the album version.

lyrics :
I feel a hot wind on my shoulder
And the touch of a world that is older
I turn the switch and check the number
I leave it on when in bed I slumber
I hear the rhythms of the music
I buy the product and never use it
I hear the talking of the DJ
Can't understand just what does he say?

I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican - whoah - radio

I dial it in and tune the station
They talk about the U.S. inflation
I understand just a little
No comprende, it's a riddle

I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio
I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio

I wish I was in Tijuana
Eating barbequed iguana
I'd take requests on the telephone
I'm on a wavelength far from home
I feel a hot wind on my shoulder
I dial it in from south of the border
I hear the talking of the DJ
Can't understand just what does he say?

I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio
I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio

Radio radio... Radio radio... Radio radio...
I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio
I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio
Radio radio... What does he say ?