Music Video #58 (Day 29 of 2008, Part 2...)

Yesterday's video was Mexican Radio. It may annoy Lita to know that I've heard this song several times now. I have never seen the video though, because I've only heard this song thanks to Activision Anthology for the PS2, which includes a number of 80s songs. Enjoy this Wall of Voodoo song for four minutes.


This song is about a radio, yet we see lots of tvs. They do have static on them most of the time, yet we don't see too many radios. Interesting.

We start with a static screen with the title on it. Suddenly, some spanish is heard while the lead singer cups his ear. We then see a television screen with static on it and some programs for bull fighting. Because it's Mexico, you see. We see several more bull fighting symbols while the band starts the song. Lead singer describes what it's like to listen to a Mexican Radio. He feels as if he's there with the hot weather and an older culture. He listens to Mexican programs and even buy the iffier products advertised on it. He swears he doesn't use them, which is good because I heard that they just make your heart beat erratically. Meanwhile the lead singer is either winking to the camera too much or he has a tic. The band has a Beatles all bowlcuts look. They are in a little room next to a rarely working tv with red mountains behind them. Lead singer mentions that he listens to the dj, but doesn't understand him.

The refrain starts and the singer says he's on a Mexican radio. When I used to listen to this while playing Activision Anthology, I though the song was about a guy stuck in Mexico being a DJ for a station despite not speaking the language. I have no idea why I assumed that. We get a close look up at the backup singer who reminds me of Vadinho from Puma Man. We get more scenes of bull fighting and we watch someone drive around in a busted car.

Now lead singer mentions a show he just tuned into. The hosts are talking about American economy, yet he doesn't understand too much. He says it's a riddle to him. (I used to think that after "No comprende" he would say something else in Spanish, like "Es no bueno" or something like that. The refrain starts again, and there it is! A guy wearing a sombrero! NOW it's Mexico! Phew, I was afraid they were going to wimp out and not show one. We see the band go on a trip and they look a lot less Beatles like. Meanwhile all through the video we see some kind of devil dog statue.

Then we get the most silly line in the video when the third verse starts. The singer wants to go to Tijuana to eat barbecued iguana. I just used wiki to see if iguanas were mentioned but the search turned up nothing. I guess there aren't too many rhymes for Tijuana. See, if I had a band and I wrote a song just so I could go on vacation, I would pick a better country, but I guess these guys were working their way up. Lead singer would get a job taking requests. He again imagines what it would be like to be in Mexico while he still has problems understanding the DJ. Let's chip in and buy him Rosetta Stone.

The refrain plays several times at this poin. As the song winds down see a woman show off a recipe for something. Beans or something? We suddenly see the director and the film crew of the video. Then one of the band members has his face come out of the woman's recipe, which looks more like a cereal. You, the reader, will have to tell me what it is. I'm no food expert. A iguana crawls over the mask of the devil dog and the video ends.


I love this song, but I loved most of the songs on the above-mentioned game. The video is ok and compliments the song despite it's emphasis on television but the song is the star.

The awesome thing about this video is the iguana line. Come on, what else could it be? It's so surreal you have to love it.