I must admit that I had never heard this before - but then Latin club music was not something that I paid much attention to during this time period. I was much more interested in what Chicago, the Eagles, Edgar Winter and Earth, Wind and Fire were doing.
However, in reading the description and listening to the song, I was intrigued - particularly to learn that it is considered the Latin equivalent of "Mack the Knife" which is a jazz standard that has always been high on my favorites list. It is clearly a storytelling song, but set to a salsa beat. I also like the frequent little quotations of West Side Story ("I like to live in Am-er-i-ca..") The increasing intensity of the music as the story progresses definitely gives it a sense of "going somewhere" and helps to maintain interest and build excitement to the end.
For the last 2.5 years I have been working in a congregation that is half Haitian and the other half Hispanic - with people from all over Central America and Cuba. The beat I hear in this song has become very familiar and I am even starting to pick up enough Spanish to be able to follow the bare outlines of the story. It makes me wish I had known about it earlier.
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