"Marcia Baïla" is a 1985 song recorded by the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 duet Rita Mitsouko. It was the third single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 off their first album, the eponymous

Eponym

An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...

 Rita Mitsouko

Rita Mitsouko (album)

Rita Mitsouko is the self titled début album by Les Rita Mitsouko. At the time of release the group was simply called Rita Mitsouko. Catherine Ringer and Fred Chichin decided to add 'Les' to 'Rita Mitsouko' at this point to avoid mistakenly identifying the band only as Catherine's.-Track listing:#...

, and was released in April of that year. Dedicated to a dancer with the band who died in 1981, this song was a big hit both in France and abroad and can be considered as being the band's signature song.

Background and writing

The song was composed by both members of the group, Catherine Ringer

Catherine Ringer

Catherine Ringer is a French singer, musician, songwriter, dancer, choreographer, and actress.Ringer started her professional career on stage in the late 1970s in productions with Michael Lonsdale's Théâtre de Recherche Musicale as well as musical and dance productions...

 and Fred Chichin

Fred Chichin

Frédéric "Fred" Chichin was a French musician and songwriter. He was born in Clichy, France.He was the lead member of the band Les Rita Mitsouko, along with Catherine Ringer, whom he met in 1979...

. It is a tribute to Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 dancer and choreographer Marcia Moretto

Marcia Moretto

Marcia Moretto, born in 1949 and died in 1981 in Paris, was an Argentine dancer, choreographer and director.She worked with Armando Llamas and also taught dance at Sartrouville in the 1970s. Her students included Catherine Ringer and Frédéric Chichin, the duo of Rita Mitsouko...

, who participated in the band's tours before her death from breast cancer

Breast cancer

Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...

 in 1981 at the age of 32. With this song, the group enjoyed extensive media coverage; indeed, "the music video for the single [was] a success which result[ed] in repeated and enthusiastic broadcastings on the television, the extravagance of the group express[ing] itself as well in concerts as during its cathodic performances." Philippe Gautier directed the vibrant and widely-viewed music video that accompanies the song. Despite its Spanish title, the lyrics are in French.

Chart performance

In France, the song had a long chart trajectory, remaining on the Top 50 charts for 29 weeks. It debuted at #33 on April 27, 1985, and climbed regularly until it peaked at #2 for three consecutive weeks. In all, it spent 17 weeks in the Top Ten.
"Marcia Baïla" is currently the 187th best-selling single of all time in France, with about 800,000 units sold. The song was Rita Mitsouko's first big hit and propelled them to considerable fame.

In the media and cover versions

The song can be heard in several fims, including The Witnesses

The Witnesses

The Witnesses is a 2007 French drama film directed by André Téchiné, starring Michel Blanc, Sami Bouajila, Emmanuelle Béart and Johan Libéreau. The film is set in Paris in 1984, the lives of a closely knit group of friends is disrupted with the sudden outbreak of AIDS epidemic. They are witnesses...

(produced by André Téchiné

André Téchiné

André Téchiné , is a French screenwriter and film director. He has had a long and distinguished career that places him among the best post-New Wave French film directors....

, 2007), La Tête de maman (Carine Tardieu, 2007), Le Pornographe (Bertrand Bonello

Bertrand Bonello

Bertrand Bonello is a French film director. His background is in classical music, and he lives between Paris and Montreal.Le Pornographe won the FIPRESCI prize at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...

, 2001), Belle Maman (Gabriel Aghion

Gabriel Aghion

-Biography:He was born in Alexandria, in Egypt on 30 December 1955.-Filmography:* La Scarlatine * Bras de Fer * Rue du Bac * Pédale douce -Biography:He was born in Alexandria, in Egypt on 30 December 1955.-Filmography:* La Scarlatine (1983)* Bras de Fer (1985)* Rue du Bac (1990)* Pédale douce...

, 1999) and Sans toit ni loi

Vagabond (film)

Vagabond is a 1985 drama film directed by Agnès Varda, featuring Sandrine Bonnaire. It describes the story of a young woman, a vagabond, who wanders through French wine country one winter. The film was the 36th highest grossing film of the year with a total of 1,080,143 admissions in France....

(Agnès Varda

Agnès Varda

Agnès Varda is a French film director and professor at the European Graduate School. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style....

, 1985).

In 1997, the song was covered in Spanish by Los Del Sol. Gloria Lasso

Gloria Lasso

Gloria Lasso was a Spanish-born singer, long based in France. In the fifties, she was one of the major competitors to Dalida....

 covered the song under the title "Baïlando con Marcia". In 1998, Ricky Martin

Ricky Martin

Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...

 covered the song on his album Vuelve, on which it features as the 11th track. Christer Björkman also made a version of the song, released as a single in 2002.

Track listings

7" single

1. "Marcia Baïla" — 4:30
2. "Jalousie" — 3:40

12" maxi

1. "Marcia Baïla" — 5:34
2. "Jalousie" — 3:40
3. "Marcia Baïla" (instrumental) — 6:15

U.K. 12" single

1. "Marcia Baïla (Extended Version)"
2. "Marcia Baïla (Extended French Version)"
3. "Marcia Baïla (7" English Version)"

U.S. Sire Records

Sire Records

Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...

 12" maxi

1. "Marcia Baïla (English Version)"
2. "Marcia Baïla (French Version)"
3. "Jalousie"
4. "Marcia Baïla (Single Version)"
5. "Marcia Baïla (Instrumental)"

Canada 12" maxi

1. "Marcia Baïla (Extended Version)" — 7:21
2. "Andy (7" French Version)" — 4:15
3. "Marcia Baïla (Extended French Version)" — 5:10
4. "Andy (Extended French Version)" — 5:15

Certifications and sales

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified	Physical sales
France	Gold	1985	500,000	799,000

Charts

Chart (1985)	Peak position
Eurochart Hot 100	13
French SNEP Singles Chart	2
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...	27