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"Banditos" is a song by American band The Refreshments from their album Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy. The song is the band's best-known hit.
| "Banditos" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Refreshments | ||||
| from the album Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy | ||||
| Released | 1995 | |||
| Genre | Pop punk, cowpunk,[1] post-grunge[2][3] | |||
| Length | 4:17 | |||
| Label | Mercury Records | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Roger Clyne and Paul "P.H." Naffah | |||
| The Refreshments singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
A music video was produced to accompany the single, in which the members of the band robbed a bank in Mexico and fled in lead singer Roger Clyne's Toyota Land Cruiser. They eventually give the police the slip through the use of a ridiculous disguise. The video was directed by David Dobkin.
Singer Roger Clyne said he came up with the idea for the song as a broke college student. He imagined making a run to Mexico and getting some money on the way by robbing a store like a Circle K. He wrote the song one morning over coffee with his friends laughing at him, and threw in a reference to Jean-Luc Picard because they were all Star Trek fans. "That was it. Just kind of the compassionate bandito. The guy who really wouldn't hurt a fly. You go to Mexico, you know, that's me," said Clyne.[4]
Clyne also said the choice of whether to release "Banditos" or "Blue Collar Suicide" as the lead single from Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy came down to a coin flip upstairs in the studio.[5]
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[6] | 56 |
| Canadian Alternative 30[7] | 13 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles[7] | 20 |
| US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[8] | 14 |
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