More than any other song, La Paloma has been reinterpreted, rearranged, reprinted and replayed again and again. We’re not just talking about cover versions, from its start La Paloma has been adapted to the tastes of most differing cultural circles. The melody is as much an ear worm for us as for the Japanese.

The ardent worldwide love for this song is as broad as the list of its singers: from Richard Tauber and Luciano Pavarotti to Humphrey Bogart, Bing Crosby and Caterina Valente – every one of them, really every single one, has sung, whistled, or hummed La Paloma. Elvis and Freddy conquered the hit parade with their versions. The song attracts superlatives: in Hamburg a few years ago over 80,000 people joined in singing of La Paloma and won a mention in the Guiness Book of Records, while readers of Germany’s largest newspaper (Bild) voted La Paloma “Song of the Century”.
The book tells the astonishing history of this song that has been breaking records around the world for 150 years.

“From the first to last minute, reading and listening is great fun and stills your sense of adventure until your next trip to far and near horizons.” (Tatjana Zilg, Aviva Berlin)

”a most amusing book.” (Carsten Beyer, Deutschland Radio Culture)