The Peanut Vendor

1930 song composed by Moisés Simons
"El manisero", known in English as "The Peanut Vendor", is a Cuban son pregón composed by Moisés Simons. It has been recorded more than 160 times, sold over a million copies of the sheet music, and was the first million selling 78 rpm single of Cuban music. In 1933, artist Len Lye created a short film by the same name.

The score and lyrics of "El manisero" were by Moises Simons (1889–1945), the Cuban son of a Spanish musician. It sold over a million copies of sheet music for E. B. Marks Inc., and this netted $100,000 in royalties for Simons by 1943. Its success led to a 'rumba craze' in the US and Europe which lasted through the 1940s. The consequences of the Peanut Vendor's success were quite far reaching. The number was first sung and recorded by the vedette Rita Montaner in 1927 or 1928 for Columbia Records. The biggest record sales for "El manisero" came from the recording made by Don Azpiazú and his Havana Casino Orchestra in New York in 1930 for RCA Victor. The band included a number of star musicians such as Julio Cueva (trumpet) and Mario Bauza (saxophone); Antonio Machín was the singer. The lyrics were in a style based on street vendors' cries, a pregón; and the rhythm was a son, so technically this was a son pregón. On the record label, however, it was called a "rumba fox trot", reflecting its Cuban origin and the rhythm that suits the fox trot dance. Thereafter, the term rhumba (the anglicized spelling of rumba) was used as a general label for Cuban music, as salsa is today, because the numerous Cuban terms were not understood abroad. Rhumba was easy to say and remember. On the published score both music and lyrics are attributed to Simons, though there is a persistent story that they were written by Gonzalo G. de Mello in Havana the night before Montaner was due to record it in New York. Cristóbal Díaz says "For various reasons, we have doubts about this version 'El manisero' was one of those rare cases in popular music where an author got immediate and substantial financial benefits logically Mello would have tried to reclaim his authorship of the lyrics, but that did not occur." The second attack on the authorship of the lyrics came from none other than the great Fernando Ortiz. For Ortiz, the true author was an unknown Havana peanut seller, of the second half of the 19th century, who served as the basis for a danza written by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Of course, it may be that elements of the song were to be found in real life. The English lyrics are by L. Wolfe Gilbert and Marion Sunshine; the latter was Azpiazú's sister in law, who toured with the band in the US as singer. The English lyrics are, in the opinion of Ned Sublette, of almost unsurpassed banality. "The Peanut Vendor" had a second life as a hit number when Stan Kenton recorded it with his big band for Capitol Records, in 1947. This was also a great and long lasting hit, re recorded by Kenton twice with the band, and played by him later in life as a piano solo. The Kenton version was entirely instrumental, with the rhythmic pattern emphasized by trombones.

The Peanut Vendor has been recorded more than 160 times. Several films included versions of "El Manisero". It appeared in The Cuban Love Song by MGM (1931), with Ernesto Lecuona as musical advisor; Groucho Marx whistled the tune in the film Duck Soup (1933); Cary Grant sang it alongside Jean Arthur in the film Only Angels Have Wings (1939); Jane Powell sang the song in Luxury Liner (1948); Judy Garland sang a fragment in the film A Star is Born (1954). The Peanut Vendor was used as the tune in an advertising campaign for Golden Wonder Peanuts in the 1960s and '70s. More recently, it was featured in the Carnaval scene of José Luis Cuerda's La lengua de las mariposas (Butterfly 1999), as well as in the reunion gala scene of David O. Russell’s Amsterdam (2022). The Peanut Vendor was played by Ska legend Tommy McCook and used in such classic reggae songs as "Top Ten" by Gregory Issacs. Cuban music—which has prominent African derived elements—was also very popular in Central and West Africa starting in Kinshasa in the 1930s and spreading throughout Africa. In the 1960s, famous Nigerian High Life musician Cardinal Rex Lawson used the tune from The Peanut Vendor in his hit song Sawale. Because of this song, the melody remains known to this day in Nigeria and was recently used by Nigerian musician Flavour N'abania in his song "Nwa Baby" (2011), including the remix.