And it turns out it’s not Manolo Escobar’s

With 63 chestnuts that I already have and all my life believing that it was an original song by Manolo Escobar. The “¡Que viva España” is actually a Belgian song, written by Leo Caerts for Samantha to sing (stage name, her real name was Christiane Bervoets). For those who are suspicious of the link because it is from El País, it can be seen in the wikipedia and also in EnglishI was left flabbergasted!

It was released in 1971 and Manolo Escobar did not cover it until 1973, having previously been covered in French, German, Greek, Norwegian, Arabic, Danish and Finnish (the original is in Dutch).

This is the original

Nothing like authentic Spanish music from Belgium!