Christmas Compendium Track 40:

Peak UK Chart Position:.#4 in December 1999.
Christmas Chart Position: #4.

A huge amount of Christmas number one contenders in 1999, going for the first week sales impact in particular, although Cliff Richard’s “The Millennium Prayer” was threatening to cling on for a fourth week (it didn’t). Thus, six new entries in the top ten, the Cuban Boys entering higher than the likes of Steps and S Club 7 with this Roger Miller-sampling track. They were favourites of Radio 1’s John Peel, and had previously managed to infiltrate his renowned ‘Festive Fifty’ countdown a year previous.

Quick facts:

• “Cognoscenti vs Intelligentsia” had first featured on the Internet, as part of “The Hampster Dance” song on the website of the same name.
• The track was built on a sample used from “Whistle Stop” by Roger Miller which was featured in the Disney movie “Robin Hood”.
• The Cuban Boys’ Ricardo Autobahn went on to team up with Daz Sampson (the UK’s Eurovision representative in 2006) on a 2002 remake of “Rhinestone Cowboy” credited to Rikki & Daz featuring Glen Campbell.
• It was Westlife who took the 1999 Christmas top spot, on the chart announced by Mark Goodier on this day in 1999, with the double-A side “I Have A Dream/Seasons In The Sun”.
• This performance was never actually broadcast on Top of the Pops – there was no weekly show between December 17th 1999 and January 7th 2000 – but it seems the Cuban Boys managed to get their own copy of it!