Peron's Latest Flame Lyrics – Evita

Song Overview

This is the score’s sharpest gossip column set to music. On stage it replaced the concept album’s “Dangerous Jade,” tightening focus on class panic, military hypocrisy, and Eva’s refusal to be typecast. The Broadway recording lands like a cabaret trial - Che prosecuting, the aristocrats sneering, the soldiers sniggering, and Eva cutting through the noise.

Review and Highlights

Review

What makes the track sting is its cheerful cruelty. A can-can snap in the rhythm section meets pompous brass, and the chorus spits insults with nightclub precision while Che tosses barbs like confetti. The lyrics weaponize rhyme - “paid/laid,” “skies/eyes” - so the slander sounds catchy enough to spread. Eva’s brief replies arrive cool, almost clinical, which is why they read as power. I hear a press scrum where the melody smiles and the message cuts. On record, the balance lets you catch every jab; the lyrics do the crowd work and the orchestra provides the eye roll.

Highlights

• Satire with teeth: Che’s emcee energy keeps the room complicit even as the text indicts it.
• Class markers in sound: bright winds and parade snare for the officers, lusher strings when Eva steps forward - status painted in timbre.
• Stagecraft baked in: the number begs for choreographed sneers and “shooting sticks” turned into props.

Creation History

The slot began life as “Dangerous Jade” on the 1976 concept album; for the stage it was revised into “Perón’s Latest Flame,” with expanded material for Che. The 1979 Premiere American Recording was produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, tracked in Los Angeles in July 1979 and remixed in London in July–August 1979, released by MCA as MCA2-11007.

Film life: Antonio Banderas and Madonna recorded it for the 1996 soundtrack, where it sits just before “A New Argentina.” Later cast albums - including the 2012 Broadway revival with Ricky Martin - keep the piece as the show’s serrated satire.

Song Meaning and Annotations

The point is public shaming. Che corrals the ruling class and the officers’ mess into a chorus of moral panic while Eva refuses the script. It’s a mock press conference where the questions aren’t questions at all.

“The shooting sticks of the upper class…”

That prop - part walking stick, part camp chair - is shorthand for field-sports privilege. The image tells you who’s talking before the tune does.

“No, we wouldn’t mind seeing her at Harrods - but behind the jewelry counter, not in front.”

The dig is double edged: shopgirl, not shopper. It lands harder knowing Buenos Aires had an actual Harrods branch, open from 1912 until it finally shut in 1998.

“Officers’ mess.”

Rice plants military argot to frame the hypocrisy: private indulgence is fine; public visibility sets off alarms.

“Her only good parts are between her thighs… She should know that she’s not paid to be loud but to be laid.”

The lyric quotes misogyny without softening it. Social standing for a mistress equals silence; ambition equals scandal. The number shows Eva damned by both rules at once.

“The evidence suggests she has other interests - if it’s her who’s using him, he’s exceptionally dim.”

That’s the fear talking: a woman driving the story. The line flips the power map - and the orchestra leans into the unease.

“Dangerous jade.”

Once the stand-alone concept-album title, it survives here as a slur - a fossil from the earlier draft preserved in the Broadway rewrite.

“Miss Duarte…”

Che’s needling choice of address keeps Eva unmarried, unentitled, and therefore unworthy - in his mouth it’s both jab and red flag.

“Is that the extent of your interest in me? It shows how futile acting must be.”

Eva’s framing is cool: if the men only ask prurient questions, the stage has failed at telling the truth. She answers by taking control of the frame in the very next scenes.

“Graceless and vulgar, uninspired…”

And there’s class panic in four words. The aristocrats sing their own insecurity, and the song lets them indict themselves.

Style, rhythm, and staging

Think parade-tempo cabaret: strutting 2-verse cells, bright brass, wind flourishes, and chorus blocks designed for ironic, camera-ready poses. Directors often stage it with leering aristocrats and strutting brass - it can stop the show when the choreography joins the sarcasm.

Key Facts

• Artist: Original Broadway Cast of Evita (lead voices include Mandy Patinkin as Che and Patti LuPone as Eva)
• Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Lyricist: Tim Rice
• Producers: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice (Premiere American Recording)
• Release Date: 1979
• Album: Evita: Premiere American Recording, track 9
• Label: MCA Records - catalog MCA2-11007
• Length: ~7:03 on OBCR; 5:17 on the 1996 film soundtrack
• Genre: Musical theatre satire with cabaret and parade elements
• Instruments: brass section, woodwinds, pit percussion, strings, rhythm section
• Language: English
• Music style, poetic meter: patter-driven couplets over marchy 4/4; iambic push in chorus refrains
• © Copyrights: © 1979 MCA Records, Inc.

Questions and Answers

What’s the relationship between “Perón’s Latest Flame” and “Dangerous Jade”?

The Broadway number is a revision of the concept-album song “Dangerous Jade,” with added Che material and sharpened satire.

Who performs the song in the 1996 film?

Antonio Banderas and Madonna, on the official soundtrack and in the film sequence.

Did the Broadway album win major awards?

Yes - the production won seven Tony Awards in 1980, including Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the cast recording received the 1981 Grammy for Best Cast Show Album.

Why the Harrods name-drop?

To score a class jab. There was a real Harrods in Buenos Aires from 1912 to 1998, so the lyric lands as a very specific social dig.

Are there notable later recordings?

Beyond the 1979 OBCR and the 1996 film, the 2012 Broadway revival with Ricky Martin features a crisp modern cut.

Awards and Chart Positions

The song itself wasn’t a chart single, but its home production swept 1980 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Original Score; the Evita Premiere American Recording won the 1981 Grammy for Best Cast Show Album. The 1996 film soundtrack - featuring this number with Banderas and Madonna - became a global seller.

Additional Info

• Concept album footprint: “Dangerous Jade” appears on the 1976 set between “Another Suitcase…” and “A New Argentina,” making the Broadway swap especially noticeable.
• Stage business: productions often revive the original’s cheeky choreography to underline the mob mentality - when it clicks, the number turns into a darkly comic showstopper.
• Film sequencing: the soundtrack places “Perón’s Latest Flame” right before “A New Argentina,” preserving the pressure-cooker arc.