Song · Vampire Weekend
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Vampire Weekend
From the EP Vampire Weekend (2007)
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Vampire Weekend appears on 13 radio countdowns from 7 stations between 2008 and 2025. It was first released in 2007 on the EP Vampire Weekend. Its best result is #10 on the WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #435 alternative song of 2008.
Watch
Video from YouTube (XL Recordings). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" first surfaced on Vampire Weekend's self-titled 2007 EP, then went out on XL Recordings as a single on 18 August 2008, the band's fourth, following "Oxford Comma". Ezra Koenig wrote the lyrics, and the title came from a short story he'd written after a 2005 trip through London on the way to India got him chewing on colonialism and the odd overlap between preppy style and the cultures of Africa and India. Kwassa kwassa itself is a dance from Congo.
Rostam produced it and shared engineering and mixing with Jeff Curtin and Shane Stoneback, and it comes out as pure indie-pop sunshine, all skipping guitars and sly grins. Rolling Stone ranked it the 67th best song of 2008. Richard Ayoade directed the 1980s-set video at a shore house in Spring Lake, New Jersey, the first time the band played characters on screen.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 11 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2008 | 100 |
| 2008 | 58 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2008 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 10 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2009 | 18 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2010 | 467 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) | 885 |
| 2013 | 44 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2019 | 599 | KEXP | KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time | 627 |
| 2022 | 612 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2023 | 147 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Songs About Places | 800 |
| 2024 | 214 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 569 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2025 | 740 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
| 2025 | 160 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
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