La Gota Fría (English: The Cold Sweat) is a 1938 Colombian Vallenato song, known and respected in Colombia and many other countries. It was composed by Emiliano Zuleta. It has been proposed as an unofficial Colombian anthem. The song emerged from a musical controversy with Lorenzo Morales. Many artists had covered the song include Carlos Vives, Grupo Niche, Ray Conniff, Gran Pachanga, Los Joao, La Sonora Dinamita, Julio Iglesias, Tulio Zuloaga, and Alfredo Gutiérrez.

The lyrics are based on an actual event, are narrated in the first person and deal with a past impromptu vallenato accordion competition between the narrator and his rival, Lorenzo Morales in the town of Urumita, gloating that the latter fled in anger the following morning. He explains that he (the narrator) is a more meticulous music writer, while Morales mostly freestyles. The narrator argues that Morales is an uneducated man and the competition devolves to mutual swearing and name-calling; he states that he is not above ultimately coming to blows with Morales, but that he is the better man and doesn't let himself get provoked. When the two are jamming together with the accordion, Morales is increasingly unable to keep up with the narrator and begins to get nervous, shedding cold sweat just like the title of the song; Morales ultimately makes a mistake and loses.

In 1994, Colombian vallenato performer Carlos Vives covered the song on his album, Clásicos de la Provincia. The song became a top-ten hit on the on Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart and peaked at number-six. The song received a Lo Nuestro award for "Tropical Song of the Year".

Before Clásicos de la Provincia, Vives was not considered a famous Colombian singer on the international stage. He began his career as a soap opera star in such telenovelas. Then tried his hand in a dual career as both television star and romantic balladeer. While he gained domestic attention through his first few albums in the late 1980s, his synthpop style did little to differentiate himself from other musical artists of the era. It took a few years for Vives to find inspiration out of the limelight in Bogotá and back to his roots in Santa Marta.

...
Wikipedia