iko iko

*happy fat tuesday*



Iko Iko is a popular song, covered by many artists. The song, with the original title "Jock-A-Mo," was written around 1950 by James Crawford in New Orleans, but has rapidly become subsumed into the folk song repertoire - so much so that many people are under the impression that the song is much older. It was written as a New Orleans Mardi Gras song about the black Indians.

The lyrics of the song are based on Cajun patois (a creole language derived from French, English, and a slight amount of African Slave dialect). The title "Iko Iko" may have been derived from one or more of the dialects of Gambia, possibly from the phrase "Ago!", meaning "listen!", or "attention!".

The song was popularised by The Dixie Cups in 1965 whose version was included in "The Big Easy" soundtrack, and has been covered by Buckwheat Zydeco, Cyndi Lauper, the Grateful Dead, Dr. John, and Warren Zevon, among others. Aaron Carter covered the song for "The Little Vampire" soundtrack, and The Belle Stars' cover was featured in the film Rain Man. A later version, by Zap Mama, featured in the opening sequences of the film Mission: Impossible II. Eurodance act Captain Jack re-popularized the tune in Germany in 2001.



Following is the "Iko Iko" story, as told by Dr. John in the liner notes to his 1972 album, "Gumbo," in which he covers New Orleans R&B classics:

"The song was written and recorded back in the early 1950s by a New Orleans singer named James Crawford who worked under the name of Sugar Boy & the Cane Cutters. It was recorded in the 1960s by the Dixie Cups for Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller's Red Bird label, but the format we're following here is Sugar Boy's original. Also in the group were Professor Longhair on piano, Jake Myles, Big Boy Myles, Irv Bannister on guitar, and Eugene 'Bones' Jones on drums. The group was also known as the Chipaka Shaweez. The song was originally called 'Jockamo,' and it has a lot of Creole patois in it. Jockamo means 'jester' in the old myth. It is Mardi Gras music, and the Shaweez was one of many Mardi Gras groups who dressed up in far out Indian costumes and came on as Indian tribes. The tribes used to hang out on Claiborne Avenue and used to get juiced up there getting ready to perform and 'second line' in their own special style during Mardi Gras. That's dead and gone because there's a freeway where those grounds used to be. The tribes were like social clubs who lived all year for Mardi Gras, getting their costumes together. Many of them were musicians, gamblers, hustlers and pimps."

Here's what the song's author, James Crawford, had to say in a 2002 interview with offBeat Magazine:

Interviewer: How did you construct 'Jock-A-Mo?'
Crawford: It came from two Indian chants that I put music to. 'Iko Iko' was like a victory chant that the Indians would shout. 'Jock-A-Mo' was a chant that was called when the Indians went into battle. I just put them together and made a song out of them.... Lloyd Price just added music to it and it became a hit. I was just trying to write a catchy song....
Interviewer: Listeners wonder what 'Jock-A-Mo' means. Some music scholars say it translates in Mardi Gras Indian lingo as 'Kiss my ass,' and I’ve read where some think Jock-A-Mo was a court jester. What does it mean?
Crawford: I really don't know. (laughs)