Iko Iko

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"Iko Iko" is a much-covered New Orleans song that tells of a parade collision between two "tribes" of Mardi Gras Indians. The lyrics are derived from Indian chants and popular catchphrases. The song, under the original title "Jock-A-Mo", was written in 1953 by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford in New Orleans, but has spread so widely that to popular belief, it is commonly assumed to be a much older folk song.

The story tells of a "spy boy" or "spy dog" i.e. a lookout for one band of Indians encountering the "flag boy" or guidon carrier for another band. He threatens to set the flag on fire.

The lyrics of the song have been the subject of much conjecture, though no conclusive evidence exists that can support a claim of an African or Native American language origin. Similarly, while the lyrics of the song are believed to be based on Louisiana Creole French language, no authoritative translation of the song's words has ever been offered. The song's origin is traced to the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians, who were the source of the original lyrics and subject matter of a song composed in 1953 by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford called "Jock-a-mo." Crawford set phrases shouted by Mardi Gras Indians to music for the song. Crawford himself states that he has no idea what the words mean, and that he originally sang the phrase "Chock-a-mo," but the title was misheard by Chess & Checkers Records President Lloyd Price, who misspelled it as "Jock-a-mo" for the record's release. ^[1]

"Jock-a-mo" was the original version of the song "Iko Iko" recorded by The Dixie Cups in 1965. Their version came about by accident. They were in a New York City studio for a recording session when they began an impromptu version of "Iko Iko," accompanied only by drumsticks on a coke bottle [Barbara Hawkins: "We were just clowning around with it during a session using drumsticks on ashtrays. We didn't realize that Jerry and Mike had the tapes running". ]. The tape happened to be running and session producers Leiber and Stoller added bass and drums and released it.^[2]

Contents 1 Recording history 2 Dr. John's story 3 "Sugar Boy" Crawford's story 4 Additional pop culture usage 5 References

[edit] Recording history

The Dixie Cups, who had heard it sung by their grandmother, knew little about the origin of the song and so the original authorship credit went to the members, Barbara Ann Hawkins, her sister Rosa Lee Hawkins, and their cousin Joan Marie Johnson.

After the Dixie Cups version of the "Iko Iko" was released in 1965, The Dixie Cups and their record label, Redbird Records, were sued by James Crawford, who claimed that "Iko Iko" was the same as his composition "Jockamo".^[3] Although The Dixie Cups denied that the two compositions were similar, the lawsuit resulted in a settlement in 1967 with Crawford making no claim to authorship or ownership of "Iko Iko" ^[4], but being credited 25% for public performances, such as on radio, of "Iko Iko" in the United States.^[5] A back-to-back listening of the two recordings, however, clearly demonstrates that "Iko Iko" was based on Crawford's "Jock-a-mo." Crawford's rationale for the settlement was motivated by years of legal battles with no royalties. In the end, he stated, "I don’t even know if I really am getting my just dues. I just figure 50 percent of something is better than 100 of nothing."^[6] While anonymous Mardi Gras Indians can be said to be the originators of the songs key phrases and Crawford can be cited as the the composer of the actual song, the charming playfulness of the Dixie Cups' version is celebrated as the definitive and most popular version of the song.

In the 1990's, The Dixie Cups became aware that yet another group of people were claiming authorship of "Iko Iko"—their ex-manager Joe Jones and his family filed a copyright registration in 1991, alleging that they wrote the song in 1963.^[7] Joe Jones successfully licensed "Iko Iko" outside of North America, including for the soundtrack of Mission Impossible 2 in 2000.^[8] The Dixie Cups filed a lawsuit against Joe Jones, and there was eventually a jury trial in New Orleans, where they were represented by well known music attorney Oren Warshavsky in front of Senior Federal Judge Peter Beer.^[9] The jury returned a unanimous verdict on March 6, 2002, affirming that The Dixie Cups were the only writers of "Iko Iko" and granting them more money than they were seeking.^[9] The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the jury verdict and sanctioned Joe Jones.^[10]

The song is regularly performed by various artists from New Orleans such as the Neville Brothers (who have recorded it in a medley with the melodically-related Mardi Gras song "Brother John" as "Brother John/Iko Iko"), Larry Williams, Dr. John, The Radiators, Willy DeVille, Buckwheat Zydeco and Zachary Richard, and can often be heard on the streets and in the bars of New Orleans, especially during Mardi Gras.

It has also been covered by Cyndi Lauper, the Grateful Dead (who made Iko Iko a constant staple in their live shows from 1977 onward), Cowboy Mouth, Warren Zevon, Long John Baldry, Dave Matthews & Friends, The Ordinary Boys, Glass Candy, and Sharon, Lois & Bram 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, with rewritten lyrics, was featured in the opening sequences of the film Mission: Impossible II. Eurodance act Captain Jack re-popularized the tune in Germany in 2001.

An early cover version was by Rolf Harris in 1965 with slightly altered words, removing references to "flag boys" and other regionally specific lyrics, although much of the creole patois remained as a sort of nonsense scat. This version made the song popular in England and Australia in the 1960s.

The song proved most successful on the UK charts by singer Natasha England who took it into the top 10 in 1982. Her version, released the same week as The Belle Stars, charted higher and significantly outsold their rival version. The Belle Stars version would be released in the United States in 1988, where it would peak at 14 in March 1989. This recording was produced by Tom Newman ("Tubular Bells").

[edit] Dr. John's story

Following is the "Iko Iko" story, as told by Dr. John in the liner notes to his 1972 album, Dr. John's 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 Records, 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."

[edit] "Sugar Boy" Crawford's story

Here's what the song's author, James "Sugar Boy" Crawford, had to say in a 2002 interview with "OffBeat Magazine":^[11]

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. Really it was just like “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” That was a phrase everybody in New Orleans used. 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)

The reference to a court jester possibly relates to the 1956 film "The Court Jester,"in which the humble Hawkins, (Danny Kaye) impersonates the great "Giacomo" (pronounced jock-a-mo), the king of jesters and jester to the king.

[edit] Additional pop culture usage

• The Grateful Dead covered this song as early as May 1977.^[12]

• The Dixie Cups version, arranged and produced by Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry, was included on the soundtrack, to the 1987 film "The Big Easy."

• A version of "Iko Iko" performed by The Belle Stars appeared in the opening scene of the 1988 film "Rain Man" starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. Frequently, this version is incorrectly attributed to the Indigo Girls.

• An a cappella version of the song was performed by Britta Phillips, Julia Roberts, Justine Bateman, and Trini Alvarado in the 1988 film "Satisfaction".

• The song was performed by Amy Holland for the 1989 Universal Studios film "K-9", starring Jim Belushi, Mel Harris and the Police Dog Koton.

• A modified verse of "Iko Iko" was worked into a Delinquent Habits track, "It's the Delinquentes" featuring Sen Dog, from the 1998 album Here Come the Horns.

• A version performed by Zap Mama appears in the opening scene of the 2000 film "Mission: Impossible II" starring Tom Cruise.

• "Iko Iko" was performed by Aaron Carter on his 2000 album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It). His version features a pop tempo with young boy vocals.

• The Dixie Cups version was also used on the soundtrack of the 2005 movie "The Skeleton Key", which starred Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands and John Hurt.

• The song was performed by Dr. John during halftime of the 2008 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans.

• In New Zealand, there are two shops, in Auckland and in Wellington, called "Iko Iko".

• It's performed by Donald Duck during "Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade" at Disney's Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

• Abita Brewing Company produces a beer called "Jockamo IPA", a wordplay on the lyric "Jockamo feen-an-ay".^[13]

• "Iko Iko" appears on the Diplo and Santogold mixtape "Top Ranking" released in 2008.

• Rickie Lee Jones has performed the song in concerts.

• Recorded by The Neville Brothers as "Brother John/Iko Iko." It appears on the album Fiyo on the Bayou, which was released in 1981 on A&M Records.

• The Todd Phillips movie "The Hangover" pays homage to its usage in "Rain Man". The song plays over a scene where the men attempt to win large sums of money at blackjack, by counting cards. The plan is inspired by the earlier film.

[edit] References

• Origins of the song "Iko Iko" - AMG website