"Iko Iko" () is a
much-covered New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
song that tells of a parade collision between two tribes of
Mardi Gras Indians and the traditional confrontation. The song, under the original title "Jock-A-Mo", was written and released in 1953 as a single by
James "Sugar Boy" Crawford and his Cane Cutters but it failed to make the charts.
The song was first made popular in 1965 by the
girl group
A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...
the Dixie Cups, who scored an international hit with "Iko Iko". In 1967, as part of a lawsuit settlement between Crawford and the Dixie Cups, the trio were given part songwriting credit for the song. In 1972,
Dr. John had a minor hit with his version of "Iko Iko". In the UK, two competing versions of the song were released in 1982 - one by the all-female group
the Belle Stars and the other by Scottish singer
. While the Belle Stars' version peaked at 35 in the UK, Natasha's version reached the top 10. Cyndi Lauper
had also covered the song starting in 1986. However, the Belle Stars version later reached the US Top 20 after being included in the 1988 film ''
Rain Man''. "Iko Iko" became a European hit again in 2001 after being covered by the German dance act
Captain Jack. An adaptation by Papua New Guinea artist
Justin Wellington under the title "Iko Iko (My Bestie)" featuring the Solomon Island duo Small Jam became an international hit in 2021 after a successful
TikTok
TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
challenge.
Sugar Boy and his Cane Cutters version
Background
The song was originally recorded by and released as a single in November 1953 by
James Crawford as "Sugar Boy and his Cane Cutters", on
Checker Records
Checker Records is a defunct record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded T ...
(Checker 787). The single features Dave Lastie on
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...
. Crawford's version of the song did not make the charts. The story tells of a "spy boy" (i.e. a lookout for one band of Indians) encountering the "flag boy" or
guidon carrier for another "tribe". He threatens to "set the flag on fire". Crawford set phrases chanted 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 Records
Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock an ...
and
Checker Records
Checker Records is a defunct record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded T ...
president
Leonard Chess
Leonard Samuel Chess (born Lejzor Szmuel Czyż; March 12, 1917 – October 16, 1969) was a Polish-American record company executive and the founder of Chess Records alongside his brother Phil. He was influential in the development of the recor ...
, who misspelled it as "Jock-a-mo" for the record's release.
"Sugar Boy" Crawford's story
James Crawford gave a 2002 interview with
''OffBeat Magazine'' discussing the song's meaning:
The Dixie Cups version
Background
The Dixie Cups' version was the result of an unplanned jam in a New York City recording studio where they began an impromptu version of "Iko Iko", accompanying themselves with drumsticks on an aluminum chair, a studio ashtray and a Coke bottle.
After their producers cleaned up the track and added the backup vocals, bass and drums to the song, the single was then released in March 1965. The Dixie Cups scored an international hit single with "Iko Iko" in May 1965 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart where their version peaked at number 20 and spent 10 weeks on the Top 100. The song also charted at number 23 on the
UK Singles Chart and peaked at number 20 on the
R&B Chart
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...
. In Canada "Iko Iko" reached number 26 on the ''
RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines.
One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...
'' Chart. It was the third single taken from their debut studio album ''
Chapel of Love'' issued on
Red Bird Records in August 1964.
The Dixie Cups had learned "Iko, Iko" from hearing the Hawkins sisters' grandmother sing it,
but they 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.
The Dixie Cups' version was later included on the soundtrack to the 1987 film ''
The Big Easy''. This same version was also used on the soundtrack of the 2005 film ''
The Skeleton Key''. In 2009, a version based on the Dixie Cups' was used in an ad for
Lipton
Lipton is a brand named after its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton, Tom Lipton, who started an eponymous grocery retail business in the United Kingdom in 1871. The brand was used for various consumer goods sold in Lipton stores, including tea from 1 ...
Rainforest Alliance
The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with staff in more than 20 countries and operations in more than 70 countries. It was founded in 1987 by Daniel Katz, an American environmental activist, who serve ...
Iced Tea.
Legal battles
After the Dixie Cups version of "Iko Iko" was a hit in 1965, they and their record label,
Red Bird Records, were sued by James Crawford, who claimed that "Iko Iko" was the same as his composition "Jock-a-mo". 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", but being credited 25% for public performances, such as on radio, of "Iko Iko" in the United States. A comparison of the two recordings demonstrates the shared lyric and melody between the two songs, though the arrangements are different in tempo, instrumentation and harmony. 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 percent of nothing."
In the 1990s, the Dixie Cups became aware that 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. Joe Jones successfully licensed "Iko Iko" outside of North America. The Dixie Cups filed a lawsuit against Joe Jones. The trial took place in New Orleans and the Dixie Cups were represented by well-known music attorney Oren Warshavsky before Senior Federal Judge Peter Beer.
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.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the jury verdict and sanctioned Joe Jones.
Chart performance
Dr. John version
Background
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
singer and pianist
Dr. John covered "Iko Iko" in 1972 for his fifth studio album ''
Dr. John's Gumbo''. Released as a single in March 1972 on
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the com ...
, his version of the song charted at number 71 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It was produced by
Jerry Wexler
Gerald Wexler (January 10, 1917 – August 15, 2008) was a music journalist turned music producer, and was a major influence on American popular music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He coined the term "rhythm and blues", and was integra ...
and
Harold Battiste. The "Iko Iko" story is told by Dr. John in the liner notes to his 1972
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
, ''Dr. John's Gumbo'', in which he covers New Orleans
R&B classics:
Dr. John, playing himself, performs the song in the "movie" ''Polynesian Town'' on the May 22, 1981, episode of the Canadian comedy show
SCTV.
Dr. John performed the song during halftime of the 2008
NBA All-Star Game
The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is the annual all-star game hosted each February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's All-star, star players. Since 2022, it was held on the third Sunday of ...
in New Orleans and again in 2014.
Chart performance
Natasha version
Background
The most successful charting version in the UK was recorded by the Scottish singer
Natasha (full name Natasha England), whose version reached number 10 on the
UK singles chart in 1982.
Natasha's single was one of two competing versions of "Iko Iko" in the Official Singles Chart Top 40 of week ending 19 June 1982, a chart run-down which saw Natasha at number 24, eleven places higher than the version released by The Belle Stars on Stiff Records. The song also charted highly in Ireland, Israel and New Zealand. The single was produced by
Tom Newman. A remix of the single was released in 2007, and Natasha's version enjoyed a resurgence in 2014 when it was included on the soundtrack to the highest-grossing Italian film of 2014,
''A Boss in the Living Room'' (''Un Boss in Salotto'').
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
The Belle Stars version
Background
In 1982, the British all-female band
the Belle Stars had a minor UK chart hit with their cover of "Iko Iko", which reached number 35.
[Roberts, David (2006). ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 53. .] The track was produced by Brian Tench and was also featured on the band's eponymous debut album, ''
The Belle Stars'', which reached number 15 on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
.
The single was released almost simultaneously as the Natasha England version, which went on to be a Top 10 hit. However, after it was included on the soundtrack to the 1988 film ''
Rain Man'', starring
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...
and
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for Dustin Hoffman filmography, his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable charac ...
, the Belle Stars version was released in the US, hitting No. 14 and No. 16 on the
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...
and
Cash Box Top 100 charts, respectively. The single was issued on
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...
. Their version of the song is in the opening scene of the film.
The Belle Stars version was also included in the 1997 film ''
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, written for the soundtrack of the 1973 film '' Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid''. Released as a single two months after the film's premiere, it became a worldwide hit, ...
'' and ''
The Hangover
''The Hangover'' is a 2009 American comedy film directed by Todd Phillips, and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. It is the first installment in ''The Hangover'' trilogy. The film stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, H ...
'' in 2009.
Music video
A music video was used to promote the single. The music video features scenes from the ''Rain Man'' movie as well as Belle Stars lead singer Jennie McKeown wearing a black outfit with blue dangling treble clefs and bleach blond dreadlocks. Jennie is also accompanied by four dancing girls in colorful outfits and a dancing man trying to persuade a subdued man. The original music video uses the 1989 remix which samples
Woo! Yeah! from
Lyn Collins
Gloria Lavern Collins (June 12, 1948 – March 13, 2005), better known as Lyn Collins, was an American soul singer best known for working with James Brown in the 1970s and for the influential 1972 funk single, "Think (About It)".
A favorite ...
's
Think (About It)
"Think (About It)" is a funk song recorded by Lyn Collins and released as a single on James Brown's People Records in 1972. The recording was produced by Brown (who also wrote the song) and features instrumental backing from his band The J.B.' ...
. On the bridge, a line from the
Thunderbirds episode ''Ricochet'' is also heard on the remix.
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Captain Jack version
Background
German
Eurodance
Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of Hip-hop, rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use ...
act
Captain Jack recorded a cover version of "Iko Iko" for their fourth studio album, ''Top Secret'' in 2001. It was released on E-Park Records. The single was produced by Udo Niebergall and Eric Sneo. Captain Jack's version was a hit in several countries, reaching number 22 in Germany, number 62 in Switzerland and peaking at number 16 in Austria.
Chart performance
Justin Wellington version
Background
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
n singer
Justin Wellington recorded his version of "Iko Iko" in 2017, featuring
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...
group Small Jam. It was not a strict cover but rather an adaptation. The track was released by
Sony Music UK on June 3, 2019, and started to gain popularity in 2021 after it went viral on social platform
TikTok
TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
. This version makes various changes to the lyrics of some verses, and has its own musical original sections, but keeps the chorus the same. It was later added alongside the TikTok dance into the video game ''
Fortnite Battle Royale
''Fortnite Battle Royale'' is a 2017 Battle royale game, battle royale video game produced by Epic Games. It was originally developed as a companion game part of the early access version of ''Fortnite: Save the World'', a cooperative survival ...
''. The track has proven very successful charting high internationally in many countries.
Other Justin Wellington versions
*"Iko Iko (My Bestie)" - Justin Wellington &
Digital Farm Animals feat. Small Jam
*"Iko Iko (My Bestie) (Down Lo Remix)" - Justin Wellington feat. Small Jam
*"Iko Iko (My Bestie) (
Imanbek Remix) - Justin Wellington feat. Small Jam
*"Iko Iko (My Bestie) (Summer 2021 Version)" (with an alternative music video)
*"Iko Iko (My Bestie) - Justin Wellington &
Pedro Capó feat. Small Jam
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Interpretations
Translations
Linguists and historians have proposed a variety of origins for the seemingly nonsensical chorus, suggesting that the words may come from a melange of cultures.
From Louisiana Creole
An interpretation in
Louisiana Creole French
Louisiana Creole is a French-based creole languages, French-based creole language spoken by fewer than 10,000 people, mostly in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Also known as Kouri-Vini, it is spoken today by people who may racially identify as Whit ...
is:
From Mobilian Jargon
Linguist Geoffrey D. Kimball derives the lyrics of the song in part from
Mobilian Jargon
Mobilian Jargon (also Mobilian trade language, Mobilian Trade Jargon, Chickasaw–Choctaw trade language, Yamá) was a pidgin used as a lingua franca among Native American groups living along the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico around the time ...
, an extinct American Indian
trade language consisting mostly of
Choctaw
The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...
and
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...
words and once used by Native Americans, Blacks, and European settlers and their descendants in the Gulf Coast Region. In Mobilian Jargon, (interpreted as ''jockomo feeno'') was a commonly used phrase, meaning 'very good'.
Another possible translation interprets the third and fourth lines as:
Chickasaw words ('it's good') and ('very'), Creole from French Creole ('at the back'), and the Creole from the French ('year').
From West African languages
In a 2009 ''
OffBeat'' article, the Ghanaian social linguist Evershed Amuzu said the chorus was "definitely West African", reflecting the tonal patterns of the region. He notes that the phrase —often doubled as —is a popular chant meaning 'well done', or 'congratulations' among the
Akan and
Ewe people in modern-day
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...
,
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
, and
Benin
Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...
.
Both groups were frequently taken in the
slave trade Slave trade may refer to:
* History of slavery - overview of slavery
It may also refer to slave trades in specific countries, areas:
* Al-Andalus slave trade
* Atlantic slave trade
** Brazilian slave trade
** Bristol slave trade
** Danish sl ...
, often through
Haiti
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
to Louisiana. Ewes in particular are credited with bringing
West Africa
West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
n cultural influences like
Vodun rites to Haiti and on to
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
.
Musicologist
Ned Sublette has backed the idea that the chorus might have roots in Haitian slave culture, considering that the rhythms of Mardi Gras Indians are nearly indistinguishable from the Haitian Kata rhythm. ''Yaquimo'', he has also noted, was a common name among the
Taíno
The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...
inhabitants of Haiti in the early years of the slave trade.
is also, whether coincidentally or not, the phrase "The black cat is here" in
Bambara, a West African
Manding language.
In a 1991 lecture to the New Orleans Social Science History Association,
Sybil Kein proposed the following translation from
Yoruba and Creole:
Louisiana Voodoo
Louisiana Voodoo
Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, was an African diasporic religion that existed in Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to ...
practitioners, as well as those familiar with West African religions, would recognize many aspects of the song as being about spirit possession. The practitioner, the horse, waves a flag representing a certain god to call that god into himself or herself. Setting a flag on fire is a curse. The man in green, who either changes personality or whose appearance is deceiving, would be recognized in Voodoo as possessed by a peaceful
Rada
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central Lond ...
spirit, inclining to green clothes and love magic. The man in red, who is being sent to kill, would likely be possessed by a vengeful
Petwo spirit.
Haitian ethnologist
Milo Rigaud published a transcription in 1953 of a Voodoo chant, "Crabigne Nago".
[Rigaud, Milo. "Secrets of Voodoo", San Francisco:City Lights Books, (1985 English translation of 1953 French edition) , p128] This chant to invoke the Voodoo mystère
Ogou Shalodeh is similar to "Iko, Iko" in both
pentameter
Pentameter (, 'measuring five ( feet)') is a term describing the meter of a poem. A poem is said to be written in a particular pentameter when the lines of the poem have the length of five metrical feet. A metrical foot is, in classical poetry, ...
and phones.
Liki, liki ô! Liki, liki ô!
Ogou Shalodeh.
Papa Ogou Jacoumon,
Papa Ogou Shalodeh.
References
External links
*
Origins of the song "Iko Iko"-
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
website
{{authority control
1953 songs
1965 singles
1972 singles
1982 singles
1989 singles
Aaron Carter songs
Atco Records singles
The Belle Stars songs
Bubblegum pop songs
Capitol Records singles
Checker Records singles
Cyndi Lauper songs
The Dixie Cups songs
Dr. John songs
Grateful Dead songs
Mardi Gras in New Orleans
Mardi Gras songs
Red Bird Records singles
Songs about New Orleans
Stiff Records singles
Native American cultural appropriation