Iko Iko is a much-covered New Orleans 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 in 1953 by James Sugar Boy Crawford in New Orleans. 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 and Checker Records president Leonard Chess, who misspelled it as Jock-a-mo for the records 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, accompanying themselves with drumsticks on an aluminum chair, a studio ashtray and a Coke bottle.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 20:39:51 +0000
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