If you were ever to find yourself in New Orleans, Louisiana during Mardi Gras, it would be hard to not hear many of the local musicians singing and playing “Iko Iko”. The song tells a story regarding two warring tribes of Mardi Gras parade Indians. The tradition surrounding these parades dates back to the mid 19th century, and possibly even before.
The song depicts a chance meeting between a “Spy Boy” from one tribe and a “Flag Boy” from an opposing one. As the tradition goes, the spy boy would run ahead of the tribe, and the flag boy in between. The flag would bear the colors of the tribe and the flag boy would wave it to communicate messages back to the tribe’s chief.
Now it must be understood that this tradition is rooted in violence, so it’s no wonder that in the song’s lyrics the spy boy threatens to set the flag of the opposing tribe on fire. There were about 38 different tribes in and around the New Orleans area, and they had a penchant for starting brutal fights with one another. So dangerous were these altercations from generations ago, it used to be that when Mardi Gras Indians marched through neighborhoods, the townspeople would run away. Fortunately, the tradition has evolved away from fisticuffs and more towards which tribe has the most appealing costumes, and who sings and dances better. So now, people run towards the tribes in order to witness the colorful spectacle and be entertained.
The earliest example of this tradition is steeped in the cultures of African-Americans and Native Americans sharing a common bond as oppressed minorities. By disguising themselves as Indians, the Black people were able to avoid some of the inhumane racial segregation laws put forth by the white man. The tradition may have also evolved out of African – Americans dressing up as Indians to pay tribute to them for helping runaway slaves escape from capture.
Since the subject matter of the song goes back so far, the lyrics lend themselves to many opinions as to their origin. Some trace it back to Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians, while other linguists and historians feel that it’s either West African or even Haitian. What is certain though is that the song’s lyrics were lifted directly from those tradition rich parade tribes of New Orleans in 1953 by James “Sugar Boy” Crawford, who was attempting to use the street language of the day to cobble together a hit song in the same fashion that Lloyd Price did a year earlier with “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”.
“Iko Iko”, released under it’s original title of “Jock A Mo”, was a moderate hit locally in and around New Orleans, but never broke nationally. The lyric was actually sung by Crawford as “chock-o-mo”, but the record company misspelt the title of the song before sending it off to be manufactured.
Crawford’s band , Sugar Boy And The Cane Cutters, had earned some local status as a live act . His performing career though, would come to an abrupt halt when he was beaten up badly after a gig by some “rednecks” somewhere between the Mississippi/Louisiana state lines near the small town of Bogalusa.
Fast forward 13 years later to 1965. The Dixie Cups, a girl group vocal trio with all three members hailing from New Orleans are in a New York City recording session with record producers/songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. During some down time, the three ladies begin singing a song their grandmother taught them, tapping studio ashtrays with drumsticks as accompaniment. Unbeknownst to them, Leiber and Stoller left the tapes running and the basic track for their next record, “Iko Iko” was in the can within the blink of an eye. After additional bass and drums were added, it would be released as a 45 rpm single and reach #20 on the Billboard charts, making it The Dixie Cups’ last bona fide hit record.
The Dixie Cups and their management knew very little about the origins of the song, much less it’s author. So when it was released the songwriting credits were given to their three members. Soon after that, they found themselves in a lawsuit with James Crawford, who claimed that “Iko Iko” was exactly the same as his composition, “Jock A Mo”.
The two parties would settle out of court in 1967, with the agreement that although Crawford could never claim authorship or ownership of “Iko Iko”, he would be credited a 50% royalty for public performances and radio broadcasts of the tune. Even though the two songs are clearly identical, Crawford elected to settle rather than continue to fight the battle while receiving no royalty at all. His reasoning being that it’s “better to get 50 percent of something as opposed to 100% of nothing”.
During the 1990’s, yet another group would claim to have written the song. The Dixie Cups’ former manager Joe Jones filed a copyright registration in 1991, stating that he had written it in 1963. Jones even went so far as to license the song for the Hollywood film, “Mission Impossible 2”. The Dixie Cups filed a lawsuit against Jones, and earned a unanimous verdict in their favor.
One of the most well known songs to ever come out of the New Orleans region, “Iko Iko” has been covered by a diverse range of artists from The Grateful Dead to Cyndi Lauper, Warren Zevon, Dr. John, and many, many others.
A 2002 interview that James Crawford gave to “Offbeat Magazine” is perhaps the best summary of how he unconsciously tapped into the rich tapestry of this country’s checkered history, and composed a song that will live forever.
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)
No comments:
Post a Comment