Cab Calloway - Minnie The Moocher (information, lyrics, and examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases two examples of Cab Calloway performing his 1931 song "Minnie The Moocher". Information about Cab Calloway, as well as lyrics and information about this song are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Cab Calloway for his musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT CAB CALLOWAY
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cab_Calloway
"Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was a jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, where he was a regular performer.

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular big bands from the start of the 1930s through to the late 1940s...

In 1931 he recorded his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher". That song, along with "St. James Infirmary Blues" and "The Old Man of the Mountain", were performed for the Betty Boop animated shorts Minnie the Moocher, Snow White, and The Old Man of the Mountain, respectively. Through rotoscoping, Calloway not only gave his voice to these cartoons, but his dance steps as well. He took advantage of this and timed his concerts in some communities with the release of the films in order to make the most of the attention. As a result of the success of "Minnie the Moocher," he became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man"."
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/02/cab-calloway-hi-de-ho-man-examples.html for a pancocojams post on "The Hi De Ho Man"."

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MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "MINNIE THE MOOCHER"
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_the_Moocher
"Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, selling over 1 million copies.[1] "Minnie the Moocher" is most famous for its nonsensical ad libbed ("scat") lyrics (for example, "Hi De Hi De Hi De Hi"). In performances, Calloway would have the audience participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of call and response. Eventually Calloway's phrases would become so long and complex that the audience would laugh at their own failed attempts to repeat them.

"Minnie the Moocher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

The song is based both musically and lyrically on Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon's 1927 "Willie the Weeper"[2][3] (Bette Davis sings this version in The Cabin in the Cotton). The lyrics are heavily laden with drug references. The character "Smokey" is described as "cokey", meaning a user of cocaine; the phrase "kicking the gong around" was a slang reference to smoking opium.[4]"

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LYRICS: MINNIE THE MOOCHER
(Songwriter(s): Cab Calloway, Irving Mills, Clarence Gaskill, Joseph C. Liggins)

Folks, here´s a story about Minnie the Moocher
She was a red hot hoochie-koocher
She was the roughest, toughest frail
but Minnie had a heart as big as a wha-a-le

Hidee-Hidee-Hidee-hi
Hodee-hodee-hodee-ho
Heedey-hee-dee-hee-dee hee
Hidee-hidee-hidee-ho

She messed around with a bloke named Smoky
She loved him though he was cokey
He took her down to Chinatown
He showed her how to kick the gong around

Hidee-Hidee-Hidee-hi
Wooooooh
Heedey-hee-dee-hee-dee hee
Hidee-hidee-hidee-ho

She had a dream that the King of Sweden
He gave her things that she was needin´
He built her a house of gold and steel
A diamond car with platinum wheels

hidee-hidee-hidee-hidee-hidee-hidee-hi
hodee-hodee-hodee-hodee-hodee-hodee-ho
scoodley-woo-scoodley-woo-scoodley-woodley-woodley-
woo
zit-dit-dit-dit-dittle-but-dut-duttleoo-skit-dit-
skittle-but-dit-zoy

he gave her his townhouse and his racing horses
Each meal she ate was a dozen courses
She had a million dollars worth of nickels and dimes
she sat around and counted them all a million times

Hidee-Hidee-Hidee-hi
Hodee-hodee-hodee-ho
Heedey-hee-dee-hee-dee hee
Hidee-hidee-hidee-ho

Now Min and Smokie, they started jaggin'
They got a free ride in a wagon
She gave him money to pay her bail
But he left her flat in the county jail

Whoooa, yeaaaah
Hey de he de he he
Whoa Whoa

Poor Min met old Deacon Lowdown
He preached to her that she ought to slow down
But Minnie wiggled her jelly roll
And Deacon Lowdown yelled, "Lord save my soul!"

Hi de hi de hi de hi
Ho de ho de ho de ho
Skiddley doodley doodly do
Skiddly diddly day

They took her where they put the crazies
Now poor Min's kicking up those daisies
You've heard my story this is her song
She was just a good gal, but they done her wrong

Hi de hi de hi de hi
Skooby de be do
He de he de he de he
Whoa, Whoa Whoa

Poor Min, Poor Min, Poor Min.
-snip-
Source: http://www.elyrics.net/read/c/calloway-lyrics/minnie-the-moocher-lyrics.html

The word "frail" is "jive talk' for female, from the English word meaning "fragile".

Click http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/09/25/are-you-hep-to-the-jive-the-cab-calloway-hepster-dictionary/ for a listing of words and phrases from Cab Calloway's hepster dictionary.

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FEATURED EXAMPLES
Example #1: Cab Calloway - Minnie the Moocher



moontreal, Uploaded on Mar 18, 2008

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Example #2: Blues Brothers - Minnie the Moocher (Cab Calloway)



SantoriniAJC·Uploaded on Jan 22, 2012

'Minnie the Moocher' from the [1980] film Blues Brothers. I do NOT own the video.

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RELATED LINK
Cab Calloway songs include lots of "jive talk". Read this pancocojams post about jive talk: http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/various-meanings-of-word-jive-cab.html

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