The Dixie Cups - Iko Iko

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A '60s girl group, the Dixie Cups consisted of one cousin (Joan Marie Johnson) and two sisters (Barbara Ann Hawkins and Rosa Lee Hawkins). All three young ladies were from New Orleans, as was producer and singer Joe Jones, who discovered the talented threesome and took them to New York.

The trio was almost known as the Meltones -- or worse, Little Miss and the Muffets -- but the name Dixie Cups was settled on by 1964. That was the year the girls recorded the well-remembered song "Chapel of Love" on the Red Bird Records label. The number was written by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich, and Jeff Barry, and intended to be released by the Ronettes, Darlene Love, or the Crystals. That one single was enough to carry the group into music history. It became the Dixie Cups' biggest success, a million-seller, and a worldwide hit. A few other hits followed through 1964 and into 1965, like "You Should Have Seen the Way He Looked at Me," "Little Bell," "Iko Iko," and "People Say." A year later, Red Bird Records was out of the picture. The trio moved to ABC-Paramount, but there were no more hits, and 1966 saw the end of the Dixie Cups. There had been other singles, like "Gee the Moon Is Shining Bright" and "Girls Can Tell," but there weren't enough fans to back the releases.

In 1974, Rosa Lee and her sister Barbara Ann left New York behind to return to New Orleans and found work as models for awhile. When the sisters began to sing and tour again, their cousin Joan Marie declined to join in, so her spot was filled by Dale Mickle.

~ Charlotte Dillon, All Music Guide

Category:

Education

Tags:

• pop
• rock
• r&b
• girl
• group

[BlackCat7430]

this song originated from two African Priest Witch Doctors. Not the whole thing just the Words that werent in english lol. well the two tribes were at war and the two priests were chanting at each other trying to kill each other. its got quite an interesting origin.

[John1948FourA]

@BlackCat7430 This is what I found: "Iko Iko" is a New Orleans song that tells of a parade collision between two "tribes" of Mardi Gras Indians. The song, under the original title "Jock-A-Mo", was written in 1953 by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford. It tells of a "spy boy" (lookout for one band of Indians) encountering the "flag boy" (guidon carrier) for another band. He threatens to set the flag on fire. Crawford set phrases chanted by Mardi Gras Indians to music for the song.

[Johnny1angry1Johnny]

this is drumsticks on ashtrays, the dixie cups didn't know the tapes were running, later the bass was cut in to make a complete song. Good stuff.

[John1948FourA]

@Johnny1angry1Johnny  Well, all I know is about it is: My grandma and your grandma were sittin' by the fire. My grandma told your grandma: "I'm gonna set your flag on fire" LOL

Thanks for the good info Johnny!

[skywalker74]

Best version ever, because it sounds most authentic.

[robshannon]

@axeslinger56 Yes Sir they are really cute.

[robshannon]

@jwmellott I don't remember just how big it was, but I remember it got a lot of air time.

[lovepoet53]

I was gonna make a little joke about the blonde kids dancing at 1:31...but then I realized that they dance just like me -_- ...maybe a little even better

[NervousThief]

These dancers have so much swag. THEY'RE NOT EVEN DRUNK.

[yankytank09]

is this suppose to be a creepy or scary song?? cus everytime something bad was about to happen on the skeleton key this song came on.

[solidsnakeebi1]

2 people had their flags set on fire ):

[DancingSpiderman]

I, for one, am glad they did not settle on the group name "Little Miss And The Muffets". They would have been only a One Hit Wonder with a name like that.

[uVueD2b]

@jwmellott It was in the Top 20 but their biggest hit was Chapel of Love...

[uVueD2b]

I tried a experiment ala Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz....I opened up another window and pulled up Beyonce's Single Ladies video. I played this video while watching a muted Single Ladies in the other window. First time,it worked to the tee-even when the song fades out,Beyonce's video fades to black (in the middle of the video). Put the Bey's vid on pause first on :00-set up Iko Iko & start playing-immediately go back to the other vid and start it making sure the sound is off...try it if you like...

[Johnny1angry1Johnny]

@drumsinger Are you going by ear or were you actually there? Just curious, I love drums...I saw this pseudo factoid on a random music facts page or maybe even the dreaded wikipedia, but I shy away from that thing...anyway, it wasn't saying anything about the origin or whom covered it first, just saying that this version was done on ashtrays...hey why not, I have a break beat track where one of the drums is a keg being hit with a baseball bat.