| “Minnie the Moocher” | ||
|---|---|---|
| Single by Cab Calloway & His Orchestra | ||
| Released | 1931 | |
| Format | 78 | |
| Recorded | March 3, 1931, New York, NY | |
| Genre | Jazz | |
| Length | 3:10 | |
| Label | Brunswick BR6074 |
|
| Writer(s) | Cab Calloway Irving Mills |
|
"Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, selling over 1 million copies. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Year 1931 ( MCMXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Cabell "Cab" Calloway III ( December 25, 1907 &ndash November 18, 1994) was a famous American Jazz Singer [1] "Minnie the Moocher" is most famous for its nonsensical ad libbed ("scat") lyrics (for example, "Hi De Hi De Hi De Hi"). In Vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with random vocables and syllables or without words at all 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. In Music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different Musicians where the second phrase is heard as a direct
"Minnie the Moocher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. See also Grammy Grammy Hall of Fame Award List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients A-D List of Grammy Hall Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar)
Contents |
Basis
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. Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon ( February 3 1895 - 1944 ? was an African American Vaudeville Singer, female impersonator Year 1927 ( MCMXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5 1908 – October 6 1989 was an American actress of Film, Television and Theatre. The Cabin in the Cotton is a 1932 American Drama film directed by Michael Curtiz. Recreational drug use is the use of Psychoactive drugs for Recreational purposes rather than for work, medical or spiritual purposes "Smoky" is described as "cokey" meaning a user of cocaine; the phrase "kicking the gong around" was a slang reference to smoking opium, and other verses describe Minnie's dream, involving living with the King of Sweden and having a "million dollars worth of nickels and dimes" - nickel and dime bags are $5 worth (once an eighth of an ounce) and a $10 worth (once a quarter ounce) of marijuana. Cocaine ( benzoylmethyl ecgonine) is a Crystalline Tropane Alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the Coca plant Opium is a Narcotic formed from the Latex (ie sap released by lacerating (or "scoring" the immature seed pods of opium poppies ( Cannabis, also known as marijuana or marihuana, or ganja (from Hindi / Sanskrit: गांजा gānjā hemp) is a
Extended version
Calloway also wrote an extended version, adding verses which describe Minnie and Smokey going to jail; Minnie pays Smokey's bail, but he abandons her there. Another verse describes her tempting "Deacon Lowdown" when she "wiggled her jelly roll" at him.
Finally, they took Minnie to "where they put the crazies", where she dies. This explains why both the short version and the long version end with the words "Poor Min, poor Min. "[4]
Other references to Minnie
Minnie herself is mentioned in a number of other Cab Calloway songs, including Minnie the Moocher's Wedding Day, Ghost of Smoky Joe, Kickin' the Gong Around, Minnie's a Hepcat Now, Mister Paganini - Swing for Minnie, We Go Well Together, and Zah Zuh Zaz. Some of these songs indicate that Minnie's boyfriend Smoky was named Smoky Joe as well.
Cartoons
In 1932, Calloway recorded the song for a Fleischer Studios Talkartoon short cartoon, also called Minnie the Moocher, starring Betty Boop and Bimbo. Fleischer Studios Inc is an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City New York. Talkartoons is the name of a series of 42 animated cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 Betty Boop is an animated Cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Bimbo is a Fictional character, a Cartoon Dog created by Fleischer Studios. Calloway and his band provides most of the short's score, and appear in the short themselves in a live-action introduction. The thirty-second live-action segment is the earliest-known film footage of Calloway.
In the cartoon, Betty decides to run away from her harsh parents, and Bimbo comes with her. While walking away from home, Betty and Bimbo wind up in a spooky area, and hide in a cave. A ghost walrus—whose gyrations were rotoscoped from footage of Calloway dancing—appears to them, and begins to sing "Minnie the Moocher", with many fellow ghosts following along. The walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus) is a large flippered Marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and Rotoscoping is an Animation technique in which Animators trace over live-action film movement frame by frame for use in Animated films Originally After singing the whole number, the ghosts chase Betty and Bimbo all the way back to Betty's home. While Betty is hiding under the covers of her bedsheets, her runaway note is torn up and the remaining letters read "Home Sweet Home. "
Films
In the movie Hi De Ho (1947), Jeni Le Gon played Minnie the Moocher, Cab Calloway's girlfriend, while Calloway played himself. Hi De Ho (also known as Hi-De-Ho) is a 1947 American musical film which was released by All American and Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Calloway performed the Minnie the Moocher song several times in the movie.
Calloway performed the song in the 1955 movie Rhythm and Blues Revue, filmed at the Apollo Theatre. Much later, in 1980 at age 73, Calloway performed the song in the movie The Blues Brothers. The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd
In 1980, it was performed by The Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo in the underground cult film The Forbidden Zone. Oingo Boingo was an American New Wave band They are better known for their influence soundtrack contributions and high energy Halloween concerts Forbidden Zone is a 1982 musical Comedy film based upon the stage performances of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. There is a scene where Danny Elfman, playing a rather vaudevillian Satan, sings the song as the other characters respond to his calls. Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American Musician, who is famous for composing scores and songs for Tim Burton Vaudeville was a Genre of variety entertainment prevalent on the stage in the United States and Canada, from the early 1880s
In Blue Harvest, the kickoff to the sixth season of Family Guy, "Minnie the Moocher" is played while Han Solo (Peter Griffin) and Luke Skywalker (Chris Griffin) are boarding the Death Star, coolly walking so as not to be noticed by the stormtrooper guards. Blue Harvest was the title of the film ruse used to ensure secrecy and disguise the 1981 – 1983 production of Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi Family Guy is an animated American television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane that airs on Fox and regularly on other Han Solo is a character in the Star Wars universe. He was played by Harrison Ford in Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope, Peter Griffin is a Fictional character and the Protagonist of the animated television series Luke Skywalker is the main protagonist of the Star Wars universe portrayed by Mark Hamill in the films Star Wars Episode IV Christopher "Chris" Griffin is a Fictional character from the animated series Family Guy. The Death Star is a Fictional Space station and Superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. The Stormtroopers (in German Stoßtruppen, shock troops) were specialist military troops which were formed in the last years of World War I as the German
Notable performances
Minnie the Moocher has been covered or simply referenced by many other performers. In Popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition ( Performance or Recording) of a previously recorded commercially released Its refrain, particularly the call and response, is part of the language of American jazz. In Music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different Musicians where the second phrase is heard as a direct Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States
Modern audiences heard it performed in the 1984 Francis Ford Coppola movie, The Cotton Club, with Larry Marshall as Cab Calloway. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Francis Ford "Frank" Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is a five-time Academy Award -winning American Film director, The Cotton Club is a 1984 crime - drama, centered on a popular real-life Harlem Jazz club in the 1930s the Cotton Cabell "Cab" Calloway III ( December 25, 1907 &ndash November 18, 1994) was a famous American Jazz Singer
A contemporary swing band, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, recorded a cover on their 1994 eponymous album, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Swing music, also known as swing jazz, is a form of Jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and had solidified as a distinctive style by 1935 in the United Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a contemporary swing band from southern California. In Popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition ( Performance or Recording) of a previously recorded commercially released Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) An album or record album is a collection of related audio or Music tracks distributed to the public Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is the self-titled debut album by retro- swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
Hugh Laurie, in a 2006 interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, stated that his charity cover band, Band from TV, has the most popular recording of Minnie the Moocher available on the iTunes Store. James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (born June 11, 1959) is an English Actor, Comedian, Writer and Musician Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an Emmy Award -winning American late-night Talk show currently hosted by Jay Leno, on Etymology The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word " charité " which was derived from the A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. Band From TV is a Charity Cover band, whose members are all actors from American television series who donate the proceeds of their performances and The iTunes Store is a software-based online Digital media store operated by Apple Inc Laurie also performs a part of the song in the first episode of the British humorous television series Jeeves and Wooster, playing the role of Bertie Wooster. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Jeeves and Wooster is a British Comedy Television series adapted by Clive Exton from P Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring Fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British Author The episode first aired in 1990. Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar)
The song has inspired bands outside America too: in 1967, the song was covered again by an Australian band, The Cherokees. Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. Jazz music has a long history in Australia Over the years jazz has held a high profile at local clubs festivals and other music venues and a vast number of recordings have been produced
References
- ^ 2008 Grammy Press release
- ^ Lorenz, Brenna & Lorenz, Megaera. (2001). Heptune Lorenz-Pulte Jazz and Blues Page. Retrieved January 11, 2008, from http://www.heptune.com/jazzfolk.html
- ^ (1999). Willie the Weeper. Retrieved January 11, 2008, from http://www.heptune.com/willieth.html
- ^ Adair, Kenneth & Calloway, Cabell. (2004). Minnie the Moocher Lyrics from Cab Calloway. Retrieved January 11, 2008, from http://www.spynets.com/lyrics/lyrics_details.php?ID=3412
External links
- The Max Fleischer Minnie the Moocher cartoon, at the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive ( IA) is a Nonprofit organization dedicated to maintaining an on-line Library and archive of Web and
- The Max Fleischer Minnie the Moocher cartoon, streaming on Cinemaniacal.
- Minnie the Moocher (1932) at the Internet Movie Database
- 1955 performance in Rhythm and Blues Revue
- I Wish I Could Cry, Music video with resequenced animation of the 1932 Betty Boop, "Minnie the Moocher"
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