Thursday's song
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Thursday's song
by CuylerLady Thu May 30, 2013 10:12 am
Minnie the Moocher - Cab Calloway and his Orchestra
From 1931, this jazz hit charted at #1 for seventeen weeks! At a time when songs were being censored, this one got by due to the censors not knowing what all the jive slang in the song was; thus allowing it to reach a much wider audience. Break it all down, and Minnie was a belly dancer, considered to be much less than wholesome at the time. She met Smokey, a cocaine addict, (Kokie), who took Min to Chinatown, a most disreputable part of any town back then, and showed her what opium was; hence 'kicking the gong around'. The rest of the song deals with Min's opium fueled hallucination, being showered with gifts and money from the King of Sweden, especially the 'diamond car with the puh-latinum wheels'. Although the song doesn't tell us how Min's life turned out, Cab's wailing of her name strongly indicates she is a goner, forever hooked on opium. From the start, Cab would get the audience involved in the song, leading them through various lines of scatting, starting slow and easy, then ramping it up till the audience would fall into fits of laughter at themselves. THE definitive Cab Calloway song, this is a standard in my music library.
Enjoy!
From 1931, this jazz hit charted at #1 for seventeen weeks! At a time when songs were being censored, this one got by due to the censors not knowing what all the jive slang in the song was; thus allowing it to reach a much wider audience. Break it all down, and Minnie was a belly dancer, considered to be much less than wholesome at the time. She met Smokey, a cocaine addict, (Kokie), who took Min to Chinatown, a most disreputable part of any town back then, and showed her what opium was; hence 'kicking the gong around'. The rest of the song deals with Min's opium fueled hallucination, being showered with gifts and money from the King of Sweden, especially the 'diamond car with the puh-latinum wheels'. Although the song doesn't tell us how Min's life turned out, Cab's wailing of her name strongly indicates she is a goner, forever hooked on opium. From the start, Cab would get the audience involved in the song, leading them through various lines of scatting, starting slow and easy, then ramping it up till the audience would fall into fits of laughter at themselves. THE definitive Cab Calloway song, this is a standard in my music library.
Enjoy!
CuylerLady- Posts : 168
Join date : 2013-05-09
Re: Thursday's song
by ufg8rjim Thu May 30, 2013 11:02 am
Love it! Really goes to the point of how jazz has its roots in the blues.
ufg8rjim- Posts : 139
Join date : 2013-05-09
Age : 55
Location : Fleming Island
Re: Thursday's song
by CuylerLady Thu May 30, 2013 12:42 pm
ufg8rjim wrote:Love it! Really goes to the point of how jazz has its roots in the blues.
Yep.
CuylerLady- Posts : 168
Join date : 2013-05-09
Re: Thursday's song
by FriendlyGator Thu May 30, 2013 12:51 pm
ufg8rjim wrote:Love it! Really goes to the point of how jazz has its roots in the blues.
Yup, that's exactly what I was about to say until i read your post. Solid 10, Mrs. C
FriendlyGator- Posts : 79
Join date : 2013-05-09
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