THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

303-Cab Calloway-Minnie the Moocher.

1931-It has never charted in the UK. There was no UK chart until 1952.

Best Bit-At 0.50. A Hoochie Coochie dancer would even make a twerking Beyonce blush.

Cab Calloway was born Cabell Calloway III on December 25th, 1907, in Rochester, New York, United States, on June 12th, 1944, he suffered a stroke, and then died from pneumonia, and other complications on November 18th, 1994, at the age of 86. His energetic live performances were an influence on future artists such as James Brown, (1933-2006) (see also best songs 880-349-270 and 88) and Michael Jackson (1958-2009) (see also best songs 812-511-249-191 and 137.) The film director John Landis who produced ‘The Blues Brothers’ film, which was Cab Calloway’s last movie performance in 1980, said of Calloway when asked about his influence on ‘Rap’ artists, ‘Cab Calloway is ‘Hip-Hop.” With the success of ‘Minnie the Moocher,’ Cab Calloway became the first ever African/American to sell a million records from one single, he gained the nickname, ‘The Hi De Ho Man,’ because of this song. Cab Calloway was also a very successful actor, appearing in 15 films between 1932-1980, including the 1943 movie ‘Stormy Weather,’ (see also best songs 634) where he played himself, and his final film performance in 1980, where he performed ‘Minnie the Moocher’ in ‘The Blues Brothers’ movie. Cab Calloway was very energetic on stage when performing, and his dance moves included a gliding back-step dance which some observers have described as the precursor to Michael Jackson’s ‘moonwalk’ (see also best songs 581.) Calloway said some 50 years later, ‘It was called The Buzz back then.’ Calloway was also the first African-American to have a nationally syndicated radio programme, and in 2008 he posthumously received the ‘Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.’ The discography of Cab Calloway includes six Albums released between 1943-1968, and several official compilation Albums released from 1974 onwards. In America on Billboard 48 of his singles have charted, with ‘Minnie the Moocher’ peaking the highest at Number 1. His final chart entry in 1978 was a ‘Disco’ version of ‘Minnie the Moocher,’ which reached Number 91.

‘Minnie the Moocher’ was co-written by Cab Calloway, Clarence Gaskill, (1892-1948) and the Jazz music publisher Irving Mills (1894-1985) (see also best songs 370.) The song is based lyrically on the Vaudeville performer Frankie ‘Half Pint’ Jackson’s (1896 or 1897-1953) version of the early 1900’s song ‘Willie the Weeper,’ with some similar lyrics, and also a drugs theme. ‘Minnie the Moocher’ tells the story of a woman called Minnie who was a ‘Hoochie Coocher,’ which is a kind of provocative dancer, that was heavily frowned upon in some quarters in those times. The guy she was in love with was addicted to Cocaine, and he took her to Chinatown, where he introduced her to Opium. Her dreams of living the good life with this man are shattered when they get arrested for driving while under the influence. Minnie ends up in jail, and further down the line ends up in a mental asylum, where she probably died. The song describes her opium-induced wishful fantasy, in which the king of Sweden gives her many gifts, including ‘A diamond car, with the platinum wheels.’ A ‘moocher’ is American slang for a person who constantly asks others for money, or who takes unfair advantage of someone’s generosity. Basically the song is saying that Minnie got in with the wrong crowd, and made some bad decisions, but deep down she was kind, and we should feel sorry for her. Minnie the Moocher” is riddled with jive slang which most white listeners of the time didn’t understand. So, although it is quite a sordid tale, the song was not censored and reached a very wide audience. Cab Calloway became an authority on this ‘jive talk’ and was highly enthusiastic about the subject. In 1944 he published a dictionary of the Harlem patois called ‘The New Cab Calloway Hipster’s Dictionary: Language of Jive.’

The thing which made ‘Minnie the Moocher’ so popular with the public was it’s call-and-response ‘Scat’ battle that Cab Calloway would engage in with the audience. He would start off with ‘Hi De Hi De Hi De Ho,’ which a crowd could easily repeat, but then his scats would steadily get faster, and more difficult, until finally he would give them a ‘Skeedle-a-booka-diki diki skeedy beeka gookity woop,’ to which the people couldn’t repeat, but would find very humorous. ‘Skat’ singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables, or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice solely as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. Some of the biggest names in ‘Jazz’ music are associated with the development and popularity of ‘Skat’ singing, Louis Armstrong’s (1901-1971) (see also best songs 944-767-702-286-231 and 100) 1926 recording of ‘Heebie Jeebies’ is often cited as the first modern song to employ scatting, while Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) (see also best songs 944-702-286-231 and 100) and Sarah Vaughan’s (1924-1990) improvisation mimics the sounds of swing-era big bands, with which they performed. In more recent years many ‘Hip-Hop’ artists and Rappers have used Scat singing to come up with the rhythms of their raps.

‘Folks here’s a story about Minnie the Moocher, she was a real live hoochie coocher. She was the roughest toughest frail, but Minnie had a heart as big as a whale. Hi De Hi De Hi De Ho.’