Minnie the Moocher

Cab Calloway

About Minnie the Moocher

"Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, selling over a million copies. "Minnie the Moocher" is most famous for its nonsensical ad libbed ("scat") lyrics (for example, "Hi De Hi De Hi De Ho"). In performances, Calloway would have the audience and the band members participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of call and response, until making it too fast and complicated for the audience to replicate it. "Minnie the Moocher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and in 2019 was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress. It has been argued that the record was the first jazz record to sell a million copies. 


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Folks, here's a story 'bout Minnie the Moocher
She was a red-hot hoochie-coocher
She was the roughest, toughest frail
But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale

Ho-dee ho-dee ho-dee ho (ho-dee ho-dee ho-dee ho)
Hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi (hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi)
Hee-dee-hee-dee-hee-dee-hee (hee-dee-hee-dee-hee-dee-hee)
Ho-dee ho-dee ho-dee ho (ho-dee ho-dee ho-dee ho)

Now she messed around with a bloke named Smokey
She loved him though was cokey
He took her down to Chinatown
He showed her how to kick the gong around (showed her how to kick the gong around)

Ho-dee ho (ho-dee ho)
Hi-dee hi-hi (hi-dee hi-hi)
Wa-dee wee-bo (wa-dee wee-bo)
Ho-dee ho-dee, ho (ho-dee ho-dee, ho)

Now she had a dream about the King of Sweden
He gave her things that she was needin'
He gave her a home built of gold and steel
A diamond car with a platinum wheel

Wa-dee wee-woo di-way (wa-dee wee-woo di-way
Ohh baby (ohh)
Ohh baby, ooh ooh (ohh baby, ooh ooh)
Ho-dee ho (ho-dee ho)

Now 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
And she sat around and counted them all a million times

Ho-dee ho-dee (ho-dee ho-dee)
Oh Minnie (oh Minnie)
woo di-way (woo di-way)
Ho-ho (woah doh)

Poor Min, poor Min, poor Min

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Cab Calloway

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, where he was a regular performer. more »

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Written by: Cab Calloway, Clarence Gaskill, Irving Mills

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind


10 facts about this song

Genre Classification
"Minnie the Moocher" by Cab Calloway is within the genre of Jazz. It incorporates elements of scat singing, a method involving vocal improvisation with wordless vocables.
Historical Impact
This song, recorded and released in 1931, is one of the most prominent jazz songs from the Swing Era.
First Recorded Call and Response Song
"Minnie the Moocher" was the first jazz recording that incorporated the call-and-response vocal style, which is a form of interaction between the speaker and the audience.
Nature of Lyrics
The song is famed due to its controversial lyrics, which tell a story about a fictional character, Minnie, who is a prostitute and drug user.
Signature Song
"Minnie the Moocher" is Cab Calloway's signature song, establishing him as a popular singer and bandleader in the 1930s.
Achievement
The song is the first jazz record to sell over a million copies, marking an unprecedented event in the history of Jazz music.
Animation Adaptation
The song was used in a famous Betty Boop cartoon by the name of "Minnie the Moocher", with Cab Calloway performing the song and acting as the model for a ghost character in the cartoon.
Film Appearance
"Minnie the Moocher" also appeared in the 1980 film "The Blues Brothers," adding to the popularity and legacy of the song.
Cultural Impact
The song's popularity led to Calloway writing more songs about Minnie and her lover, Smokey Joe, creating a series of adventures and becoming an ongoing theme in Calloway’s career.
Recognition
In 1999, "Minnie The Moocher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is devoted to honoring recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance.

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