# Hidey Hidey Ho! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2000, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidey-hidey-ho/44306 "2000-12-06T14:44:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidey-hidey-ho/44306/1 "2000-12-06T14:44:37Z")
In the legendary Cab Calloway song _Minnie the Moocher_, the following lines occur: _She messed around with a bloke named Smokey, She loved him though he was cokey, He took her down to Chinatown, And he showed her how to kick the gong around._ Sounds to me like a thinly-veiled drug reference. Allow me to translate: _She messed around with a guy named Smokey, She loved him though he abused cocaine, He took her down to Chinatown, And showed her how to abuse all kinds of exotic drugs._ How on earth did Cab Calloway sneak this one past the censors in the 40’s (or was it the 50’s?)? Were they so obtuse as to not notice Cab’s “code”? Or did they just not pay attention to “Negro Jazz”? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidey-hidey-ho/44306/2 "2000-12-06T14:56:21Z")
Actually, the song started out in the 1920s as “Willie the Weeper,” and the drug references were not hidden at all: “Folks, now here’s the story of Willie the Weeper, Willie was a chimney sweeper— He had the dope habit and he had it bad; Listen while I tell you 'bout a dream he had . . .” Bette Davis sang it in a film called “Cabin in the Cotton,” in 1932. Round about 1930, Lyda Roberti sang a version on Broadway that was changed to “Minnie the Moocher.” Cab Calloway recorded it in, I think, 1931, and it became a standard. There were a LOT of drug and sex references in jazz songs in the 1920s and '30s . . . I’m sure Ukulele Ike will be happy to provide us with more examples? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidey-hidey-ho/44306/3 "2000-12-06T15:24:26Z")
These were released in the 1920s and '30s as “race records.” The record company execs up in Noo Yawk didn’t give a damn about anybody’s morals, and the Federal Gummint (which didn’t amount to much in those days…it took FDR and WWII to build Washington DC up from a sleepy backwater) had other things to do than monitor what the spades were dancing to. “Kicking the gong around” was a Harlem euphemism for opium smoking. It was occasionally extended to other opiate-based narcotics, but morphine and heroin had a lively slang all their own, and didn’t really need to borrow from opium. Here’s some other dope references from African-American pop and jazz songs of the period… _Dreamed about a reefer five feet long The mighty mezz, but not too strong You’ll be high, but not for long If you’re a viper._ – “If You’re a Viper,” Stuff Smith and his Onyx Club Boys, c. 1935 _If he trades you dimes for nickels And calls watermelons pickles You know you’re talking to that Reefer Man._ – “Reefer Man,” Cab Calloway and his Orchestra, c. 1932 _"Cocaine habit’s mighty bad It’s the worst ol’ habit I ever had Hey, hey, honey take a whiff on me. I love my whiskey and I love my gin But the way I love my coke it’s a goddman sin. Hey, hey, honey take a whiff on me._ – “Cocaine Habit Blues,” Memphis Jug Band, c. 1928 ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hidey-hidey-ho/44306/4 "2000-12-06T15:31:06Z")
Incidentally, “the mezz” was a term for strong marijuana. The word can be traced back to Milton Mezzrow, a white Chicago jazz clarinetist and saxophonist (and author of the 1946 autobiography REALLY THE BLUES) who was considered an “honorary” Negro by his various black bandmates (he considered HIMSELF one, anyway). Mezz sold a lot of dope. It was his main income; most everyone agrees he didn’t amount to much as a saxophonist. He tried to get the best weed around for his customers, and folks began referring to the really good stuff as “Mezz’s stuff,” and then simply as “Mezz.”