# iko iko? (jockamo fi na ne) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2000, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259 "2000-11-15T04:40:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vanilla\_rice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vanilla\_rice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla_rice)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/1 "2000-11-15T04:40:01Z")
this song is old but i first heard it as the opening tune to Tom Cruise’s RAIN MAN. there is a info on it here [http://www.cajunfrenchmusic.org/forum/messages/548.htm](http://www.cajunfrenchmusic.org/forum/messages/548.htm) but i couldn’t find translations to the lyrics. could someone please help? my grandma and your grandma sittin’ by the fire my grandma said to your grandma i’m gonna set your flag on fire talkin’ 'bout hey now! hey now! iko iko unday jockamo feeno ai nané jockamo fee nané ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/2 "2000-11-15T04:51:14Z")
Hey now! There are any number of versions of this song, and any number of verses. My grandma and your grandma Sitting by the fire My grandma said to your grandma Let’s make some jambalaya My little boy and your little boy Playin’ catch with a tomato Your boy missed mine’s very best throw Made ketchup on a gator Those are from Buckwheat Zydeco’s _Choo Choo Boogaloo_ CD, but there are millions more. I make up my own all the time. Anyhow, I know that’s not the info you were looking for, but I thought I’d chime in. P.S. Is there a Neville Brothers site anywhere? Thir liner notes tend to be pretty good. Maybe they have an informative site. ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/3 "2000-11-15T05:08:25Z")
> [@](#): > > this song is old but i first heard it as the opening tune to Tom Cruise’s RAIN MAN. This song has been part of the soundtrack of more movies than I can count. There was a time you couldn’t go to the movies at all without hearing this song. Does anyone have a list of all the movies that had “Iko Iko” in them? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/4 "2000-11-15T05:20:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ricksummon \* > Does anyone have a list of all the movies that had “Iko Iko” in them? No, but I once read an article which asserted that the 2 most common songs in movies were George Thorogood’s _Bad to the Bone_ and James Brown’s _I Feel Good_. George beat out James by a slim margin for the title of Soundtrack King. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/5 "2000-11-15T11:14:11Z")
ricksummon asks: \> Does anyone have a list of all the movies that had “Iko \> Iko” in them? Well, a soundtrack search on the Internet Movie Database gives the following three movies: Big Easy, The (1987) K-9 (1989) Rain Man (1988) ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/6 "2000-11-15T14:21:31Z")
Let’s not forget the stellar “Satisfaction” with Juystine Bateman, Julai Roberts and Liam Neeson. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2000, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/7 "2000-11-15T15:55:08Z")
According to this, the melody was written by “Jockomo” James Crawford in 1950. [http://ingeb.org/songs/mygrandm.html](http://ingeb.org/songs/mygrandm.html) New Orleans musical history can have its murky side. A lotta things that sound like they must have been played by the funeral brass bands in the 1890s turn out to have been composed by guys like Professor Longhair in the '50s. And things that sound like they must have been composed by Professor Longhair turn out to have been the work of Hank Williams Sr…like “Jambalaya.” The 2-minute-plus _a capella_ version of “Iko Iko” by The Dixie Cups is my personal favorite recording of this tune. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/8 "2000-11-15T19:09:35Z")
The Grateful Dead did this tune too…except they spelled it ‘Aiko Aiko’. Which spelling is correct? ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/9 "2000-11-15T19:33:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Green Bean \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by ricksummon \* > > Does anyone have a list of all the movies that had “Iko Iko” in them? > > No, but I once read an article which asserted that the 2 most common songs in movies were George Thorogood’s _Bad to the Bone_ and James Brown’s _I Feel Good_. George beat out James by a slim margin for the title of Soundtrack King. \*\* Now, if we could just figure out how that relates to the number of movies that have either “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves or James Horner’s score from the climax of _Aliens_ in their trailers, we could . . . why, we could rule the world! ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/10 "2000-11-15T19:49:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pldennison \* > Now, if we could just figure out how that relates to the number of movies that have either “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves or James Horner’s score from the climax of _Aliens_ in their trailers, we could . . . why, we could rule the world! \*\* And _every single_ trailer to a horror movie must use Carl Orff’s **Carmina Burana** (or at least the loud “O Fotuna” sections). ---
**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:** [November 15, 2000, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/11 "2000-11-15T20:46:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cisco \* > \*\*The Grateful Dead did this tune too…except they spelled it ‘Aiko Aiko’. Which spelling is correct? \*\* According to this site [http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/intro.htm](http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/intro.htm) “Aiko Aiko” is used only by Deadheads when inscribing bootleg tapes. The single official Dead recording, on _Dick’s Picks Number 9,_ has it spelled “Iko Iko.” Likewise the Dixie Cups version, which appears on _The Music Never Stooped: the Roots of the Grateful Dead,_ which is the album of original versions of tunes the Dead covered, and which is utterly fantastic and anyone with any interest in American roots music should go out and buy it right now. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2000, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/12 "2000-11-15T20:48:04Z")
Uh, that would be _The Music Never Stopped._ Although it never stooped, either. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/13 "2000-11-15T21:30:17Z")
There’s still no answer to the translation question … This is very very sketchy, but I really think i recall a late night radio show that was talking about lyrics, and someone was talking about this song. I don’t remember the rest, but they said that the phrase “Jockomo fee nane” was a phrase somewhere in between “He can do as he likes, I don’t care” and “He can go f\*\*\* himself”. Sorry I don’t know for sure; I also don’t know if that came from just what the composer thought it should mean or if the words were known. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/14 "2000-11-15T23:19:53Z")
Also used at the start of Mission Impossible 2, thus completing the Tom Cruise circle. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_G7subs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/15 "2000-11-16T00:07:32Z")
I always thought the “jocamo fi na ne” part sounded like “choking on feenamint” ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/16 "2000-11-16T00:38:03Z")
Another bit of music trivia for you - Cyndi Lauper covered the tune on her second album! And no, I’m not ashamed to admit that I have that album. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/17 "2000-11-16T02:48:56Z")
Well, it’s gotta mean something! The Neville Brothers are wont to say it alot, like in the opening to their song Brother John: Jockamo fee na ay Jockame fee ne ay Well if you don’t mind what the big chief say Then it’s jockamo fee na ay Or something like that. I know it makes no sense. Where’s **Cajun Man** when you need him? ---
**Author:** ![coorsball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac91a4/32.png) [@coorsball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coorsball)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/18 "2000-11-16T03:13:40Z")
Bob Weir(of the Grateful Dead)was asked this question in an interview and replied"kiss my ass". If you don’t like what the big chief say’s,jockamo fe na ne. ---
**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:** [November 16, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/19 "2000-11-16T03:32:26Z")
The part about “setting your flag on fire…” Back in the days when Mardi Gras was a REAL party and not a tourist attraction, the various Krewes participating in the parade would carry their own flags, as if they were independent sovereign states. If you could burn another Krewe’s flag, it was considered the ultimate diss. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259/20 "2000-11-16T12:58:21Z")
pldennison writes: \> Now, if we could just figure out how that relates to the \> number of movies that have either “Walking on Sunshine” \> by Katrina and the Waves or James Horner’s score from the \> climax of Aliens in their trailers, we could . . . why, \> we could rule the world! The Internet Movie Database lists the following movies as containing “Walking on Sunshine”. This list isn’t complete though. It doesn’t give any soundtrack information about _Aliens_, let alone what other movies used that score. Furthermore, many trailers use different music from the movie, since they are often made before the scoring of the film is complete: American Psycho (2000) Bean (1997) Dolly Parton: Treasures (1996) (TV) High Fidelity (2000) Look Who’s Talking (1989) Secret of My Succe$s, The (1987) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iko-iko-jockamo-fi-na-ne/41259.md?page=2)