# Minnie the Moocher **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911 "2003-12-31T07:21:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bernard\_Marx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/1 "2003-12-31T07:21:25Z")
Just what _is_ a hoochie-coocher anyway? something slightly _risque_ I hope… ---
**Author:** ![Titan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Titan2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Titan2)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/2 "2003-12-31T07:39:59Z")
Hoochie coo was a tag hung on suggestive dances that the early bump and grinders,eg,Little Egypt,did. In Cab Calloway’s world, probably just what today may be termed as a party/club girl. He was an original jive talker. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/3 "2003-12-31T14:02:08Z")
“She was the roughest, toughest frill. But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale.” If Cab were recording today, Minnie would probably be a bitch or a ho. Tragic. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/4 "2003-12-31T15:57:59Z")
**Folks here’s the story 'bout Minnie the Moocher She was a red hot hoochie coocher** _(she was a hip-flinger in a black-and tan, a nightclub dancer)_ **She was the roughest, toughest frail But Minnie had a heart a big as a whale** (_“frail” is slang for “woman”_) **She messed around with a bloke named Smokey She loved him, though he was coke-y** (_Minnie fell for a cocaine addict, as your gentle correspondent herself has been known to do_) **He took her down to Chinatown And he showed her how to kick the gong around** (_Smokey took her to the hop-joints in Chinatown and introduced her to opium_) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/5 "2003-12-31T16:07:09Z")
That was way cool, **Eve**. Could you do the last two verses? Haj ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/6 "2003-12-31T17:26:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hajario \* > \*\*Could you do the last two verses? > > Haj \*\* They’re pretty self-explanatory opium dreams . . . Besides, I might get in dutch for quoting the whole song. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/7 "2003-12-31T17:26:55Z")
Yeah, Eve, explicate the “hi dee hi dee hi dee ho” part next. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/8 "2003-12-31T17:38:34Z")
**hi dee** (_Cab’s vocalist, Dee Montaine, walked by while he was recording_) **hi dee** (_Guess she didn’t hear me, I’ll try again_) **hi dee** (_What the hell is up with that bitch, is she deaf?_) **ho** (_Ho’!_) ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/9 "2003-12-31T17:41:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Moto \* > **If Cab were recording today, Minnie would probably be a bitch or a ho.** Yeah. A [Heidi Heidi Ho](http://www.heidiwear.com/). Forgive me. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/10 "2003-12-31T17:46:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\ ***hi dee** > (_Cab’s vocalist, Dee Montaine, walked by while he was recording_) > **hi dee** > (_Guess she didn’t hear me, I’ll try again_) > **hi dee** > (_What the hell is up with that bitch, is she deaf?_) > **ho** > (_Ho’!_) \*\* Ho, ho, ho! [The 1920s laugh-ray version of lol.] ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/11 "2003-12-31T17:54:44Z")
We could do that for any of Cab Calloway’s songs. He wasn’t known as the “hi di ho man” for nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/12 "2003-12-31T18:09:49Z")
Is _Minnie the Moocher_ in the public domain yet? I know that the film _Hi Di Ho_ is, hallelujah. Anyway, I have the _full_ version posted up at House of Mudd and will provide a link if it’s kosher. I’ve always been mildly surprised that even the truncated version of _Minnie the Moocher_ was as widely accepted as it was by the relatively un-hep. (What with the Betty Boop cartoon and all.) The full version has a bit of a downer ending: > [@](#): > > \*Late one night, after they’d been jaggin’ > They got a free ride in a wagon > Minnie gave him money to pay her bail > but he left her flat in the county jail > > [chorus] > > They took her where they put the crazies > Now poor Minnie’s pushin’ up those daisies. > This is my story, this is my song– > She was just a good gal, but they done her wrong.\* Cab Calloway has a few other songs that feature Minnie and Smokey, too: _Kickin’ the Gong Around_ is the heart-warming sequel in which a regret-filled, junk-sick Smokey vainly tries to find Minnie in their old haunts: > [@](#): > > _He was sweatin’, cold and pale, > He was lookin’ for his frail, > He was broke and all his junk ran out; > Nobody made a sound, > As he stood and looked around, > And then you hear old Smoky shout: > Saying, “Tell me where is Minnie? > My poor Minnie! > Has she been here, > Kicking the gong around?”_ It has an ambivalently happy ending of sorts: _“As he departed/the curtains parted/and there stood Minnie/Kickin’ the gong around.”_ Awwww… And of course there’s the more up-beat _Minnie the Moocher’s Wedding Day_– > [@](#): > > _They said a hundred thousand hoppies > Went over to China picking poppies, > They’re gonna put them all in one bouquet > For Minnie the Moocher’s wedding day!_ …Mudd, who cannot be stopped from singing the entire Cab Calloway Canon when he consumes a single drop over two ounces of spirits. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/13 "2003-12-31T18:22:11Z")
Again, I’d like to point out that references to “junk” in the above lyrics were veiled and obscure to contemporary (non-jive-talking) listeners. “Junk” just made its way into the common vocabulary, and most people forget its original coded connection. Anything _remotely_ Chinese signified opiates, (eg; “gong,” “fan,” etc.) We tend to associate “junk” with trash, but that association wasn’t there at the beginning of the twentieth century. From a jive perspective, it’s strictly a chinese boat. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/14 "2003-12-31T18:55:18Z")
OK, who came first–Minnie the Moocher (the hoochie-coocher) or Willie the Weeper (the chimney sweeper)? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/15 "2003-12-31T19:19:13Z")
I’d bet my eye teeth that Willie came first. It was already recorded (with songwriting credit given as “traditional”) in 1925. I have a Boswell Sisters cover of _Minnie the Moocher’s Wedding Day_, in which they name Willie the Weeper as one of the invited guests – never heard a C.C. recording that featured that line. My interpretation of this has been that that was the Bozziesay of nodding in the direction of Minnie’s roots. (Not that I’ve looked any further than my own gut for that.) ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/16 "2003-12-31T20:07:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\ ***hi dee** > (_Cab’s vocalist, Dee Montaine, walked by while he was recording_) > **hi dee** > (_Guess she didn’t hear me, I’ll try again_) > **hi dee** > (_What the hell is up with that bitch, is she deaf?_) > **ho** > (_Ho’!_) \*\* **Eve** , this wins my vote for the funniest, most clever thing I’ve seen on this message board this whole year. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/17 "2003-12-31T22:19:21Z")
OK! Next Vancouver dopefest, **Larry** ’s drinks are on me! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/18 "2003-12-31T22:25:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wartime Consigliori \* > \*\ ***Eve** , this wins my vote for the funniest, most clever thing I’ve seen on this message board this whole year. \*\* Thank you, dear–I take pride that the worse my life gets, the zingier my wisecracks. Anyone know if **Lyda Roberti** ever recorded _Minnie_? I believe she introduced the song on B’way, amd I would kill to her hear Polish-accented take on it. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/19 "2003-12-31T22:45:58Z")
I haven’t heard a Roberti version, but Danny Elfman (I believe it’s him singing) does a fantastic version as the devil in Forbidden Zone. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911/20 "2003-12-31T23:21:44Z")
The above references to “junk” also help illuminate why addicts are called junkies. Elfman’s version is so cool. I stole the only copy of FB I ever found from a video store around 1988. I lost it due to the kharma. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnie-the-moocher/221911.md?page=2)