#8 'Minnie the Moocher' by Cab Calloway & His Orchestra

SONG

I would advise you to watch the whole video; it's an experience. However, if you would just like to hear the song, it begins at 3:40.

"Well the song is fantastic. I love the horns, I love the way he sings and I love joining in with the scat. Also, that man can DANCE! Fancy pants! A bonus for myself was that searching for this song led me to find this Betty Boop cartoon, which I happen to adore in addition to finding it incredibly creepy. My favourite song so far!" - LC


November edit: I have just noticed that the song Cab is dancing to during the intro is none other than his own version of #8 St. James Infirmary Blues.

Written by: Cab Calloway, Irving Mills.

Label: Brunswick.

FACTS

• Cab Calloway was known as the 'Hi-de-hoh Man' and was one of the most successful big-band leaders of the 1930s. He was famous for his flamboyant peformances. 
• The song was based on Frankie Jaxon's song 'Willie the Weeper' which was later performed by Bette Davis in the 1932 film The Cabin in the Cotton. 
• The first 30 seconds of the above video is the earliest-known footage of Calloway. 
• Calloway performed the song in the 1955 movie Rhythm and Blues Revue, filmed at the Apollo Theatre. Much later, in 1980 at age 73, Calloway performed the song in the movie The Blues Brothers. 
• A ghost walrus—whose gyrations were rotoscoped from footage of Calloway dancing—appears to them, and begins to sing "Minnie the Moocher", with many fellow ghosts following along. 
• The song tells the story of a good time girl who was rough and tough but had a heart "as big as a whale." She messes around with a guy named Smokie who was a cocaine user and introduced Minnie to opium by showing her "how to kick the gong around." 
• In performances, Calloway would have the audience participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of call and response. Eventually Calloway's phrases would become so long and complex that the audience would laugh at their own failed attempts to repeat them.

In 1989, 2-pac and Chopmaster J updated the song into a Hip Hop track. You can listen to this below: