new orleans sang iko iko in the 80's.
new orleans sang iko iko in the 80's.
who sang iko iko in the 80's?
new orleans
"iko iko" () is a much-covered new orleans song that tells of a parade collision between two tribes of mardi gras indians and the traditional confrontation. the song, under the original title "jock-a-mo", was written and released in 1953 as a single by sugar boy and his cane cutters but it failed to make the charts. the song first became popular in 1965 by girl group the dixie cups, who scored an international hit with "iko iko". in 1967, as part of a lawsuit settlement between "sugar boy" james crawford and the dixie cups, the trio were given part songwriting credit for the song. in 1972, dr. john had a minor hit with his version of "iko iko". the most successful charting version in the uk was recorded by scottish singer natasha england who took her 1982 version into the top 10. "iko iko" became an international hit again twice more, the first being the belle stars in june 1982 and again with captain jack in 2001.
iko iko
after the dixie cups version of "iko iko" was a hit in 1965, they and their record label, red bird records, were sued by james crawford, who claimed that "iko iko" was the same as his composition "jock-a-mo". although the dixie cups denied that the two compositions were similar, the lawsuit resulted in a settlement in 1967 with crawford making no claim to authorship or ownership of "iko iko", but being credited 25% for public performances, such as on radio, of "iko iko" in the united states. even though a back-to-back listening of the two recordings clearly demonstrates that "iko iko" was practically the same song as crawford's "jock-a-mo", crawford's rationale for the settlement was motivated by years of legal battles with no royalties. in the end, he stated, "i don't even know if i really am getting my just dues. i just figure 50 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing."
iko iko