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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,J Gill Date: 19 Dec 15 - 11:29 AM it means "finally im free" interpreted many ways through the years. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: Ukulele Lizzie Date: 11 May 13 - 09:51 AM @Yanne - Ian Cully I was wondering what the non-Engligh words meant and found: - your post above in this thread - your video on youTube - the extensive info from Mudcat @Azizi here Mudcat Iko Iko thread and in similar threads - and on Azizi's website Iko Iko text analysis on Cocojams - the Wikipedia Iko Iko article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iko_Iko - and much more besides but those references seem to cover most of the ground as they are referenced or copied and pasted elsewhere. It all makes fascinating reading and I have learned such a lot from what I thought would be a very simple quest! However, some things I have read are difficult to understand because they seem to contradict themselves. For example, a couple of statements in your post above. Firstly, and I have seen this repeated word for word elsewhere,
"the chant "Hey now! Hey now! Iko! Iko!" is entirely absent from Crawford's "Jock-o-mo" released in 1953. Why tell a journalist you copied down two chants and amalgamated them and then go to a recording studio and only sing one of the chants? You don't need to take my word for it. Go to www.deezer.com and type in 'Jockomo' in the search box and you'll hear Crawford's 1953 hit free of charge. There's no 'Iko! Iko!' in the lyrics. . . . Later in your post you say,
THE WHOLE VERSE The second statement seems to be the correct one, if this clip from the Sugar Boy Crawford version on YouTube is the original one that he recorded: Jock-a-Mo by Sugar Boy Crawford - "Talkin bout, 'Hey now! Hey now! Iko Iko . . " Is there an earlier recording by Sugar Boy Crawford that does not contain those lines? I could only hear a brief except from the song on the Deezer site that you cited - is that an earlier recording? If not . . . please can you help me to make sense of what seems to be a contradiction in your post above and in a similar post on this Mudcat topic: Iko, Iko - the real words and meaning ? My apologies if I am missing something really obvious here! Best wishes, Lizzie |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,999 Date: 22 Feb 13 - 12:26 PM I don't know if the following has been linked to previously. If not here it is and if so here it is again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iko_Iko |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Mike V Date: 22 Feb 13 - 12:17 PM From what Dr. John said on an episode of Night Music, "Iko" is a transliteration of "I go", and carries the meaning of "get out of my way", and tied with one of the guest posters interpretation of "Jacomo Fin Na Ne" as "I"m nobody to mess with" actually communicates a meaning that makes sense. What with the violent confrontations that took place in the culture of the Black Indian marches back in the day, a chant that boasts "Get outta our way, you do NOT want to mess with us!" is exactly the kind of macho posturing competing groups of drunken partiers trying to intimidate the other, or start a riot with each other, would make. I gotta say, with all due respect, what would "Jacomo gave life to our King, Jacomo made it happen" actually mean? From a Christian viewpoint including the Virgin Birth, Joseph didn't give life to Our King, since he wasn't actually Christ's father, so that wouldn't make sense from a religious standpoint. And while "Talking 'bout.....hey now, Listen up in the rear! It's very nice to be back here, It's been a really good year!" makes sense enough as a chanted statement, it seems a bit innocuous in the context of the violent confrontations mentioned above. I mean, "Hey, y'all in the back, listen up! It's good to be here again and it's been a good year, so let's beat the crap out of somebody, okay?" seems like a non-sequitur, doesn't it? Even if you separate the two chants Crawford combined to make "Jock-o-mo" into individual statements, they would carry the same sort of meaning. "Get out of my way!" and "Don't jack with me!" amount to pretty much the same statement. But even if I'm wrong, and one of those translations is literally correct, I don't think the actual meaning of "Iko iko on de, Jocomo fino wah na ne, Jocomo fin na ne" is gonna be found in a literal translation of the words themselves. I have a very strong suspicion that they carried a meaning attached to the culture they came out of, and I'm not sure I've seen it in any of the posts above this one. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Carl Ellis (Guest) Date: 03 Jan 13 - 01:16 PM Couple things I don't see mentioned above, (~pace~ Dave's Wife)tho they may well enough have no bearing - I remember my dad telling me (from his experience in the area during the large army manoeuvers in Louisiana around 1941), that there was then still enough high feeling between the Italian & Corsican immigrants and the Powers-That-Was that you could count on starting a riot by going to the right neighborhood and yelling "Who kill-a da Police?". Seems as if one interpretation might be a creolization of of something like "Giacomo fini" or "Giacomo fait fini", intended as a taunt & challenge, and referring back to the troubles at the beginning of last century, and meaning something like either "Nyah, nyah, Dago Jake is done for" or "Ha, Jake finished (whomever)". Also, any possibility of "Iko" being a variant/derivative of "Iku"? I have a set of "Tarot" cards modeled on the parallels with the Santerian Orishas, wherein "Death" is "Iku", apparently from Yoruba. "Death gonna get you" sounds like a good threat. My personal $.02 is that Yanne's derivation from Creole looks the most persuasive, but in the linguistic gumbo of N'awlinz, probably you could find a dozen different Indians who chanted it at different times and in different ways who would all swear it meant something different. Obviously "Kiss my ass" and "Eat my shorts" and "I'm gonna **** you up" are not the literal translations, but they look like it feels, as you might say. Form follows function, remember? |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,MariannSRegan Date: 03 Jan 13 - 09:36 AM If it's a bragging, boasting, in-your-face song, why couldn't "Jacomo fina ah na nay, Jacomo fina ne" mean something like "Brother John is NOT dead"? nay, ne. In other words, he'll always be around. You can't mess with him. Or the Big Chief. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Turk Ducarre Date: 01 Jan 13 - 01:11 AM I lived in New Orleans for some years, and second-lined with plenty of Injun tribes. I'd listened to the Wild Tchoupitoulas records and sung along with the Grateful Dead for years before I headed to the City that Care Forgot. The main influence on what things "mean" in New Orleans is that it's not limited by the purely rational - it's poetry. Poetry is the most meaning in the least language. New Orleanians today are largely illiterate (truly: close to 50% cannot read nor write), and have usually been even less limited by literal definitions throughout three centuries and more. So many of the meanings in this thread are at least relevant, even some that are contradictory when confined within a 21st Century American public education. Especially the ones consistent with African and Italian roots: the recordings from Cosimo Matassa's 1940s and 1950s studios where Black culture was first recorded (and where I lived generations later) are more fingerprints from the scene. Of course everyone knows New Orleans is mixed up French, but it was Spanish for 34 years after and before the French ran it. Flirty double entendres, cunning secret codes, inside jokes especially about outsiders, conflations, resonances, repetition for its own sake, transcendent symbols: this is Nawlins. Among the second-liners - whether paraders, musicians, feathered Injuns, stumblebums or E. all of the above - "Jacomo fi na nay" was taken to mean "out of the way, fool": the operative meaning when a parade comes up the street you're standing in. But indeed its more literal meaning is in the song Brother John. "If you don't like what the Big Chief say / You just Jacomo fi na nay" = "You're just dead, fool". Same difference, as we Yankees say before they tame us in school. Mardi Gras parades were fun, central cultural drumbeats of one of the most mixed cultures in the world. They were also battlefields, with tribes shooting and cutting each other while fired up on song, liquor, vendettas and voodoo (and everything else within reach in that global port). "Out of the way fool" is just a modulation of "you're dead fool" when the tribe comes through. "Ah nah nay" probably is connected to "andante": "get to steppin'", again in a fuzzy association defined by the urgency of the street more than by a dictionary. Now, who knows what "handa wanda" means? |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: michaelr Date: 17 Jun 12 - 02:02 AM Shame? I have none. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,9er Date: 16 Jun 12 - 03:45 AM The last guest has misspelled guttural and the 'your' in the final sentence should be spelled you're because it is the contraction for 'you are'. While I am pleased the guest has such erudite views, I will draw attention to this: languages in English use capital letters at the beginning of them, so latin should be Latin and french should be French. Those and others like Romansh, Spanish and Portuguese are similarly treated. As a point of note, they are called Romance languages, not romantic languages, regardless what guest tells the sheep. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Jun 12 - 11:49 PM Michaelr - for shame. Looks like this thread has ambled along for a dozen years. Surely someone telling you you've spent too much time on it isn't to be dismissed? Take it in your stride. I'll have to read the whole thing now that it has come back up to the top. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: michaelr Date: 15 Jun 12 - 03:19 PM Thanks for popping in here to set us straight, O Guest. Now fuck off. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Sydonai Date: 15 Jun 12 - 03:05 PM Don't over think it you morons! It means nothing at all! The words are chantings for guteral abstract impact and nothing else. The song is a compilation of chanting by drunk bayou mardi gras revelers and real music compiled by Sugar Boy Crawford in the early 60's. If you try and break down the chanting using latin, french or any other romantic language then your not only an idiot but you have WAY TOO MUCH TIME. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,gUEST Date: 20 Apr 12 - 03:00 PM Check the Neville Brothers "Brother John/Iko Iko" Jacamo Finane Jacamo Finane Well if you don't like what the Big Chief say You just Jacamo finane Jacamo Finane Jacamo Finane Well if you don't like what the Big Chief say You just Jacamo finane Brother Brother Brother John is gone Well Brother Brother Brother John is gone |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GEST Date: 30 Jan 12 - 12:55 PM Jim Fidler performing 'Jacamo' live at Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland, August 2009, with video courtesy of Lillian Fidler: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LD6RehyIRg |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST Date: 26 Sep 11 - 04:50 AM its supposed to mean "i'm no one to be messed with" or "don't mess with me", or as i would put it "don't fuck with me!" |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST Date: 24 Jun 11 - 08:44 PM It means kiss my ass...seriously that's what it means. If you don't like what the Big Chief say ya just Choko Mo feel no hey |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Mikey Date: 23 May 11 - 04:51 PM Checking my French-English Dictionnaire, "fin" can mean death, ne(w/accent)birth. Another word, "neant" (w/accented "e") means nothing, naught, annihilation, etc. All 1st year French students know that "a" is a broad prepostion meaning to, at, into, on, by, for..." depending on usage. "Fin a neant" could translate, even in modern French, to "death by annihilation." Alternative for the seminarians...Death and Birth (fin a ne) could refer to the Resurrection, if you are so inclined. Could the allusions to red garments in the discussion below and fire in the song could mean that the ship burned? Are there any historians of the slave trade out there? |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Mikey Date: 23 May 11 - 03:52 PM After reading all below and listening to Dr. John's version, "John Canoe/Jacamo (the reputed notorious English Slave Trader w/a large boat/ship/canoe) is dead (pidgeon French for finane)! would be a celebratory exclamation. Still trying to figure out Iko Iko. Maybe it really is a Native American war cry. "Unday" has to be Sunday. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: Neil D Date: 30 Mar 11 - 10:50 PM Refresh |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST Date: 02 Mar 11 - 04:12 AM The way I heard the story is: a man witnessed a standoff in an indian tribe and overheard the words "Iko","chokma", "unday", "fina", "ane" or something. The man(writer of Iko) wrote them as he thought they would be written. So it may not mean john! The translation I was told is something like: Talking 'bout hey now(hey now) hey now(hey now) Listen up in the back It's very nice to be back It's been a very good year If I were to make this rhyme: Talking 'bout.....hey now, Listen up in the rear! It's very nice to be back here, It's been a really good year! |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Guest Date: 02 Mar 11 - 03:56 AM I heard that Jacoma finane(Chokma fin ane) means it's been a good year...which does make Callies dream seem really creepy... |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Kathy Date: 19 Feb 11 - 02:06 PM in French fit and fis are passe simple, and seen more in literature as a refined way of using the past tense. But it's not old French, it's written, formal French. And the mourir is conjugated with the verb etre...so would be Jacques est mort... Not sure about the origin of this whole thing...just wanted to weight in on some French comments. Please excuse the lack of accent marks. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Eaux the cajun name Date: 17 Feb 11 - 06:47 PM If you break it down phonetically, and rearrange it in French, it could be: (Jacques a mort fin annee), which could translate (in very slang French), to "John died at the end of the year", so there could be some merit in that. Good luck y'all! |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST Date: 05 Jan 11 - 04:59 AM Iko iko Ade is way older than fifty years it was made popluar by the Dixie Cups in the 1950's and 60's (who went to school with my mother). But Iko, Iko, Ade the Mardi Gras Indians been singing it for more than a century and it comes form the Youruba peoples of Nigeria West Africa who came to New Orleans as slaves and this song has been sung in New Orleans for almost two centuries! Iko meaning" Golden "and Ade meaning 'crown", their was a place called Congo Square in New Orleans were the Slaves where allowed to Dance and practice their customs as they would have in Africa! This explains the parculiar and very africa customs of the Afrcan Americans of NewOlreans including the seconlines, which are derivative of th Chica, Calinda, and Bamboula dances first brought form Africa. Its; not even Creole french or Native American in origin! The Mardi Gras Indians still sing Golden Crown which is an English derivative of the song you tube the Mardi Gras Indians and the Golden Crown! God Bless Peace. Shalom! Sincerely , Jason M.Le Beau |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Doug Saum Date: 08 Dec 10 - 04:10 PM The following information is gleaned from comments and research done by David Dodd (quoting Blair Jackson's GOING DOWN THE ROAD) in his THE COMPLETE ANNOTATED GRATEFUL DEAD LYRICS pp. 276-77. Iko is a slave song dervived from two chants into a call and response. In the late 18th century whites began to allow slaves one day a week "to strut their stuff and whoop it up in New Orleans' Congo Square while the gentry watched." This led to a competition between the various factions of singers and dancers which becomes the origin of the "tribes" which can still be seen in Mardi Gras parades. These competitions led to actual fighting till the 1890's when order was restored and the competition was confined to style, wit, costuming, etc. The lyrics of "Iko" show the vestiges of this change. "My spy boy," for example refers to one designated to alert his "tribe" when rival tribes get too close. Accd to Art Nevilee of the Neville Brothers "I think it's a case of where the pronunciation changed over generations. It was 'Iko' by the time it got to Cheif Jolly. It may have come from the word 'hike,' because that's what you do on Mardi Gras -- hike all over the city, trying to see all the masks and the different parades." The first recording of "Iko" (called "Jock-o-Mo") came from a young New Orleans singer named James "Sugar Boy" Crawford for Checker Records in 1954. Crawford says, ". . . to be honest, I didn't, and still don't have any idea what the words mean." Next version is the famous one by the Dixie Cups (1965). This was an afterthought at a recording session when Phil Spector heard the singers and percussion jamming through the tune, he turned on the tape recorder and captured the track. Dr. John (Mac Rebannack), The Nevilles, and Grateful Dead are keeping the song alive through their performances. So what does Jocko mo fee na nay mean? The exact translation is lost in time, but it was probably a mild insult in a disguised patois created so that observing whites could not understand it. Phil Lesh of Grateful Dead felt it meant "Kiss my ass." We may never know for sure. Doug Saum (P. S. My two cats are named Iko and Jokomo.) |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: michaelr Date: 08 Dec 10 - 01:19 AM Luciano, if you were a Mudcat member (it's free), you could send a PM (Personal Message) to member Poppagator, who knows a lot about Nawlinz music (he lives there). Generally though, it's better to start a new thread with a specific request. You don't have to join to do that. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Luciano - Brasil Date: 07 Dec 10 - 04:59 AM I´m working on some Mardi Gras - N´awlinz songs for a concert (I´m a musician) so I´m trying to contact people who could help me in any way. How could I contact you? Thank you for your atention Best LL |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST Date: 03 Aug 10 - 07:28 AM your sorta right about the neworleans thing but it was a name of a resturant or bar that is still there |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Naimawan Date: 25 Jul 10 - 05:18 PM I just found this thread today and read it in its entirety. So much wonderful conversation, and information. I enjoyed the discussion about Jonkunnu (I'm from the Caribbean). The response from Yanne on 10 Feb 10 is the best stuff I've read about the words of the fascinating song, Iko Iko. I always thought "Iko" meant "Brother" in some dialect. I've been listening to the Neville Brother's version of this song for over a decade--loving it always!--and now I get to experience it in a whole new way. It's like a brand new song to me. Hopefully, I'll be at Karneval and Mardi Gras in New Orleans next year. Hope I see some really pretty Indians! Thanks, All! |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Crater Date: 15 Jul 10 - 01:21 PM Just to throw something into the mix. In French argot the word for brother is 'frangin'(pronounced fronjan). Perhaps finane is a similar word in Italian ans Jacomo finane simply means Brother John. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST Date: 07 Jul 10 - 09:15 AM The French colony of Louisiana was not settled by Louis IV, who lived in the Tenth century. I think you meant Louis XIV. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,guest, kiran Date: 07 Jul 10 - 03:38 AM Yanne ... came to read this thread after watching Treme on HBO. And just back from France, where I was told San Giacomo = St Joseph, and picked up a little French. So when I got to your AMAZING and lucid post of 10 Feb it made sense of the whole deal and really resonated with me, except at the end I was thinking, if Giacomo = Joseph, then "Jacomo gave life to our King" could be a reference to Joseph and Jesus -- "Joseph gave life to our King (Jesus)". Catholic faith/ritual/genealogy was a big part of the mix in Creolean life, right? And the other day the tribes parade is St. Joseph's Day... But, then, so, I'm confused by your 5 March post in which you say it's not Creole it's a Choctaw, Houma and Chickasaw greeting. Did you read something more that changed your mind? Kiran |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 26 Jun 10 - 08:25 PM This is a long thread. I read almost all of the posts, but may have overlooked a line oer two. Maybe this has already been mentioned, but The Neville Brothers recorded the song, with Iko Iko on the album Fiyo on the Bayou. It's a great album. I bought it when it came out many years ago and that's where I first heard Brother John. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST Date: 17 Jun 10 - 10:26 AM From My understading Chocomo Feeno is the Choctaw phrase for "very well" It is very similar to Jockomo Feen In. The ex-African and Caribbean slaves interacted with the Chocktaw and picked up a lingua franca (patois) that was used a couple of hundred years ago. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Parain Date: 24 May 10 - 12:46 PM This has been incrediably entertaining. First to the OP. Put the two theories together. Jackamo does mean clown. That's how my Creole Mother used it. It can either be used as a noun or a verb, as in you clown or to clown around (all out foolishness). Finane means "It is finished". Jacomo Finane means literally, "Your clowning is over". The song Iko, Iko tells about two Indian tribes meeting. One Flag boy threatens to burn the others flag which would equal wiping his gang out. The other says, "Here comes my Chief, your foolishness is over". That's it, nothing more, finane. One other thing, Nainain and Parain (pronounced Na nan or nanna and Pa ran) are Godmother and Godfather, not Grandmother and Grandfather. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: Yanne Date: 05 Mar 10 - 08:30 PM Guest Pagan - you're wrong. It's not 'I'm gonna f--- you up' at all. Neither is it Creole. It's a Choctaw, Houma and Chickasaw greeting meaning 'It's very good'. If you want to know the real words and their English meaning, on Google type 'Iko Iko' in the searchbox, then click on 'Iko Iko Wikipedia'. You'll see the words are not at all as they're sung - there was no Jocomo, it was no one's name. Jocomo is how Sugar Boy Crawford phonetically copied down the Indian chant he heard between two tribes at Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1953. He copied down 'Jocomo fee no' when they were really chanting 'Chokma Fina' which means 'It's very good'. I know Dr John and others have given their own opinions on what the words mean (Dr John actually said it meant 'eat your pants') but seriously, Dr John isn't exactly a linguist. He can't speak a word of French Louisiana Creole, and the chant is entirely in Creole except for the one Indian phrase Chokma finha'. If you don't feel like reading the rather long Wikipedia article, wait till next week, when you'll see a Youtube video which makes everything very clear. Ian Cully (Yanne) |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,pagan Date: 04 Mar 10 - 08:55 AM its creole and it roughly translates as "im gonna f*** you up" |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,jamie burkhalter Date: 15 Feb 10 - 10:59 PM okay, so i skipped some parts b/c this is a long thread but CHECK THIS OUT it EXPLAINS EVERYTHING! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iko_Iko the famous version of the song is the one by Dr. John- in this video Dr. John "conjugates" IKO IKO (also, check out the video response video of just him playing the piano) you've got to hear this guy talk! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx1KhaEc_8I&feature=video_response I'm from near New Orleans and grew up hearing this song as a traditional Mardi Gras theme. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,999 Date: 10 Feb 10 - 07:13 PM Yanne, great work. I ditto what michaelr said. Excellent! |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: michaelr Date: 10 Feb 10 - 07:03 PM Thank you Yanne - very interesting information. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: Yanne Date: 10 Feb 10 - 09:03 AM I've been reading this thread with interest, especially as it's been going for nearly ten years now! Personally I never had much of a problem with the words of 'Iko, Iko' apart from a couple of blanks (due to fluent French plus great trips to the Creole Caribbean French islands and Cajun and Creole speaking Louisiana), but now I see that quite a lot of people are genuinely interested in the origins of the words. So I did some serious research (below) and I can tell you the words in Creole, with their French and English meanings. The song "Iko, Iko" made its debut as "Jock-o-mo" in 1953. It was written by a 19 year old black musician named James Sugar Boy Crawford who copied down the ceremonial war chants of opposing Black Indian tribes who faced each other off during the Mardi Gras festivals in New Orleans. Since 1965 when the Dixie Cups made it into a hit, the song has been known as "Iko, Iko". The song's words are neither impenetrable nor gibberish, as some people seem to think. They are also neither old French nor Cajun French. They are Kreyol Lwizian (Louisiana Creole). The reason the song is sung with different words by Crawford, the Dixie Cups, The Grateful Dread and others is because none of these people speak Creole. And other British and American singers are in the same boat. You need some history to understand the real words. First, there's a controversy you should know about. In a 2002 interview Crawford says he phonetically copied down two chants. One was "Iko, Iko" - the other was "Jockomo fee no wah na nay". Sugar Boy Crawford said he then amalgamated the two separate chants and put them to music - and a great song was born. The only problem with this story is that the chant "Hey now! Hey now! Iko! Iko!" is entirely absent from Crawford's "Jock-o-mo" released in 1953. Why tell a journalist you copied down two chants and amalgamated them and then go to a recording studio and only sing one of the chants? You don't need to take my word for it. Go to www.deezer.com and type in 'Jockomo' in the search box and you'll hear Crawford's 1953 hit free of charge. There's no 'Iko! Iko!' in the lyrics. The words "Iko, Iko" only appeared twelve years later, in 1965, when the Dixie Cups recorded it on the Redbird Records label. The girl band claimed that they didn't understand the words themselves (not speaking Creole) and learned them parrot-fashion from their grandmother. A lawsuit lodged by Sugar Boy Crawford claiming that the Dixie Cups version of the song was based on his original Jock-o-mo 1953 version was settled out of court. In his 2002 interview with Offbeat.com Crawford said he considered that it was better to have 50% of something than 100% of nothing. I think the 50% settlement was really due to the fact that Crawford wrote half the song and the Dixie Cups wrote the other half. The "Jockomo fee no wah na nay'' lyrics were indeed first introduced by Crawford in 1953, but the "'''Iko, Iko'''" part wasn't, because it was introduced by the Dixie Cups. Leaving aside the legal aspects of the claim, it's fascinating to know that the Dixie Cups had learnt the words parrot-fashion from their grandmother. So someone other than Crawford was also writing down (or remembering) the Black Indian chants at Mardi Gras in New Orleans! The Black Indian chants, even though they have words of French origin, have everything to do with Creole French, and nothing to do with Cajun French (which though it was also 'old French', adhered to French syntax and grammar). Louisiana Creole, though similar to French, has a syntax of its own – it's basically pidgin-French, with grammar that would make a Frenchman cringe and with words that are foreshortened and spoken with flat accents in quick, rapid-fire delivery. Louisiana Creole originated from French descendants of the formerly French colony of Louisiana settled by King Louis IV (till Thomas Jefferson bought it in 1803 in the Louisiana Purchase). The language was that spoken by the slaves of the French colonists, so it's black French, and it was widely spoken by New Orleans black population till English gradually took over as the main language. Unfortunately, the Creole language was never written down (seriously) for 200 years except for a few poems or songs. Now, it's starting to be, but dictionaries are rare, and often incomplete. Some dictionaries that do however stand out are "Le Dictionnaire Créole" - "Le Dictionnaire Sioudi" - Louisiana Creole Vocabulary from angelfire - The Creole/English Wordlist" - the Verbix Creole conjugator – and perhaps the best is Webster's Creole/English dictionary. Most of you in the thread seem to know a lot about the Black « Indian » tribes so I won't digress on them except to say there are now about 40 Indian tribes. It wasn't always so. "Jelly Roll" Morton (born Ferdinand Joseph Lamothe), the American jazz pianist, bandleader and composer, was a Spyboy in his youth, and revealed that at that time there were only four or five Black Indian tribes in New Orleans. A good description (not mine) of the confrontations is: "One by one, dancing in toe/heel fashion, each member of a tribe meets his counterpart. Spyboy first meets Spyboy. Flagboy meets Flagboy. Wildman, then first, second, and third chiefs, queen(s) and children - all meet and play out their traditional roles. And finally one Big Chief faces the other. Knees bent, arms outspread, swaying from foot to foot and turning in a circular motion, the chiefs slowly size up each other. This preening proves especially effective for showing off the costumes. Prestige for the tribe is garnered through the beauty and intricacy of the suits, role playing, and the strength of its presence in the community". The chants are generally in the Call and Response fashion – in fact very much as the Dixie Cups sang the song. The tribe and its crowd of enthusiastic followers "respond", sometimes chanting a traditional chorus of words that have no common meaning and often derived from the early Creole language. These songs, although similar, are rarely sung in the same way by all the tribes although they lay claim to the same common repertoire. The tempo may be relaxed or fast depending upon the mood of the singers, but it remains consistent throughout the chant. Competition is nurtured in a creative climate that awards prestige and respect to the person who is able to out-sew, out-dress, and out-sing another Black Indian of equal rank from another tribe The chants are Creole in origin but are badly deformed by the Black "Indians". Sybil Kein writes: 'The chants of the Mardi Gras Black Indians have been diluted over the years by American black speech. A good example of Black Indian creole is in the chant or prayer that opens their Mardi Gras observance. They sing "Madi cu defio, en dans dey" which is a corruption of the old Creole song "M'allé couri dans déser" used in connection with Voodoo rituals and associated with the Calinda dance'' (Wilson, "Traditional Louisiana French Folk Music", pg 59; Mrs. Augustine Moore, interview with author, 1980). "Iko, Iko" and "Jockomo" were two of these Black Indian chants. ==The phonetic words of the song Iko Iko== The words as they are sung today are: Hey now, Hey now Iko, Iko, an day Jockomo fee no wah na nay Jockomo fee na nay'' Some singers deform the original lyrics – for example Dr. John signs "Hed now, Hed now" which isn't Creole, Cajun, French, old French, Quebec French, or even English – it's pure artistic license. As you know, many singers covered Iko, Iko. You can hear all their different versions free of charge on deezer.com by typing in "Iko, Iko" into the search box. Anyway, though musically richer, these newer versions consistently stray from the original. If the song is still being sung 500 years from now, one wonders what the words will have evolved to! Let's start with the word "Jockomo". Sugar Boy Crawford wasn't the only singer to use the word Chocomo (as he sang the word) or Jock-o-mo (as the record label misheard and entitled the song). The most oft-recorded Indian tribe, Big Chief Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles, issued "In the Morning, Jockomo", the Krewe Renegades recorded "Jockomo Zydeco", Huey Piano Smith's song "Don't You Know Yocomo" can be heard on Deezer.com and Danny Baker's song released on King Zulu Records had lyrics of "Choco Me Fee ndo Hey". Jocomo is basically a name – and it's the only contestable part of what I'm writing because its origin is uncertain, even in Creole. I see from the long thread that many of you have different meanings for Jocomo. - Giacomo (from the Italian) - Junkamo - Jester or Jokester (Dr. John said this on the sleeve of one of his albums) - John Jolly (apparently a famous former Big Chief tribe leader) I find it hard to accept that Jackomo is 'Jester' despite Dr. John's huge reputation. The French, the Cajuns and the Creoles would all refer to a jester as a "fou", or as a "buffon" (buffoon in English) as the court of Louis IV did. Even the Joker in a deck of playing cards isn't called a 'Joker' but a 'fou'. If further proof be needed, not one of the Creole dictionaries or lexicons I refer to above cite the word Jockomo for 'jester'. I don't think it can be Junkamo either (just doesn't sound right), nor John Jolly - wasn't he a genuine Cherokee Indian who lived in Houston, not a Black Indian from New Orleans? In fact, I've read letters between John Jolly and Sam Houston in 1837, written when Houston was the beginnings of a township when John Jolly was seeking protection of Native American rights and traditions. I can see three possible alternatives. That Jocomo or Jackomo was a name is obvious, but it may have been a derived name. It may have been Jacques, to which 'mot' was added affectionately meaning "Small Jack", or "Dear Jack" or "Our dear little Jack" – much as Pierrot is used for Pierre, and Jeannot for Jean. Or it could be 'Birdman' – the 'Jaco' is Creole for a perroquet (parrot) and some of the Black Indian costumes are of men completely covered in feathers with a pseudo beak – le Jaco – easily turned into Jaccomo. Or it could have been a monkey suit, from Jaquot (a monkey) but this is less likely because Jacquot is Creole for monkey in other Creole speaking parts of the world rather than in Louisiana. Anyway, I hope we can all agree that Jocomo, whatever its origins, was a NAME. Now we come to the critical lines: Hey now! Hey now! Iko, Iko an day Jockomo fee no wah na nay Jockomo fee na nay The first two lines were originated by The Dixie Cups in 1965, the second two were initiated by Sugar Boy Crawford in 1953. These are genuine French Creole-origin sentences which were adapted in the Black Indian chant and which paid scant respect to the rules of French grammar. In Creole they are: Ena! Ena! Akout, Akout an deye Jocomo fi nou wa na né Jockomo fi na né In English, this equates to: Hey now! Hey now! Listen, listen at the back Jocomo made our king be born Jocomo made it happen. Now we come to the part that deserves your closest attention – proving the above. Ena! Ena! This is a coded 'call' – the chants were call and response songs – much as The Dixie Cups sang it. 'E' is 'and' (the French and Cajuns would have said 'Et', but Creole shortens everything), and 'na' is 'to have', 'I have', 'So', 'Then' etc. It would equate to something like "Now then!" But it's a coded call – it could start anyway you like to get a chant going. "Iko" (first introduced by The Dixie Cups) is "Akout" in Creole, for the French "Ecoute!" or the English "Listen!". The fact that the French Creole "Akout!" (and sometimes just "koute") was pronounced as "Iko!" was due to how the Black Indians deformed or adapted the Creole word to suit their timing, metre or accent, softening and shortening the initial "A" and typically leaving off the hard "t" at the end of the word. So it ended up being sung as "Akou!" which in a noisy Indian face-off in a New Orleans street at Mardi Gras would phonetically come across as "Iko". "An day" as written down by Crawford was in Creole "an deye". The word "an" is like the French 'en' (in) but accented in the Creole accent. In Creole it has lots of meanings - 'at', 'in' etc (See Webster's), and "deye" means 'after', behind' 'rear'. The procession of an Indian tribe in the streets at Mardi Gras is several hundred yards long and can extend over several city blocks. In front you have the ceremonially dressed Indians (Spyboy, Flagboy, 2d, 3rd, 4th Chiefs, the Queen, the Wildmen and so on) and they're followed by the rest of the voluminous tribe, not as fantastically garbed as the front runners. That's why the Big Chief has to be everywhere – he has to keep his entire Tribe in order and together. So "Akout, akout an deye" – Listen! Listen at the rear" is plausibly what the gang at the front leading the procession would be chanting to their followers behind them as the whole tribe marched down the street. Next we have Crawford's "Jocomo fee no wah na nay". In Creole this is "Jocomo fi nou wa na né" – in English "Jocomo made our King to be born" (literally), but figuratively it would mean "Jocomo (Birdman I think) gave life to our king". Perhaps that particular King was dressed as a Bird. Let's look at the individual words of that sentence - Jocomo fi nou wa na né . Crawford's "fee" is "fi" in Creole, which is the third person past tense of the verb "faire" (to do, to make to cause etc). So "Jacquemot fi" would be "Jacquemot made" (or did, or prepared, or constructed or caused). Modern French has no word such as "fi". For "fi" the French say "fit" (made). In addition, modern French speakers rarely use "fit". Thus, to say "Jacquemot made" - they would say "Jacquemot a fait" – not "Jacquemot fit" (even though it is grammatically correct) - because it is 'old French'. However, 'old French' is very prevalent in the Creole language. It was the only French the slaves heard from their French masters back in the 1600's when New Orleans was built as a sea port/fort and from then on till the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Verbix Conjugator gives the use of "fi" for all cases, singular and plural: I made - mo fi Thou made - to fi He or she made - li fi We made - nou fi You made - vou fi They made - yè fi But Sugar Boy Crawford wasn't a Creole speaker. He was a young man listening to Black Indians slogging it out verbally at Mardi Gras. It's highly likely that when he heard the Indians chanting "Jacomo fi..." he would, quite naturally, have phonetically written it as "Chocomo fee..." Crawford's "no" is not no. The lyrics "Jockomo fee '''no'' are really Jackomo fi "nou". The "no" used in the Crawford version is not a negative. It's "nou" the Creole word for "our", "us" or "we" (Webster's). For Crawford the distinction must have been hard to pick up. He wrote down what he heard as best he could, equating the chanted 'nou' to the English word 'no' which must have popped into his mind as he was scribbling down the chant. Perhaps it was even due to the way the 'warring' Indians pronounced the word, cutting short the ending as they did for Akout.. The words "wah na nay" As an entire set of three words, "wah na nay" does not exist in either traditional old French, modern French, or Cajun French. In phonetic Creole French however, it does exist. It's "wa" (in French Roi, in Englsh King) – "nan" (into) – "né" (born). The Creoles changed the French pronunciation of the word King (Roi) to the simpler and flatter "Wa'' leaving off the initial 'r' sound (you'll find 'wa' given as the Creole for 'Roi' in Creole/English Wordlist mentioned above). The word "Nan" is exclusively peculiar to Creole. You can check this in the Creole/English Wordlist which shows several meanings of "nan", which are 'into' 'in', 'to', 'on'. And the word "Né" (born) is the same in both Creole and French, the past participle of the verb "naitre" (to be born) pronounced 'nay' just as Sugar Boy Crawford wrote it. So the whole line: "Jockomo fee no wah na nay" is:"Jacquemot fi nou wa nan né" meaning "Jacquemot made our King into born" (in English: Jacquemot gave life to our King) and "Jockomo fee na nay" is: "Jacquemot fi nan né" meaning "Jacquemot made into born". In this sense it means "Jocomo made it happen". It's the kind of pidgin-French that would make French speakers cringe, but Creole grammar, although similar, doesn't have the same syntax as classic French grammar. THE WHOLE VERSE As sung by Sugar Boy Crawford and the Dixie Cups: Hey now! Hey now! Iko! Iko! an day! Jockomo fee no wah na nay Jockomo fee na nay In the original Creole French would be: Ena! Ena! Akout! Akout an dèyè! Jacomo fi nou wa nan né Jacomo fi nan né And in English would be: Hey now! Hey now! (or Hed Now!' if you're Dr. John) Listen! Listen! at the rear! Jacomo gave life to our King Jacomo made it happen As to the rest of the verses "My Flagboy, Sitting by the fire (fiyo by Dr. John) or My Marraine, or "gonna fix your chicken wire (wiyo by Dr John) etc etc, aren't Creole in origin. The Black Indians originally never sang those English language verses – they just sang the chant above. The English verses were written for the recording studios by the various people who have made hits with this song, each one adding his or her own verses. Crawford's were the original verses in English, and he slipped in the chants 'Jocomo fee nah nay" to finish off each verse and his successors improved and added to the verses. It's never easy to decipher the true origins of a very old chant, especially as it wasn't written down but passed from generation to generation, but whatever the truth – it's still a great song! Do write and let me know if this helped. P.S. I'm also adding this to the other related threads referring to Jocomo. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: mousethief Date: 03 Feb 10 - 03:31 PM I love this song. Nothing substantial, that's all. O..O =o= |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,daggerdave Date: 03 Feb 10 - 02:47 PM anyone know the meaning of two way pocky way? or where it came from? |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: Ross Campbell Date: 17 Jan 10 - 06:01 AM Azizi's links above seem to have lapsed. Here's another:- Dixie Cups - Iko Iko Ross |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Tomas Date: 16 Jan 10 - 09:46 PM Well, just to add to the confusion, concerning IKO, "N Ko" means "I say" in Malinki, Mandingo, Bambara and several other Mande related West African languages, and a very common way of starting a sentance, a bit like "Hey man..." or similar. Now, could it possibly??? It is probably not true, but any way sort of true in a funny historical way... |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,Jdoggtn Date: 09 Aug 09 - 01:22 AM I have always theorized that Jockamo Finane meant "Kiss My Ass", although I was never sure exactly why. At least one reason was the context in a Wild Tchoupitoulas song: "If you don't like what the Big Chief say, you just jockamo finane." While it's possible that Jocka-mo could be taken as a proper name (and certainly it is used as such for a lot of Louisiana-themed restaurants), I doubt that it's a proper name, any more than Two-way pocky-way or any other of the Mardi Gras Indian dialect words. The latter phrase has been theorized as being from the Spanish "Kill anyone in front of you", i.e. who blocks your path, which makes the "Kiss My Ass" theory more likely for jockamo etc. After all, these chants, with their references to spy boys and flag boys are describing the Mardi Gras or St. Joseph's Day rituals of Indian 'gangs" confronting each other. These meetings in the old days were often violent, hence the references to "Corey" dying on the battlefield, or "Brother John" being gone. My theory is that these songs relate to specific deaths resulting from Mardi Gras Indian battles of older days (the 1930's perhaps), which could possibly be found in back issues of the Times-Picayune if someone had the time and inclination. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: PoppaGator Date: 22 Jun 09 - 01:56 PM There are too many Mudcat threads of this subject to keep track of. A month or two ago I responded to a similar thread ~ one NOT among the "Related Threads" listed above ~ after reading an interesting article on this topic which was published in Offbeat magazine. The writer had some intriguing things to say after visiting West Africa and hearing some very familiar singing. I wanted to post a link to the piece, but the magazine's website hides many articles (including this one) from the public and makes them accessible only to registered paid-up subscribers. The magazine is distributed free of charge in New Orleans, so local folks like me have no reason (except for philanthropy) to subscribe. So ~ no way to link to the published text. Best I could do was to scan the page (it was a one-full-page article) and email it to Azizi. Maybe there's some way to get it out to all the rest of y'all in general, like perhaps via the Mudcat group-page at Facebook. I found the author's theories regarding African origins to be quite plausible ~ in large part because he also showed an basic understanding of Mardi Gras Indian culture. The song/chant IS, after all, part of that culture. I can't take seriously those theorists who advance their guesses without such knowledge. For example, anyone who would transcribe a given lyric as "my fat boy told your fat boy" is betraying their ignorance of the most basic Mardi Gras Indian lore ~ it's flag boy! |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST Date: 21 Jun 09 - 07:56 PM Mbo - you are a freaking tool & a utter & bloody disgrace to the mane of all italians!! - Giacomo or Jacomo is JAMES!!! - Giovanni is John!! Stupido stronzo che non sei altro!! |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: GUEST,toddletunes Date: 10 May 09 - 12:10 AM Hi y'all, I'm fascinated by the diatribe generated by this topic!!! Given all the reference to Italianism i.e. Giacomo, etc... has anyone considered (as it sounds on Dr. John's recording) 'Andante' is the Italian name for the tempo describing walking? As in Giacomo fino (is done) an-dan-day (walking) Think 'Jack don't walk this earth no more, Jack is dead' as you listen to Mac sing 'Jockomo fino an-dan-day, Jockomo fin-a-ne' I'm not sold on any particular interpretation btw, but that resonated with my interpretation. |
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Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean? From: Azizi Date: 03 Jan 09 - 05:34 PM fergie38, let me hasten to say that I didn't mean to imply that there's no such movie scene. I just meant that unfortunately, I know nothing about it. |
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