The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #23200   Message #3482501
Posted By: GUEST,Mike V
22-Feb-13 - 12:17 PM
Thread Name: Jacomo finane? What does that mean?
Subject: RE: Jacomo finane? What does that mean?
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.