A little poking around discovers that there are a great many versions of the song Iko Iko itself (no surprise) and that the first two were put out by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford (under the title Jock-o-mo) and the Dixie Cups (under the title Iko Iko). Neither of these makes any claim of originality. Both Crawford and the Dixie Cups freely admit that they merely repeated what they'd heard, Crawford from Mardi Gras Indian chants, the Dixie Cups from their grandmother (who in turn probably heard it at Mardis Gras). This much is pretty clear, but little else is. In particular, what do the words mean and, prerequisite to that, what are the words?
The second question can only be answered approximately, since the song has been covered so many times, often (probably nearly always) by performers with little or no idea of its possible meaning. This in turn has led to disputes on the order of "Is it chockomo, jockomo, jock-o-mo or what?" "Is it Iko or Aiko" "Is it wa na ne or ah na ne?" and so forth. Keeping in mind that individuals' accents and enunciation may vary and that language itself is fairly shifty, a reasonable rendition of the mystery lyrics is:
Hey now, Hey nowInterpretations vary. One is:
Iko, Iko, an day
Jockomo fee no wah na nay
Jockomo fee na nay
Code language!Another is
God is watching
Jacouman causes it; we will be emancipated
Jacouman urges it; we will wait.
Hey now! Hey now!What's to pick between them?
Listen, listen at the back
Jocomo made our king be born
Jocomo made it happen.
Explanations are also offered for pieces here and there. Who or what is "Jockomo"? No less an authority than Dr. John says Jockomo is a jester. A linguist familiar with Native American trade languages says that chockema feena means "very good" in a now-extinct jargon. What does Iko Iko mean? A Ghanaian linguist says that Ayeko Ayeko is found in a West African chant and means "Well done, congratulations".
Why would it be so difficult to track down the meaning of a song heard and sung by millions? For a start, New Orleans is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, let alone the United States. As Dr. John says, it's a place where "Nothing is purely itself but becomes part of one funky gumbo." Add to that the complex nature of the ingredients themselves — Creole culture, Hatian culture, French and other European cultures, hundreds of West African and Native American languages/dialects, and so forth, many lost or only recently recorded — it would seem almost inevitable that origins become hard to trace.
It's clear from even casual comparison that the song has deep and direct African musical roots. This again is hardly surprising for New Orleans, but some cases are more obvious than others (Louis Armstrong's classic What a Wonderful World seems less obviously African-influenced). It also pretty clear that the rhythms came to the Mardi Gras Indians by way of the Caribbean, in particular Haiti, whose Kata rhythms are clearly similar (compare this and this, for example). The origins of a tune aren't necessarily the same as the origins of its lyrics, but it's not implausible that the Mardi Gras Indians' chants are also Caribbean in origin.
The two translations given above, different though they are, both accord with that general backdrop. The first, based on notes unfortunately lost in the Storm along with so many other cultural treasures, uses a mixture of Yoruba (West African) and Creole French.
The second translation is better documented, at least, and is pure Louisiana Creole:
- akou(t) = French ecoute = listen
- an deye = French en derrière = in back
- Jockomo is a name, possibly Giacomo, possibly "little Jacques"
- fi = French fit = made
- no wa = French notre roi = our king
- ne = French né = born
- the particle na, being peculiar to Creole, makes it "to be born"
This all seems reasonable enough, particularly since the Creole words given all exist in other sources, the words are in the right order and the meaning, while a bit puzzling, is not a complete word salad. But while the general drift seems reasonable, I'm not entirely convinced.
For example, while "Hey now, listen all the way in the back!" makes sense and fits with Mardi Gras chiefs facing off and taunting each other, wouldn't the accent on akout be on the last syllable, not the first? More troubling, though, is the use of the phrase Jockomo feena nay in other places, such as the Wild Magnolias' Brother John is Gone/Herc Jolly John (which is what brought us here in the first place):
Jockomo feena nay, Jockomo feena nay
If you don't like what the Big Chief say
Then jockomo feena nay!
This fits better with another gloss that's been given: "Joker, kiss my ass" (or similar). The Magnolias also exhort the audience to "make Jockomo any way you want", which casts a little doubt on Jockomo being a personal name.
As to the Yoruba/Creole interpretation, I have no idea, except that "code language" is probably not meant as a literal interpretation, rather that "Hey now" (or "Ena" or whatever) is a code meant to call people together. Which seems, um, probable. Again, though, "Jocouman will emancipate us" doesn't seem a likely riposte to someone who doesn't like what the Big Chief says. On the other hand, if the original meaning had been lost, more likely in the case of the Yoruba hypothesis, then perhaps a now-nonsensical string of syllables could be turned into a taunt simply by use as such.
So, what to make of all this? Until someone can come up with something more definitive, like a written record from the 19th century, we're really reading tea leaves. I find the Creole idea the best of the lot, but I wouldn't want to say it's "the" definitive meaning.
More interesting, though, is the way that the funky gumbo, where nothing is purely itself, leads us on a fascinating journey of guesswork with only a provisional, incomplete resolution. That's New Orleans for you.
Sources:
- Wikipedia on Iko Iko, which also cites
- Mudcat Cafe post on the meaning of Iko Iko [now deleted, but see here]
- Offbeat article In Search of Jockomo
- an apparently anonymous PDF on Iko Iko