One of the most well-known songs of Mardi Gras is “Iko-Iko,” made popular after an impromptu jam session was caught on tape by songwriting greats Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. In 1965 New Orleans girl group The Dixie Cups were recording for Leiber and Stoller’s Red Bird Records in a New York studio. They’d finished “Chapel of Love” and during a break the women began singing a song they’d learned from their mother called “Iko-Iko,” a call and response chant of a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. Group member Barbara Hawkins said: “We were just playing around with it during a session using drumsticks on ashtrays. We didn’t realize Jerry and Mike had the tapes running.” Leiber and Stoller later overdubbed bass and percussion along with the drumsticks on ashtrays, released it, and in 1965 it became the Dixie Cups’ final Top 40 record. My husband Ted found this recording, and as soon as he heard it, he said "Lydia Likes It!" And he's right. I do.
Excerpted from The Story Behind "Mardi Gras Mambo" and "Iko Iko" by Lydia Hutchinson on Creative Workshops.
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