The song contains dope references which often surprise a modern audience.
She messed around with a bloke named Smokey"Cokey" is a reference to cocaine use, and "kicking the gong around" is an old slang term meaning to smoke opium.
She loved him though he was cokey
He took her down to Chinatown
And showed her how to kick the gong around
Calloway wrote multiple additional verses for the song, most of which aren't included with the versions we have here. The last verse ends with Minnie being carted off to "where they put the crazies," where she dies. Hence the final line, found in all versions here, except the English one below, of: "Poor Min, poor Min."
2 comments:
Love the track, all versions, and love the film. Have sung a few of those songs at karaoke, too :)
The Blues Brothers will make anybody appreciate the blues. This post is wonderful, showing us Cab Calloway singing it twice, 50 years apart, and the inimitable Laurie and Fry singing their own version (sir).
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