Iko Iko

Lyrics: Traditional [James "Sugar Boy" Crawford]
Music: Traditional [James "Sugar Boy" Crawford]

First introduced into the Dead's repertoire in 1977, and played regularly thereafter. There are all sorts of variations on the lyrics, and what's below is only a sample.

These are the lyrics from 2 September 1980 (Dick's Picks Vol 21):

Chorus (note 1)
Hey now (hey now)
Hey now (hey now)
Iko iko un day
Jockomo feeno ah na nay
Jockomo feena nay
[repeated twice]

My grandma see your grandpa
Sitting by the Bayou
My grandma see your granpa
Gonna fix your chicken wire (note 2)

[chorus]

My spy dog see your spy dog
Sitting by the Bayou
My spy dog see your spy dog
Gonna set your tail on fire

[chorus]

My little boy see your little boy (note 3)
Sitting by the Bayou
My little boy see your little boy
Gonna fix your chicken wire

[chorus]

My grandma see your grandma
Sitting by the Bayou
My grandma see your grandma
Gonna fix your chicken wire

[chorus]

Notes
(1) the chorus is fragments of Cajun patois, with more or less phonetic spelling. You will often find "Jockamo" rather than "Jockomo" for example (and Andrew Katzenstein has suggested "Giacomo"). And you sometimes see "feeno ai nan" and "feenan." I don't believe there is a "correct" spelling. See below for more on the origins of these phrases.
(2) "chicken wire" is what it sounds as if Jerry is singing (though on some other versions it sounds more like "chicko wiyo"). I haven't tracked this line down to any definitive "source" in other versions. Reg Johnsey came up with this explanation:

The way country people celebrated Carnivale/Mardis Gras was to make conical masks out of chicken wire and decorate them, wearing them with costumes festooned with strips of cloth. So, the references to fixing someone's chicken wire sounds like a joking threat to mess up their masks, since part of the battle was how good the costumes were.

(3) in some versions (eg 27 Feb 1990), Jerry sings "My marraine see your marraine" for this line. This is a line that Dr John sings as "My marraine see your parrain." "Marraine" is French for "godmother," though in patois it is often used for "grandmother." "Parrain" is godfather/grandfather. (thanks to Adam Wasserman for the explanation)

For comparison, this is the version from 16 September 1990 (on Dick's Picks Vol 9):

Chorus
Hey now (hey now)
Hey now (hey now)
Iko iko un day
Jockomo feeno ah na nay
Jockomo feena nay
[repeated twice]

My spy dog see your spy dog
Sitting by the Bayou
My spy dog see your spy dog
Gonna set your tail on fire

[chorus]

Indian boy going down town
Iko iko un day
You don't like what the big chief said
Said Jockamo feena nay

[chorus]

My grandma see your grandpa
Sitting by the Bayou
My grandma see your grandpa
Gonna set your flag on fire

[chorus]

My spy boy see your spy boy
Sitting by the Bayou
My spy boy see your spy boy
Gonna fix your chicken wire

[chorus]

On 14 June 1985, Bob Weir sang a couple of verses that are hard to decipher. They seem to be lines from or a reference to another song "Meet The Boys On The Battlefront," recorded by Wild Tchoupitoulas (thanks to David Deephouse for this information):

Meet the boys on the battlefront
The Wild Tchoupitoulas gonna stomp some rump

Meet the boys on the battlefront, sing brother John is gone
Meet the boys on the battlefront, bye bye, cho cho

Bob Weir has sung some additional verses with Dead & Company:

See that girl all dressed in red
Iko iko un day
Bet you five dollars she'll shoot you dead
Singing jockomo feena nay

See that girl all dressed in blue
Iko iko un day
Bet you five dollars she'll shoot you too
Singing jockomo feena nay

See that girl all dressed in white
Iko iko un day
Bet you five dollars she'll shoot you right
Singing jockomo feena nay

See that girl all dressed in orange
Iko iko un day
Bet you she squeaks like a rusty old door hinge
Singing jockomo feena nay

See that girl all dressed in yellow (note 4)
Iko iko un day
Bet you she'd leave you a poor dead fellow
Singing jockomo feena nay

Notes
(14) Thanks to Gene Baran for alerting me to this verse. The "bet you" line isn't entirely clear - that's his and my best guess. Some lyrics sites have "Look at this Chief, all dressed in yellow/Everyone knows, he's the old Lambreaux", but that's definitely not what Weir sings.

One additional verse that appears on some Grateful Dead lyric collections is below. I haven't yet confirmed whether it was definitely sung by the Grateful Dead:

Well look at that girl all dressed in green
She hides a pistol where it can't be seen

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	15 May 1977	May 1977 Box Set
	7 Oct 1977	Road Trips Volume 1, Number 2
	4 Nov 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 12
	11 Apr 1978	Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
	16 Apr 1978	Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
	7 May 1978	30 Days Of The Dead (2024)
	5 Jul 1978	July 1978: The Complete Recordings
	16 Sep 1978	Rocking The Cradle: Egypt 1978 (CD and DVD)
	2 Sep 1980	Dick's Picks Vol 21
	7 Oct 1980	Reckoning (note a)
	24 Jun 1985	30 Trips Around The Sun
	26 Jul 1987	View From The Vault IV (DVD & CD soundtrack) (note b)
	27 Mar 1988	Download Series Vol 5
	2 Apr 1989	Download Series Vol 9
	7 Jul 1989	Crimson, White and Indigo (DVD & CD)
	10 Jul 1989	Giants Stadium 1987, 1989, 1991 Boxed Set
	30 Sep 1989	(official YouTube video only)
	18 Mar 1990	Spring 1990 (The Other One)
	30 Mar 1990	Spring 1990
	16 Sep 1990	Dick's Picks Vol 9
	20 Jun 1991	Download Series Vol 11

Jerry Garcia Recordings
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	studio 1977	All Good Things (additional disc)	Jerry Garcia Band

Other Dead-Related Recordings
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	12 Nov 2005	For Rex: The Black Tie Dye Ball	Zen Tricksters plus friends
	2007	Aloha Nugs	David Nelson Band
	2012	Live At The 2012 Peach Music Festival	Dark Star Orchestra
	31 Dec 2018	Rising Up To Paradise	Big Swell

Notes
(a) issued as a bonus track in the box set Beyond Description (1973-1990)
(b) this may be the version issued as a 7" vinyl single for Record Store Day 2013, backed with recordings of the same song by Dr John and the Dixie Chicks - but this is not yet confirmed.

Roots
According to Dr John in the liner notes to his 1972 album "Gumbo":

"The song was written and recorded back in the early 1950s by a New Orleans singer named James Crawford who worked under the name of Sugar Boy & the Cane Cutters. It was recorded in the 1960s by the Dixie Cups for Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller's Red Bird label, but the format we're following here is Sugar Boy's original. Also in the group were Professor Longhair on piano, Jake Myles, Big Boy Myles, Irv Bannister on guitar, and Eugene 'Bones' Jones on drums. The group was also known as the Chipaka Shaweez. The song was originally called 'Jockamo,' and it has a lot of Creole patois in it. Jockamo means 'jester' in the old myth."

Thanks to Adam Wasserman for the following information:

Iko Iko (as well as other songs such as Big Chief, Hey Pokey-Way, New Suit, Fire Water) has a very specific meaning. They are all New Orleans Mardi Gras songs about the Black Indians. Black Indians are parade krewes (tribes) (note c) that parade through the New Orleans streets on Mardi Gras wearing extravagant ceremonial Indian clothes. They face off when they meet and have battles of clothing, dancing, and singing. The Spy Boy is a ceremonial position (the front runner who scouts out other tribes to do battle with) as is the Flag Boy, Wild Man, and Big Chief. Friends and family who follow are in the "second line" and are therefore second liners. So lines like "My spy boy to your spy boy, I'm gonna set your tail on fire" are ceremonial challenges to the other tribe.

"Joc-a-mo-fee-no-ah-nah-nay, Joc-a-mo-fee-nah-nay" is a ritual chant used by the Mardi Gras Indians which has been around for so long the words are no longer clearly distinguishable, and it has a well understood meaning of its own. Very, very loosely translated it signifies "we mean business" or "don't mess with us". Originally it would have been Cajun (a liberal mix of French and English) and literally translates to "the fool we will not play today".

This from a article in the Financial Times in July 2017:

Crawford said of his song's mysterious lyrics: "Iko Iko was like a victory chant and Chock-a-Mo was a chant that was called out when the Indians went into battle." But he had "no idea" what the words meant, and nor did Leonard Chess, Crawford's label boss, who misheard 'chock' as 'jock' and titled the 1954 single 'Jock-a-Mo'.

New Orleans poet Dr Sybil Kein argues that the song's roots lie in a blend of Yoruba-Creole. "Aiku, Aiku nde" means "God is watching"; "Jacouman fi na" is "Jacouman causes it"; "Ida-n-de" means "We will be emancipated"; "Jacouman fi na deye" is "Jacouman urges it; we will wait". This raises the question: who is Jacouman? The slave master? A spirit? A god? Or are they referring to the Haitian port of Jacmel (formerly known as Y'quimo), from where many slaves escaped? Others claim "Iko!" is the Creole for "Akout!" (with "An deye" meaning "At the back!", which is where the Mardis Gras Indian chiefs would have stood in the procession.

One additional comment on the origins/meaning of "Iko":

"Iko and un day are Creole corruptions of the Gambian call ago! [pay attention] and the expected response, which is amay! [I/we are listening]. Chuck Davis of the African- American Dance Ensemble, which is based here in Durham, uses this device ubiquitously when he acts as Griot (master storyteller/master of ceremonies). When he calls "ago!" everyone is supposed to shout "amay!"--no matter what else is going on. He likes to slip this into the middle of various narrations just to make sure folks are paying attention. He also uses it as an introductory, "calm down" sort of exercise before he starts to speak, or to quiet the crowd if it gets noisy while he's speaking."

Notes
(c) Thanks to Bob Minnery for pointing out that the proper New Orleans spelling is 'krewes' rather than 'crewes' or 'crews'. See here

These are the lyrics from Sugar Boy Crawford's version (thanks to Anita Cantor for help with the transcription):

Iko, iko
Iko iko an de
Jockomo, fee-lo an da'n de
Jockomo fe na'n n'ae

My spy boy met your spy boy
Sittin' by the fiyo
My spy boy a-told your spy boy
I'm gonna set your flag on fiyo

Chorus
Talkin' 'bout
Hey now, hey now
Iko iko an de
Jockomo fee-lo an da'n de
Jockomo fe n'an n'ae

Look at my queen all dressed in red
Iko iko an de
I bet you five dollars she'll kill you dead
Jockomo fe n'an n'ae

[chorus]

[chorus]

Iko, iko
Iko iko an de
I'm having my fun on the Mardi Gras day
Jockomo fe n'an n'ae

[chorus]
[chorus]

The Dixie Cups' version is fairly similar:

My grandma and your grandma
Were sitting by the fire
My granma told your grandma
I'm gonna set your flag on fire

Chorus
Talking 'bout
Hey now (hey now)
Hey now (hey now)
Iko iko on day
Jockomo feeno ah na nay
Jockomo feena nay

Look at my king all dressed in red
Iko iko on day
I'll bet you five dollars he'll kill you dead
Jockamo feena nay

[chorus]

My flag boy and your flag boy
Sitting by the fire
My flag boy told your flag boy
I'm gonna set your flag on fire

[chorus]

See that guy all dressed in green
Iko iko on day
He's not a man, he's a loving machine
Jockamo feena nay

[chorus]
[chorus]
Jockamo feena nay
Jockamo feena nay

Further Information
For an online discussion of the lyrics to this song see the deadsongs.vue conference on The Well.
For more information on recordings see Matt Schofield's Grateful Dead Family Discography
For David Dodd's discussion of this song on dead.net see Greatest Stories Ever Told
For online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com