Minnie the Moocher
Encyclopedia
"Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz
song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway
and His Orchestra, selling over 1 million copies. "Minnie the Moocher" is most famous for its nonsensical ad libbed ("scat
") lyrics (for example, "Hi De Hi De Hi De Hi"). In performances, Calloway would have the audience participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of call and response
. Eventually Calloway's phrases would become so long and complex that the audience would laugh at their own failed attempts to repeat them.
"Minnie the Moocher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
's 1927 "Willie the Weeper
" (Bette Davis
sings this version in The Cabin in the Cotton
). The lyrics are heavily laden with drug
references. The character "Smokey" is described as "cokey" meaning a user of cocaine; the phrase "kicking the gong around" was a slang reference to smoking opium
. It was followed two years later by Lonnie Johnson's
"Winnie the Wailer".
Finally, they took Minnie to "where they put the crazies", where she dies. This explains why both the short version and the long version end with the words "Poor Min, poor Min".
In the 1935 Marx Brothers' film A Night at the Opera
, Groucho Marx
famously quipped, "You're willing to pay him a thousand dollars a night just for singing? Why, you can get a phonograph record of 'Minnie the Moocher' for 75 cents. And for a buck and a quarter, you can get Minnie."
Jeffrey Lewis
referenced "Minnie the Moocher" in his song "Mini-Theme: Moocher from the Future" from his 2009 album 'Em Are I
.
. Much later, in 1980 at age 73, Calloway performed the song in the movie The Blues Brothers
, when Jake and Elwood are stalled in a gas station. Calloway, who plays the church janitor and the brothers' mentor Curtis, played when the band's crowd became impatient.
The band Oingo Boingo performed the song in the Richard Elfman
film Forbidden Zone
, with altered lyrics and titled "Squeezit The Moocher", after one of the movie's characters, Squeezit Henderson. Danny Elfman
, playing a rather vaudevillian
Satan, sings the song as his band (other members of Oingo Boingo at the time) respond to his calls. Oogie Boogie's song
is also similar to Minnie the Moocher
The popular refrain is performed by a funeral band in the 1999 film Double Jeopardy
.
Talkartoon short cartoon, also called Minnie the Moocher, starring Betty Boop
and Bimbo. Calloway and his band provides most of the short's score, and appear in the short themselves in a live-action introduction. The thirty-second live-action segment is the earliest-known film footage of Calloway.
In the cartoon, Betty decides to run away from her harsh parents (to the tune of "Mean to Me"), and Bimbo comes with her. While walking away from home, Betty and Bimbo wind up in a spooky area, and hide in a hollow tree. A ghost walrus
—whose gyrations were rotoscope
d from footage of Calloway dancing—appears to them, and begins to sing "Minnie the Moocher", with many fellow ghosts following along. After singing the whole number, the ghosts chase Betty and Bimbo all the way back to Betty's home. While Betty is hiding under the covers of her bedsheets, her runaway note is torn up and the remaining letters read "Home Sweet Home".
In "Blue Harvest
", the kickoff episode of the sixth season of Family Guy
, "Minnie the Moocher" is played while Han Solo
(Peter Griffin
) and Luke Skywalker
(Chris Griffin
) are boarding the Death Star
, coolly walking so as not to be noticed by the stormtrooper
guards. This is a direct reference to the film The Blues Brothers
, as Jake and Elwood Blues try to sneak past the police officers at their concert.
or simply referenced by many other performers. Its refrain, particularly the call and response
, is part of the language of American jazz
. At the Cab Calloway School of the Arts
, which is named for the singer, students perform "Minnie The Moocher" as a traditional part of talent showcases.
In 1967, the song was covered again by an Australian band
, The Cherokees. A version by the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra made #35 in the UK charts late in 1988. Tupac
and Chopmaster J made a Hip Hop
version of the song in 1989. The song can be found on Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988–1991
from 2007. A contemporary swing band, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
, recorded a cover on their 1994 album, Americana Deluxe
.
L.A.-based new wave/rock band Oingo Boingo
has covered this song, as well as other Cab Calloway songs, during live performances throughout their career, dating back to their years as Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.
On January 19, 2001, Wyclef Jean
opened his "All Star Jam @ Carnegie Hall" concert with this number, walking to the stage from the back of the audience, dressed all in white. The song "The Mighty O" by Outkast
is heavily inspired by the song.
, Cab Calloway memorably reprises the song at the fundraising concert at the Palace Hotel Ballroom. It was performed in the 1984 Francis Ford Coppola
movie The Cotton Club
by Larry Marshall as Cab Calloway
. K7 sampled the "Hi-De-Ho" section of "Minnie the Moocher" in his song of the same name, which was notably used in the 1994 film The Mask
. Puerto Rican rapper Tego Calderón
quoted the basic melody of the song—a favorite of his late father—as the beat used in his first hit, "Abayarde".
During a performance on the first season of American Idol
, Tamyra Gray
performed this song on "Big Band" night. Hugh Laurie
, in a 2006 interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, stated that his charity
cover band
, Band from TV
, has the most popular recording of "Minnie the Moocher" available on the iTunes Store
. Laurie also performs a part of the song in the first episode of the British
comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster
, playing the role of Bertie Wooster
, duetting with Reginald Jeeves, played by Stephen Fry
. The episode first aired in 1990. A recording was later released on the Jeeves and Wooster soundtrack.
Although it is not heard, the song is explicitly mentioned by name in the 1991 Sylvester Stallone movie, Oscar
.
The original Star Wars
spoof from Family Guy
, Blue Harvest
features the song when when Peter/Han tells everyone to "be cool."
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
and His Orchestra, selling over 1 million copies. "Minnie the Moocher" is most famous for its nonsensical ad libbed ("scat
Scat singing
In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.- Structure and syllable choice...
") lyrics (for example, "Hi De Hi De Hi De Hi"). In performances, Calloway would have the audience participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of call and response
Call and response (music)
In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first...
. Eventually Calloway's phrases would become so long and complex that the audience would laugh at their own failed attempts to repeat them.
"Minnie the Moocher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Basis
The song is based both musically and lyrically on Frankie "Half-Pint" JaxonFrankie Jaxon
Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon was an African American vaudeville singer, female impersonator, stage designer and comedian, popular in the 1920s and 1930s.-Life and career:...
's 1927 "Willie the Weeper
Willie the Weeper
Willie the Weeperis a song about drug addiction, written by Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon in 1927. It is the basis for Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher The Dave Van Ronk version may be the inspiration for the Velvet Underground's Heroin....
" (Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
sings this version in The Cabin in the Cotton
The Cabin in the Cotton
The Cabin in the Cotton is a 1932 American drama film directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay by Paul Green is based on the novel of the same title by Harry Harrison Kroll....
). The lyrics are heavily laden with drug
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
references. The character "Smokey" is described as "cokey" meaning a user of cocaine; the phrase "kicking the gong around" was a slang reference to smoking opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
. It was followed two years later by Lonnie Johnson's
Lonnie Johnson
Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson was an American blues and jazz singer/guitarist and songwriter who pioneered the role of jazz guitar and is recognized as the first to play single-string guitar solos...
"Winnie the Wailer".
Extended version
Calloway also wrote an extended version, adding verses which describe Minnie and Smokey going to jail; Minnie pays Smokey's bail, but he abandons her there. Another verse describes her tempting "Deacon Lowdown" when she "wiggled her jelly roll" at him.Finally, they took Minnie to "where they put the crazies", where she dies. This explains why both the short version and the long version end with the words "Poor Min, poor Min".
Other references to Minnie
Minnie herself is mentioned in a number of other Cab Calloway songs, including "Minnie the Moocher's Wedding Day", "Ghost of Smoky Joe", "Kickin' the Gong Around", "Minnie's a Hepcat Now", "Mister Paganini - Swing for Minnie", "We Go Well Together", and "Zah Zuh Zaz". Some of these songs indicate that Minnie's boyfriend Smoky was named Smoky Joe as well.In the 1935 Marx Brothers' film A Night at the Opera
A Night at the Opera (film)
A Night at the Opera is a 1935 American comedy film starring Groucho Marx, Chico Marx and Harpo Marx, and featuring Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones, Margaret Dumont, Sig Ruman, and Walter Woolf King. It was the first film the Marx Brothers made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after their departure from...
, Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
famously quipped, "You're willing to pay him a thousand dollars a night just for singing? Why, you can get a phonograph record of 'Minnie the Moocher' for 75 cents. And for a buck and a quarter, you can get Minnie."
Jeffrey Lewis
Jeffrey Lewis
Jeffrey Lewis is an American singer/songwriter and comic book artist.-Early life:Lewis attended State University of New York at Purchase and graduated in 1997 with a degree in Literature...
referenced "Minnie the Moocher" in his song "Mini-Theme: Moocher from the Future" from his 2009 album 'Em Are I
'Em Are I
'Em Are I is the fifth album by anti-folk artist Jeffrey Lewis, and the first credited to Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard .- Track listing :* CD RTRADCD514, LP RTRADLP514# "Slogans"# "Roll Bus Roll"# "If Life Exists"...
.
Films
Calloway performed the song in the 1955 movie Rhythm and Blues Revue, filmed at the Apollo TheatreApollo Theatre
The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...
. Much later, in 1980 at age 73, Calloway performed the song in the movie The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers (film)
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
, when Jake and Elwood are stalled in a gas station. Calloway, who plays the church janitor and the brothers' mentor Curtis, played when the band's crowd became impatient.
The band Oingo Boingo performed the song in the Richard Elfman
Richard Elfman
Richard "Rick" Elfman, , is an American film actor, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and magazine publisher.-Family:...
film Forbidden Zone
Forbidden Zone
Forbidden Zone is a 1982 musical comedy film based upon the stage performances of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. The film stars Hervé Villechaize, Susan Tyrrell and members of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, and features appearances by Warhol Superstar Viva, Joe Spinell and The...
, with altered lyrics and titled "Squeezit The Moocher", after one of the movie's characters, Squeezit Henderson. Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
, playing a rather vaudevillian
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
Satan, sings the song as his band (other members of Oingo Boingo at the time) respond to his calls. Oogie Boogie's song
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 stop motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to...
is also similar to Minnie the Moocher
The popular refrain is performed by a funeral band in the 1999 film Double Jeopardy
Double Jeopardy (film)
Double Jeopardy is a 1999 thriller film directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd. The film is about a woman who is framed for the murder of her husband.-Plot:...
.
Animation
In 1932, Calloway recorded the song for a Fleischer StudiosFleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
Talkartoon short cartoon, also called Minnie the Moocher, starring Betty Boop
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...
and Bimbo. Calloway and his band provides most of the short's score, and appear in the short themselves in a live-action introduction. The thirty-second live-action segment is the earliest-known film footage of Calloway.
In the cartoon, Betty decides to run away from her harsh parents (to the tune of "Mean to Me"), and Bimbo comes with her. While walking away from home, Betty and Bimbo wind up in a spooky area, and hide in a hollow tree. A ghost walrus
Walrus
The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
—whose gyrations were rotoscope
Rotoscope
Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator...
d from footage of Calloway dancing—appears to them, and begins to sing "Minnie the Moocher", with many fellow ghosts following along. After singing the whole number, the ghosts chase Betty and Bimbo all the way back to Betty's home. While Betty is hiding under the covers of her bedsheets, her runaway note is torn up and the remaining letters read "Home Sweet Home".
In "Blue Harvest
Blue Harvest (Family Guy)
"Blue Harvest" is the hour-long premiere to the sixth season of the FOX series Family Guy and the first part of the series' trilogy Laugh It Up, Fuzzball. It originally aired on September 23, 2007. The episode is a retelling and parody of the 1977 blockbuster film, Star Wars Episode IV: A New...
", the kickoff episode of the sixth season of Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, "Minnie the Moocher" is played while Han Solo
Han Solo
Han Solo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise played by Harrison Ford. Introduced in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca , become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire...
(Peter Griffin
Peter Griffin
Peter Griffin is a fictional character and the protagonist of the animated comedy series Family Guy and the patriarch of the Griffin family. He is voiced by cartoonist Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family in the 15-minute short on December 20, 1998....
) and Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...
(Chris Griffin
Chris Griffin
Chris Griffin is a character from the animated television series Family Guy. He is the son and middle child of Peter and Lois Griffin, brother of Stewie and Meg Griffin. Chris is voiced by Seth Green.-Personality:...
) are boarding the Death Star
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...
, coolly walking so as not to be noticed by the stormtrooper
Stormtrooper
Stormtroopers were specialist soldiers of the German Army in World War I. In the last years of the war, Stoßtruppen were trained to fight with "infiltration tactics", part of the Germans' new method of attack on enemy trenches...
guards. This is a direct reference to the film The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live...
, as Jake and Elwood Blues try to sneak past the police officers at their concert.
Notable performances
"Minnie the Moocher" has been coveredCover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
or simply referenced by many other performers. Its refrain, particularly the call and response
Call and response (music)
In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first...
, is part of the language of American jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. At the Cab Calloway School of the Arts
Cab Calloway School of the Arts
The Cab Calloway School of the Arts is an arts-oriented magnet school in Wilmington, Delaware, operated by the Red Clay Consolidated School District, that focuses on a strong academic curriculum along with an education in the arts. It is a public school, but children are required to audition within...
, which is named for the singer, students perform "Minnie The Moocher" as a traditional part of talent showcases.
In 1967, the song was covered again by an Australian band
Australian jazz
Jazz music has a long history in Australia. Over the years jazz has held a high profile at local clubs, festivals and other music venues and a vast number of recordings have been produced by Australian jazz musicians, many of whom have gone on to gain a high profile in the international jazz...
, The Cherokees. A version by the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra made #35 in the UK charts late in 1988. Tupac
Tupac
Tupac is a relatively uncommon male name. Notable people with the name include:*Túpac Inca Yupanqui , tenth Sapa Inca of the Incan Empire*Túpac Amaru , last indigenous leader of the Inca people in Peru...
and Chopmaster J made a Hip Hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
version of the song in 1989. The song can be found on Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988–1991
Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988–1991
Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988-1991 is a posthumously released album from the late hip hop icon 2Pac. It was released June 12, 2007 and it contained some of 2Pac's first songs recorded in 1988...
from 2007. A contemporary swing band, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a contemporary swing revival band from southern California. Their notable singles include "Go Daddy-O", "You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight ", and "Mr. Pinstripe Suit". The band played the Super Bowl XXXIII half-time show in 1999.The band was originally formed in Ventura,...
, recorded a cover on their 1994 album, Americana Deluxe
Americana Deluxe
Americana Deluxe is the third studio album by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. This album is also sometimes called Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, as the album cover prominently displays a stylized "Big Bad Voodoo Daddy" logo and does not feature the phrase "Americana Deluxe" on it...
.
L.A.-based new wave/rock band Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo was an American new wave band. They are best known for their influence on other musicians, their soundtrack contributions and their high energy Halloween concerts. The band was founded in 1972 as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, a performance art group...
has covered this song, as well as other Cab Calloway songs, during live performances throughout their career, dating back to their years as Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.
On January 19, 2001, Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean is a Haitian musician, record producer, and politician. At age nine, Jean moved to the United States with his family and has spent much of his life in the country...
opened his "All Star Jam @ Carnegie Hall" concert with this number, walking to the stage from the back of the audience, dressed all in white. The song "The Mighty O" by Outkast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
is heavily inspired by the song.
In film and television
In the 1980 film The Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers (film)
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
, Cab Calloway memorably reprises the song at the fundraising concert at the Palace Hotel Ballroom. It was performed in the 1984 Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
movie The Cotton Club
The Cotton Club (film)
The Cotton Club is a 1984 crime-drama, centered on a famed Harlem jazz club of the 1930s, the Cotton Club.The movie was co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, choreographed by Henry LeTang, and starred Richard Gere, Diane Lane, and Gregory Hines...
by Larry Marshall as Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
. K7 sampled the "Hi-De-Ho" section of "Minnie the Moocher" in his song of the same name, which was notably used in the 1994 film The Mask
The Mask
The Mask is a Dark Horse comic book series created by writer John Arcudi and artist Doug Mahnke, and based on a concept by publisher Mike Richardson. The series follows a magical mask which imbues the wearer with reality-bending powers and physical imperviousness, as well as bypassing the wearer's...
. Puerto Rican rapper Tego Calderón
Tego Calderón
Tegui Calderón Rosario is a Puerto Rican rapper and actor.-Early life:Calderón was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, the son of Pilar Rosario Parrilla, a schoolteacher, and Esteban Calderón Ilarraza, a government worker for Puerto Rico's Department of Health. Moving at a young age from his native...
quoted the basic melody of the song—a favorite of his late father—as the beat used in his first hit, "Abayarde".
During a performance on the first season of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
, Tamyra Gray
Tamyra Gray
Tamyra Monica Gray is an American actress, singer and songwriter, who finished fourth place on the first season of the musical reality competition American Idol in 2002. Record and television executive Simon Cowell — who judged the show for nine seasons — was disappointed when she was voted off...
performed this song on "Big Band" night. Hugh Laurie
Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
, in a 2006 interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, stated that his charity
Charity (practice)
The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas meant...
cover band
Cover band
A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...
, Band from TV
Band From TV
Band from TV is a charity cover band, whose members are all actors from American television series, who donate the proceeds of their performances and recordings to the charities of their choice.-Band history:...
, has the most popular recording of "Minnie the Moocher" available on the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
. Laurie also performs a part of the song in the first episode of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster
Jeeves and Wooster
-External links:*—An episode guide to the series, including information about which episodes were adapted from which Wodehouse stories.*—Episode guides, screenshots and quotes from the four series....
, playing the role of Bertie Wooster
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
, duetting with Reginald Jeeves, played by Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
. The episode first aired in 1990. A recording was later released on the Jeeves and Wooster soundtrack.
Although it is not heard, the song is explicitly mentioned by name in the 1991 Sylvester Stallone movie, Oscar
Oscar
Oscar, The Oscar, OSCAR or Oskar may refer to:* Academy Award or Oscar, presented by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for cinematic film achievements...
.
The original Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
spoof from Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, Blue Harvest
Blue Harvest
Blue Harvest was a fake working title used to hide the 1982 production of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the third installment of the Star Wars film series...
features the song when when Peter/Han tells everyone to "be cool."
External links
- Ernest Rodgers' recording of Willie the Weeper, at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. - The Max Fleischer Minnie the Moocher cartoon, at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. - The Max Fleischer Minnie the Moocher cartoon with the original Paramount title cards, on YouTube.