Dixie cups

Dixie cups may refer to:

The Dixie Cups

The Dixie Cups are an American pop music girl group of the 1960s. They are best known for a string of hits including their 1964 million-selling record "Chapel of Love", "People Say", and "Iko Iko".

Career

The group hit the top of the charts in 1964 with "Chapel of Love," a song that Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich had originally written for The Ronettes. The trio consisted of sisters Barbara Ann and Rosa Lee Hawkins; plus their cousin Joan Marie Johnson, from New Orleans. They first sang together in grade school. Originally they were to be called Little Miss and the Muffets, but were named the Dixie Cups just prior to their first release.

In 1963 the trio decided to pursue a professional career in music and began singing locally as the Meltones. Within a year Joe Jones, a successful singer in his own right with the Top Five 1960 single "You Talk Too Much," became their manager. After working with them for five months, Jones took them to New York, where record producers/songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller signed them to their new Red Bird Records.

Iko Iko

"Iko Iko" (/ˈaɪkoʊ ˈaɪkoʊ/) is a much-covered New Orleans song that tells of a parade collision between two "tribes" of Mardi Gras Indians and the traditional confrontation. The song, under the original title "Jock-A-Mo", was written and released as a single in 1953 by Sugar Boy and his Cane Cutters that failed to make the charts. The song first became popular in 1965 by the female pop group The Dixie Cups, who scored an international hit with "Iko Iko". In 1967 as part of a lawsuit settlement between "Sugar Boy" James Crawford and the Dixie Cups, the trio were given part songwriting credit to the song. In 1972, Dr. John had a minor hit with his version of "Iko Iko". The most successful charting version in the UK was recorded by Scottish singer Natasha England who took her 1982 version into the top 10. "Iko Iko" became an international hit again twice more, the first being the Belle Stars in the 1980s and again with Captain Jack in 2001.

Sugar Boy and his Cane Cutters version

Background

Dixie

Dixie is a historical nickname for the Southern United States.

"Dixie" as a region

As a definite geographic location within the United States, "Dixie" is usually defined as the eleven Southern states that seceded in late 1860 and early 1861 to form the new confederation named the Confederate States of America. They are (in order of secession): South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

However, the location and boundaries of "Dixie" have become, over time, more limited, vernacular and mercurial. Today, it is most often associated with those parts of the Southern United States where traditions and legacies of the Confederate era and the antebellum South live most strongly.

Many businesses in the South contain "Dixie" in their name as an identifier, such as supermarket chain "Winn-Dixie".

Origin of the name

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origins of this nickname remain obscure. According to A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles (1951), by Mitford M. Mathews, three theories most commonly attempt to explain the term:

Red Bird

Red Bird (c. 1788–1828) was a leader of the Winnebago (or Ho-Chunk) Native American tribe. He was a leader in the Winnebago War against the United States. He was for many years one of the most friendly and trusted of the Wisconsin Indians. In the late 1820s Red Bird and his followers began to grow uneasy over the encroachments of lead miners on Indian land. The tribe was also disturbed by the mistaken belief that two Ho-Chunk had been put to death at Fort Snelling in 1826 for a murder they did not commit. Near Prairie du Chien on June 28, 1827, Red Bird and three companions followed the Indian code of revenge and under the influence of liquor murdered Registre Gagnier and Solomon Lipcap and seriously injured Gagnier's infant daughter. They fled after Gagnier's wife and son escaped and gave the alarm in Prairie du Chien.

On June 30, 1827, a band of Ho-Chunk fired on the Wisconsin River keelboat "Oliver Perry" killing two of the crew and wounding several others. With an Indian war threatening, the militia was mobilized and federal troops were dispatched to Prairie du Chien from Jefferson Barracks, Mo. To avert a general war, Red Bird and his companions surrendered at Portage on Sept. 2, 1827. Although the chief expected the dignity of being put to death, he was instead taken to Prairie du Chien where he died in prison, Feb. 16, 1828. Several months later the other Indians were pardoned. One of the most dramatic incidents in Wisconsin history, the surrender of the proud and handsome chief became the subject of stories, paintings, and plays.