Cab callaway biography minnie the moocher cartoon

1931 song by Cab Calloway

For the Betty Boop cartoon, see Minnie the Moocher (film).

"Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz song co-written by American musician Cab Calloway and first recorded in 1931 by Calloway and his big band orchestra, selling over a million copies.^[1] "Minnie the Moocher" is famous for its nonsensical ad libbed lyrics, also known as scat singing (for example, its refrain of "Hi de hi de hi de ho").

In performances, Calloway would have the audience and the band members participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of a call and response, eventually making it too fast and complicated for the audience to replicate.^{[citation needed]}

First released by Brunswick Records, the song was the biggest chart-topper of 1931.^[2] Calloway publicized and then celebrated a "12th birthday" for the song on June 17, 1943, while performing at New York's Strand Theatre.

He reported that he was then singing the song at both beg