I loved this tune the moment I heard it when I was in elementary school. I suppose it’s simplicity is what grabbed me as a child but as an adult the simplicity still is endearing. The song went to #20 on both the Pop and R&B charts in 1965.
The song also has quite an interesting pedigree that Richie Unterberger summed up in his “Iko Iko” song review on All Music.Com as follows:
“The impression is one of somehow sneaking in on a trio of girls just practicing or playing games among themselves for their own pleasure, whether in a dressing room, bedroom, or jumping rope perhaps, instead of a professional group doing a recording session.It turns out that “Iko Iko” wasn’t even planned to be recorded at its session. But after the musicians had gone home, while the women were doing some overdubbing, they started singing “Iko Iko” among themselves, using only a chair, drumstick, Coke bottle, ashtray, and drums as accompaniment. Producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller had the band record it for real. Actually, a quite good full-band single with a song quite similar to “Iko Iko,” obviously based on similar New Orleans sources, had been recorded for the R&B market in the mid-1950s by Sugar Boy Crawford & His Cane Cutters, given the title “Jock-a-Mo.” Dr. John, Buckwheat Zydeco, Cyndi Lauper, and Ringo Starr are among the artists who’ve covered “Iko Iko” subsequent to the Dixie Cups’ hit. “(Source)
There is also a “Mardi Gras Digest Online” that records “Iko Iko” as the #8 ranking Mardi Gras Song. You can read more song history here at their site and see the song lyrics as well.
“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 and Rosa Lee Hawkins; plus their cousin Joan Johnson, from the Calliope housing project in 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.
By 1963 the trio had decided to pursue a 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.
Their first release, “Chapel of Love,” proved to be their biggest hit.” (Source)
“Chapel” Charted number 1 on both the Pop and R&B charts in 1964! Now that’s how to start a career and a record company.
Chapel of Love Composed by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Phil Spector
Goin’ to the chapel
And we’re gonna get ma-a-arried
Goin’ to the chapel
And we’re gonna get ma-a-arried
Gee, I really love you
And we’re gonna get ma-a-arried
Goin’ to the chapel of love
Spring is here, th-e-e sky is blue, whoa-oh-oh
Birds all sing as if they knew
Today’s the day we’ll say “I do”
And we’ll never be lonely anymore because we’re
Goin’ to the chapel
And we’re gonna get ma-a-arried
Goin’ to the chapel
And we’re gonna get ma-a-arried
Gee, I really love you
And we’re gonna get ma-a-arried
Goin’ to the chapel of love
Bells will ring, the-e-e sun will shine, whoa-oh-oh
I’ll be his and he’ll be mine
We’ll love until the end of time
And we’ll never be lonely anymore because we’re
Goin’ to the chapel
And we’re gonna get ma-a-arried
Goin’ to the chapel
And we’re gonna get ma-a-arried
Gee, I really love you
And we’re gonna get ma-a-arried
Goin’ to the chapel of love
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Goin’ to the chapel of love
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
FADE
Thanks for stopping by. I so appreciate your visit.
