Thehoochie coochie (/ˌhuːtʃiˈkuːtʃi/) is a catch-all term to describe several sexually provocativebelly dance-like dances from the mid-to late 1800s. Also spelledhootchy-kootchy and a number of other variations, it is often associated with "The Streets of Cairo, or the Poor Little Country Maid" song, also known as "the snake charmer song". "Hoochie Coochie Man" (originally titled "I'm Your Hoochie Cooche Man") is also a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded byMuddy Waters inChicago, January 7, 1954. Numerous cover versions of this classic continue to be recorded. Hoochie Coochie is also mentioned inAlan Jackson's hit country music song "Chattahoochee", where he says it refers to "a country fair strip show",[1] and in the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller songs "Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)" and "Saved" (sung byLaVern Baker).
Such dances, or something similar, were performed at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1851, the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, and the World's Fair in Paris in 1889.[2] Although such dances became wildly popular in the United States during theChicago World's Fair in 1893, there is no evidence of them being known by the name "Coochie Coochie" at the time.[3] Before, during and immediately after the fair, these dances were frequently called, "Mussel dance", "stomach dance",danse du ventre and sometimes, "Kouta Kouta".[4] The transition from "kouta kouta" to "coochie coochie", and later, "hoochie coochie", may have been influenced by the expressions, "hoochy, coochy, coochy", "kutchy, kutchy", or "kutchy, kutchy coo", which were found in popular song lyrics from the 1860s and the 1880s.[3]
Described by theNew York Journal in 1893 as "Neither dancing of the head nor the feet", it was a dance performed by women of, or presented as having, Middle-Eastern and/orRomani heritage,[5] often as part of travelingsideshows.
The hoochie coochie replaced the much oldercan-can as the ribald dance of choice in New York dance halls by the 1890s.[6]
A carnival company recently rented a large open space in a New York town of 5000 population and opened up for business. The most lucrative part of their business is a "girl" show, too foul to write of. The barker in his endeavor to secure customers appeals to all that is opposed to decency, while the three main attractions emphasize his harangue by "hoochie-coochie" dances and other physical contortions.
—The Social Hygiene Bulletin, Vol. VII, No. 7, July 1920
Since the dance was performed by women,female impersonators ordrag queens,[7] agoochie man, orhoochie coochie man, either watched them or ran the show. Alternatively, from the directly sexual meaning ofgoochie goochie, he was successful with women. The dance was still popular at theLouisiana Purchase Exposition: the World's Fair of 1904, and is even mentioned in the song "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis", but had all but disappeared by theSecond World War.
Pronounced/ˌhuːtʃiˈkuːtʃi/ orhüchē¦küchē according to Merriam-Webster's dictionary definition,[8] the words can be found in literature with a number of alternate spellings: