I think it's just nonsense that rhymes. A lot of the American Tin Pan Alley stuff from that era used the phrase "wicky wacky woo" because to Mainlanders it had a sort of exotic sound, but as far as I know it meant nothing. There was a big Hawaiian craze here in the 1910s-1920s and a ton of songs came out with fake Hawaiian (or unspecified Asian) in them; a couple other examples are "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula" and "Nagasaki."
From the former:
"Down Hawaii way, where I chanced to stray, On an evening I heard a Hula maiden play,
Yaaka hula hickey dula, Yaaka hula hickey du."
And the latter:
"In Fujiyama
You get a mama
Then your troubles increase.
In some pagoda
She orders soda
Earth-shake milk-shakes, ten cents a piece.
They kissy and huggy nice
Oh, By Jingo! It's worth the price.
Back in Nagasaki
Where the fellers chew tobaccy
And the women wicky-wacky-woo."
Sometimes the wicky-wacky bit implied that a woman's morals were a little, um, free for the time
A real standard ! you done it really well !
I think it's just nonsense that rhymes. A lot of the American Tin Pan Alley stuff from that era used the phrase "wicky wacky woo" because to Mainlanders it had a sort of exotic sound, but as far as I know it meant nothing. There was a big Hawaiian craze here in the 1910s-1920s and a ton of songs came out with fake Hawaiian (or unspecified Asian) in them; a couple other examples are "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula" and "Nagasaki."
From the former:
"Down Hawaii way, where I chanced to stray, On an evening I heard a Hula maiden play,
Yaaka hula hickey dula, Yaaka hula hickey du."
And the latter:
"In Fujiyama
You get a mama
Then your troubles increase.
In some pagoda
She orders soda
Earth-shake milk-shakes, ten cents a piece.
They kissy and huggy nice
Oh, By Jingo! It's worth the price.
Back in Nagasaki
Where the fellers chew tobaccy
And the women wicky-wacky-woo."
Sometimes the wicky-wacky bit implied that a woman's morals were a little, um, free for the time
This is neat, thanks Janeray for posting the info. The Hawaiian craze really got started at the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and the Hawaii building was swamped. They couldn't keep ukuleles in stock. Hawaii was so exotic to mainlanders. I used to search for PPIE original souvenir photos when I dealt in vintage images, they brought good money on eBay. It was really something to see, even through old gelatin silver photos!
@ Bonesoup, I have been checking out the blues for awhile now, just got the Complete Studio Recordings of Mississippi John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy's "Trouble In Mind", Albert King's "King of Blues Guitar" and a lot of others off iTunes, plus all of Clapton's remakes. Lots of double entendre and especially metaphor. It's great!
Great work Dan! You've got to love that tune, what a beauty!
Never ceases to amaze me the stuff you can learn on our Forums
A few other wacky wicki-wacki songs:
"Makin' Wicki Wacki down in Waikiki"
"Oh! How She Could Yacki Hacki Wicki Wacki Woo" - Albert Von Tilzer; recorded by Ida Adams, 1917
"On the Isle of Wicki Wacki Woo" - piano roll featuring the lyrics
"When You Do the Wicky Wacky Woo"
"That Wicky Wacky Hula Hula Honka Wonka Honolulu Hawaiian Honey of Mine"
And in related nonsense:
"Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" - Fred Koller & John Prine