Artist: Cab Calloway
Author: Irving Mills/Cab Calloway/Clarence Gaskill
Label: Brunswick
Year: 1931

Answersong to Willy The Weeper, which was recorded since 1925 (Ernest Rogers, Frankie Half Pint Jaxon, Dave Van Ronk, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Golden Glows). A moocher is slang for a crook. The Mooche was also a draggy dance in Harlem. Gong in the lyrics was slang for opium pipe. Minnie The Moocher was the first well known opium song, followed-up by Kicking The Gong Around. Banned by the BBC.

Cab Calloway was Duke Ellington's supersub on the bandstand of the Cotton Club in Harlem, famous for his extravaganza, lingo, body language, dress code and showmanship. Known as "the Hi-De-Ho Man", a catch phrase from Minnie The Moocher (his themesong). Cab used it to keep his audience alert. Hi-de-ho, Hi-de-hi must have been introduced as a catch phrase by the Spasm Band, a pre jazz band in New Orleans' Storyville circa 1895.