There is a semi-famous (maybe infamous) scene in the movie “Rain Man” where Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise stop at an old country store/gas station to make a phone call. The scene took place in Cogar, Oklahoma. (You can catch that scene in its entirety here and you will see why I say that it is infamous. Supposedly the “Did you fart” portion was an ad lib not in the original script. When Hoffman really did fart, the two of them stayed in character and ad libbed their way through it.)
Naturally when I saw the shots of the WS Kelly store, it made me curious about it. I landed on the following video that does an excellent job telling all about the store and its history right up to as recently as 2022.
Movie’s soundtrack features a tune that I never particularly cared for – “Iko Iko.” I think that most of the reason I didn’t like it is because every time I heard it, the refrain “Jock-a-mo fee-na-nay” would stick in my head. Subsequently, I couldn’t stop humming it even though I didn’t care for it, and also because I had absolutely no clue what the hell they were talking about. Now that I have learned that the song was about two Indian tribes fighting during the Mardi Gras parade (click here) only clarifies things a little bit for me.
Written in 1953 and later performed by the Dixie Cups, Dr. John also had a hit with Iko in the early 70’s. (Grateful Dead also featured it in many of their concerts.) However, Rain Man’s version featured the Belle Stars. Video here includes scenes from the movie.