Gegagedigedagedago became a meme in January 2024. In this article, you can find out how the meme came about.
„Gegagedigedagedago“ is the reduction of the first line of the song „Cotton Eye Joe“ by the Swedish group „Rednex“ to sounds.
The Rednex singer actually sings:
„If it hadn’t been for Cotton-Eyed Joe“
But this can also be understood as „Gegagedigedagedago“.
Gegagedigedagedago meme: origin
The TikTok user @razioff probably created the expression „Gegagedigedagedago“. In a song video for Cotton Eye Joe published in July 2023, he used the word „Gegagedigedagedago“. He also replaced other expressions with meaningless words. The video was so successful that it received over 29 million views by January 2024 and has been reused countless times since then.
A nugget with a face is also part of the meme. The nugget with a face was brought into play by TikTok user @wenonugget. He publishes songs on his TikTok channel that are sung by a chicken nugget with a face. In January 2024, he published a re-sung version of „Cotton Eye Joe“ in the style of @Razioff’s Gegagedigedagedago.
One thing led to another and the meme was born: a chicken nugget with a face that sings „Gegagedigedagedago“ instead of „If it hadn’t been for Cotton-Eyed Joe“.
Many TikTok users responded to the song with their own videos (and their own nuggets). Some of these videos reached several hundred thousand views.
The other lyrics were modified as follows. This was done, among other things, to make fun of users who did not know or understand the original lyrics:
Abi mery alongtamigo
Wede wude kamfro
Wede wude go
Wede jude kamfro bagulado
Gegagedigedagedago and Cotton Eye Joe (Rednex)
On the one hand, it’s nice that a song from 1994 has reached Generation Z (and Gen Alpha) and that they are engaging with it. Most members of Gen Z weren’t even born when the song was in the charts.
But how did you come up with the idea of altering the lyrics? There are probably two reasons for this: a) the lyrics are sung very quickly and b) anyone who wants to sing the lyrics will quickly get lost. An alienation and simplification of the lyrics is therefore obvious.