What's a Mojo?

Question

The African-American pot washer was listening to his blues once in 1996 when I was working at Hershey Hall in UCLA. The song he was listening to said, "...I got the mojo blues..." etc., etc. I remembered back home in Fresno County I used to eat Mojo potatoes with melted nacho cheese, but this was obviously a completely new use of the word. Actually, I'd heard it many times before, usually in blues songs, but I'd never actually asked anyone what it meant. I just figured it meant something like "a lot" or "heavy," as in, "I've got the heavy blues" tonight.

Anyway, so I asked the pot washer, "What's a mojo?" and he had this delayed reaction, where he just stopped scrubbing what he was scrubbing, and without turning around to face me, tilted his head back toward the ceiling and opened his mouth: "Aaaaaa-haaa haaaaaa haaa-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-ha ha ha-ha-ha-ha...!" He just laughed like that and never answered me, so I left.

So now, 10 years later, "What's a mojo?"

Answer 1

This has to be the coolest question, I personally don't know, but I can relate with that kind of stories.. you can also tell a story really well..

Answer 2

LOL



a mojo is like a curse or a spell placed on you. when someone says they've got the mojo blues, it's because they believe someone's placed a curse on them.



you have to keep in mind that blues comes from the south in places like new orleans and mississippi where many african people were enslaved. africans had their own belief system which combined with christianity to create voodoo which im sure you know about. africans believed in talismans and spells much like native americans who did rain dances, had dreamcatchers and worshipped nature. it's very much the same.



mojo can be good or bad but if you've got the mojo blues, it's probably a bad mojo.



there is a lot of truth in these mojos as they stem from herbalist and herbal remedies. back in africa they may tell you to suck on a specifin root to help with hunger. you may go there thinking it's just a sham but then it works and you are a believer. you find out it's hoodia, a plant used in a lot of weight loss supplements today.



that's just an example of voodoo. these people know what they are doing with these herbs and rituals. then again a lot of it is myth. those creole girls will make you grow a donkey tail.



also keep in the mind the word "root." some time it's pronounced "rut." but its pretty much the same thing as a mojo.



mojo is also used loosely like say you're doing a girl really really good (lol), you can say you put your mojo on her. HAHAHA.

Answer 3

A mojo is a voodoo magic charm. It can be specifically a fertility charm, or just a generic word for voodoo magic. If you have a collection of charms, you might also keep them in a "mojo bag," which I'm told is made from cat parts. In fact the word "mojo" is pidgin for the english word "magic."



When an old blues singer sings of having his mojo working, he means he's likely to be lucky with the ladies tonight. If his baby's got a mojo, it means he's going to remain faithful to her -- can't resist the magic! I believe the first reference to mojo in song came from Muddy Waters, who recorded "The Mojo Blues."

Answer 4

Mojo (pronounced: 'mO-"jO) is a term commonly encountered in the African-American folk belief called hoodoo. A mojo is a small bag, a type of magic charm, often of red flannel cloth and tied with a drawstring, containing botanical, zoological, and/or mineral curios, petition papers, and the like. It is typically worn by a person under the clothes.

Answer 5

SEX APPEAL...a lot of charm, inspiration n flavor rolled into one/ the core of ur person, the depth of u, the taste of u projected to others.... like saying "he stopped producing songs cause he lost his mojo"... or how austin powers is so ugly but he gets all the girls cause of his mojo.



as far as the song u were listening to, " i've got the mojo blues"... the singer was implying that he was low on his mojo... he needs that inspiration thats why he got the mojo blues....

Answer 6

Your mojo, hey it's like your courage plus your urge to dance or maybe some other urge like write poetry or whatever. Also it includes two parts insight. That's right, I see it now -- it's courage plus insight, and a litttle other stuff whatever you got, you know. It includes the ability to spell "litttle" with three tees. Or not.

Answer 7

Mojo is a character from the hit cartoon POWER PUFF GIRL'S.

Answer 8

your "Mojo" is your EGO.

it is referred to in songs etc, in the context of virility

Say you were at a club, you walked over to this table of cute girls and asked one of them for a dance, and they all looked at you and burst out laughing and one said, we don't dance with nerds...

Your Ego would be crushed, and say, you had this girl at home but when you got home and tried to have sex, you found you could not get it up.. why? because you lost your confidence, ego in other words... your "Mojo"

Answer 9

As in Austin Powers, bud. Just don't lose your "mojo"....

Answer 10

u remember the song" lady"by mojo?

buy it!

Answer 11

Your power.