Cell Block Tango


"Cell Block Tango" is a song from the 1975 musical Chicago, with music composed by John Kander and lyrics written by Fred Ebb.

Description

At the Cook County Jail women's annex, six women explain their presence in the jail, all of whom stand accused of killing their significant others. "He had it coming" is a refrain throughout the number, as each think their crime was justified. Each murder suspect is identified with a particular word that punctuates the song: "Pop! Six! Squish! Uh-uh! Cicero! Lipschitz!"
On Broadway, the song was originally performed by Chita Rivera, with Candy Brown, Cheryl Clark, Graciela Daniele, Michon Peacock and Pamela Sousa. In the 2002 film, this musical number is performed by Catherine Zeta-Jones, Susan Misner, Denise Faye, Deidre Goodwin, Ekaterina Chtchelkanova and Mýa.

Covers and external usage

The song has been covered, or otherwise used, in several shows or videos. In the Glee episode "Choke", the song was covered by main characters Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, Sugar and Tina. Girls Generation's Hyoyeon popularized the song in South Korea after performing in the dance reality show "Hit the stage". Child actors in the Broadway production of The Secret Garden performed the number as part of a 1992 AIDS benefit in New York City.
Todrick Hall has parodied the song to make "Spell Block Tango" using Disney villains Captain Hook, Cruella De Vil, The Evil Queen, Ursula, Queen of Hearts, Scar, and Maleficent. Hall also parodied the song as "Cell Black Django" using celebrities NeNe Leakes, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Solange Knowles, Beyoncé, internet meme "Sharkeisha", and Mariah Carey.
In the Gotham episode "Let Them Eat Pie," Professor Pyg does his rendition of the song called the "Meat Pie Tango" at Sofia Falcone's charity event at the Falcone Home and School for Orphans.