Stephanie and her Pre-K Class Hokey Pokey

Known as the Hokey Pokey, it became popular in the USA in the 1950s. Larry LaPrise, Charles Macak and Tafit Baker were granted the copyright for the song in 1950. According to popular legend they created this novelty dance in 1949 as entertainment for the ski crowd at Idaho's Sun Valley resort. However, as the dance was wildly popular with American servicemen and Britons during WWII, this date cannot be correct.

There is another contrary belief that states that Robert P. Degan and Joseph P. Brier, both natives of Scranton, Pennsylvania, wrote the original song as confirmed by the U.S. Copyright Office in 1996, thus giving two groups of musicians the rights. Ray Anthony's big band recording of the song turned it into a nationwide sensation by the mid-1950s (The "Hokey Pokey" appeared on the B side of Anthony's "Bunny Hop" single). Its rights were purchased in the mid-1960s by country-western music star Roy Acuff's publishing company, Acuff-Rose.

Lyrics for the Hokey Pokey...

Everybody form a circle...

Put your left foot in,
Your left foot out,
Your left foot in,
And shake it all about.
You do the hokey pokey
And turn yourself around.

Now put your right foot in,
Your right foot out,
Right foot in
Then you shake it all about.
And then you do the Hokey Pokey
Turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.

You put your head in,
You put your head out,
Put your head in,
And bang it all about.
Do the Hokey Pokey
And turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.

Let's Do the Hokey Pokey!
Let's Do the Hokey Pokey!
Let's Do the Hokey Pokey!
That's what it's all about.

Put your right hand in,
Your right hand out,
Your right hand in,
And shake it all about,
You do the Hokey Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.

Now put your tongue in,
And your tongue out,
Tongue in,
And Blblblblbl!
You do the Hokey Pokey
Turn yourself around
That's what it's all about.

You put your bottom in,
Put your bottom out,
Put your bottom in,
You put your bottom out,
Put your bottom in,
You put your bottom out,
Put your bottom in,
You put your bottom out,
Put your bottom in,
You put your bottom out,
Put your bottom in,
You put your bottom out,
Put your bottom in,
You put your bottom out,
Do the Hokey Pokey,
Turn yourself about.

Let's do the Hokey Pokey!
Let's do the Hokey Pokey!
Let's do the Hokey Pokey!
That's what it's all about.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• Hokey
• Pokey
• Hokie
• HokeyPokey
• Pokie