This deadpan explanation of the moves in the Hokey Pokey looks utterly unfun, and was irresistable to post. Click through for the full-size version at its home with the National Post.
It’s too bizarre to even credit: apparently there is a furor in the UK over the “Hokey Pokey.” Yes, the “put your left hand in, blah blah blah” song. Over there it’s known as the “Hokey Cokey,” and the latest rumour has it that the lyrics parody Catholocism, therefore they are offensive, therefore they can’t be sung at football matches.
“Not so!” counters the man who claims his dad copyrighted the song:
My father never referred to the “hocus pocus” idea. He said the unusual title was to do with drugs taken by the miners in Canada to cheer themselves up in the harsh environment where they were prospecting. “The word ‘Cokey’ ”, he wrote on the back of the sheet music, “means a dope-fiend!”
There you have it. The National Post gets its claws into the story, and extends the drug mention, saying that the dance has its roots in a folk song that is “a drug anthem celebrating the therapeutic powers of cocaine.”
Attention Lisa: Prove that you read my blog! You’re in the UK, is this really an issue? Be my eyes and ears! My roving reporter!
Grant Hamilton
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