Hokey Pokey Man

I've seen several announcements of the sad death of Larry La Prise. Actually, having lived to 93 (and died on April 4th, 1996, not, as many recent posts and blogs would have you believe, this year), maybe he was ready to dance to a different drummer.

At any rate, the most traumatic part for his family was placing him into the coffin..... they put his left leg in...and that's when the trouble started.

I don't know how many dances I've been to where they've played the Hokey Pokey. Weddings, children's birthday parties, graduation shindigs...that's a perennial favorite.

It turns out, however, that the Hokey Pokey was featured in a number of legal battles, and if you look at Mr. La Prise's biography: http://larry-laprise.biography.ms/ it may trace back to a Shaker dance called the Hinkum-Booby.

By the way, that seems to be his only song. It appears he worked for the post office in Idaho for most of his life.