Subject: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: John M. Date: 09 Oct 05 - 06:00 PM Here is a song found on the 78 record "Songs for Little People - part 7" by sung by Harold Harvey and released in 1926. Does anyone here also think that this children's song was re-written to make "The Hokey Pokey"? Looby Loo (recording) Download the full 1926 record here: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/obj/m2/f7/11768.mp3 |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: marthabees Date: 09 Oct 05 - 06:08 PM I personally do not think the dances are similar enough to be directly related. The Looby Loo is soo European and the Hokey Pokey has definite Americanisms, probably black influenced. That's what my ears tell me, anyway. I have also heard from a reliable source - which I have no clue about anymore - that the Hokey Pokey originated near Lake Okeechobee in Florida in the little town of Pahokee. Being a Floridian, I like that notion, but is it credible?? I remain clueless. Martha |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: katlaughing Date: 09 Oct 05 - 06:12 PM Interesting! Not sure about the European vs American angle, as we knew versions of both here in the American West. Have downloaded the whole album for my grandson...this will be fun. Thanks! |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: marthabees Date: 09 Oct 05 - 06:14 PM But then again..... after listening to the recording, I DO definitely hear the possibility. My initial reply was to the Looby Loo song that I'm used to which is not the same as the recording posted above. Very cool recording! Martha |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 09 Oct 05 - 06:29 PM Naw! "Looby loo" is about taking a bath, and "the Hokey Pokey" is not about taking a bath. In the olden days, people bathed on Saturday night so as to be nice and clean for church on Sunday morning. The "looby loo" part imitates the sound of the body plunging into the tub. Looby loo, part 2 actually goes You put your right hand in, you take your right hand out, you give your right hand a shake, shake, shake and turn yourself about. Why do you shake your hand? To get the bath water off. Didn't we just have a thread on the Hokey Pokey? I believe the composer died recently. |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 09 Oct 05 - 06:29 PM Bruce Olson and Murray Schoolbraid saw a clear connection, and that's good enough for me. Early examples are known from various British (mostly Scottish) sources, though it was re-made more than once by American commercial performers during the 20th century, presumably from American traditional forms. See DT entries HILLI BALLU HINKUMBOOBY ... and, in the forum (among others): Lyr Req: here we go loopy loo Obit: Larry La Prise (Hokey Pokey/Cokey) and Hokey pokey and the Druids? (but only if you are bored) Safest, as usual, to ignore some of the more extravagant suggestions in the various threads. |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> The Hokey Pokey From: John M. Date: 09 Oct 05 - 06:46 PM Malcolm Douglas, Thanks for the mudcat references. I was unfamiliar with this linkage and was surprised to hear the song on this children's record. I hope everyone enjoys the early recording of a Canadian singer. Yours, John Mehlberg ~ My website: www.immortalia.com |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: Compton Date: 09 Oct 05 - 07:22 PM I have no idea which came from which but hokey pokey is an old name for Ice Cream! |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: Peace Date: 09 Oct 05 - 07:34 PM Hokey Pokey "Put your right hand in Put your right hand out Then give your right hand a shake And turn yourself about." Looby Loo "Put your left foot in, Your left foot out, Your left foot in, And shake it all about." No similarities, is there? |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 09 Oct 05 - 08:00 PM Mr Samuel Brown, the composer of the old song 'Hokey Cokey' died in 1989. There was considerable consternation when placing him in his casket at the Funeral Home. They put his left leg in... |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: Elmer Fudd Date: 10 Oct 05 - 01:52 AM I don't know if this is of any help, but the origin of the phrase, "hokey pokey" is supposedly from Italian ice cream street hawkers in England who would call out, "Gelato! Ecco un poco!" ("Ice cream! Eat a little!") "Ecco un poco" got garbled into "hokey pokey" and came to mean ice cream. |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: GUEST,Dáithí Ó Geanainn Date: 10 Oct 05 - 04:18 AM I thgink the looby loos song was also used in a UK children's series "Watch with Mother" in the Fifties. And the usual version of the other seems to be Hokey Cokey, (never heard "Pokey")East side of the Pond |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: John MacKenzie Date: 10 Oct 05 - 04:57 AM Well there's this song Then there's this recipe for what we used to call Puff candy when I were a lad. This is what is crumbled up and added to ice cream to make Hokey Pokey variety. Hokey Pokey 5 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp golden syrup 1 tsp baking soda - Use a large, heavy based pot, bring sugar and golden syrup to the boil, slowly stirring all the time. - Simmer gently over a very low heat for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. - Remove from heat and add baking soda. - Stir in quickly until it froths and pour at once into a greased tin or onto a piece of tinfoil. - Break up when cold and store in air-tight jars. The song as far as I'm concerned is the Hokey Cokey , and we used to love doing it with the actions as kids, where it was always one of the 'circle games' played at children's parties. Giok |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 10 Oct 05 - 02:40 PM Hokey pokey The dancers form a circle and sing: You put your right hand in, You take your right hand out, You put your right hand in and you turn yourself about. You do the hokey-pokey and turn yourself around. That's what it's all about! Ending: You do the hoooooohkey pokey! ( 3 times) (Hold your hands above your head and turn around standing in place) That's what it's all about! No shaking off the bathwater, no loobing. |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: Snuffy Date: 10 Oct 05 - 08:16 PM Definitely The Hokey Cokey, a firm favourite towards the end of village dances in the 50s and 60s, when several generations would all be on the floor together. The best bit was all joining hands and dashinbg into the middle going "Oooooooooooooh Hokey Cokey Cokey, Oooooooooooooh Hokey Cokey Cokey, Oooooooooooooh Hokey Cokey Cokey, Kness bend, arms strecth, Rah, Rah Rah." Andy Pandy and Teddy (Watch with Mother, Tuesday, IIRC) had a rag doll companion called Looby Loo, so her song was sung every week. But on Tuesday afternoon, not Sayurday night |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: GUEST,Joe_F Date: 10 Oct 05 - 10:23 PM I first heard Looby Loo from my mother, ca. 1940. I first heard the Hokey Pokey at college mixers, ca. 1955. Both in America. --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: The symptoms of actually being right when everyone else is wrong are indistinguishable from those of paranoia. :|| |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: GUEST Date: 13 Sep 06 - 05:35 AM the truth will out about who composed the hokey cokey, when the play, written by the composer's grandson, will be completed at the end of this year 2006. you will be in for a big surprise!! |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: Louisey Date: 13 Sep 06 - 06:54 AM The version I learned when I was young (15/20 years ago?!) relates to GUESTLeeneia's explanation of bathing on a Saturday night to be clean for church on a Sunday, although I had to admit, I never questioned the origins/meaning of this song. The chorus we sung was: Here we go Looby Lou Here we go Looby Lie Here we go Looby Lou All on a Saturday Night As a child this was a favourite of mine, because 'Looby Lou' was almost 'Louise'!! Louise |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: GUEST Date: 25 Apr 15 - 01:40 AM I think Looby Loo refers to getting drunk as a skunk on the weekend. Check out the words and see if I aint right! hahahahhahahah |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: MGM·Lion Date: 25 Apr 15 - 02:09 AM Good Wikipedia article on the various claims re origin and authorship {Jimmy Kennedy of Teddy Bears Picnic, Isle of Capri, Red Sails In The Sunset, Spreading Chestnut Tree &c a strong claimant; also bandleader Al Tabor, et al}, national variants in the name, & so on. Seems to have originated in UK with some input from a Royal Canadian Air Force officer.... Maybe............. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokey_cokey We used to go Looby Loo at Woodstock School in The Drive, Golders Green, London NW11, which I attended aged 5-7 [1937-39]: an in-&-out handholding circle for the chorus, breaking hold to perform the actions of the verses. Hokey not invented than, it would appear. There was a doll character called Looby Loo in the children's tv programme Watch With Mother, mentioned above, 10 Oct 05, one of Andy Pandy's friends. Whether the dance/song featured also I am not sure. ≈M≈ |
Subject: RE: Origins: Looby Loo ===> Hokey Pokey From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 25 Apr 15 - 12:22 PM Two people thought it would be a good idea to make up a simple song and dance to help children learn left from right. One tune, the Hokey Pokey, is kind of bluesy, and the other tune, Here We Go Looby Loo, is not. In my case, I did the dances, but my teachers lacked the basic dedication and brain to use them to actually teach left and right. |
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