Fun…and Functional!
The Hokey Pokey (rock style) (LaPrise-Macak-Baker/Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. – A.R. Songs, BMI)
The controversy rages on: Is this a modern hit invented by Larry LaPrise in an Idaho ski lodge or a British dance with roots in an ancient Druid ritual showing fealty to a lord?
The Mexican Hat Dance (Traditional, arr. Hernandez-Finch-Barnes/Don Cenobio Music, BMI)
This song, as we know it, is actually the product of two traditional songs from Mexico. The first and most recognized theme, “da-Dum da-Dum da-Dum,” is known as “La Raspa, “so named for the scraping of the dancers feet (raspadura); the other sections are from “Jarabe Tapatio,” the song to which the “Hat Dance” really belongs.
Never on Sunday (Emmanuel Hadjidakis – Billy Towne/EMI Unart Catalog Inc. – LLEE Corp., BMI)
The title is from a famous 1960 move starring Melina Mercouri, but the song is very old. It is a Khasapiko, or sailor dance, and until modern times it was danced exclusively by men.
Limbo Rock/Hand Jive (Jon Sheldon-Bill Strange, Acuff Rose Music, ASCAP/Bobby Rush, Carquit Music-Most Urgent Music, BMI)
“Limbo Rock” was another fun dance hit by twistmeister Chubby Checker. “Limbo comes from “limber,” which you gotta be to go real low. “Hand Jive,” a big fit for Johnny Otis, tells the story of another family make dysfunctional by dance. Its Bo Diddley “Shave-and-a-haircut” beat is found in dance music all over the world
The Hustle (Van McCoy/Van McCoy Music – Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI)
Now it can be told: Disco doesn’t suck! John Travolta is a big star again and Van McCoy’s “The Hustle” is ready to take its place among the world’s greatest group dances.
Chicken Dance (“thrash” version) (Thomas-Rendal/September Music Corp.-SDRM)
Time was in Europe when people would stop their car, get out, and dance when this song came on the radio. It’s back! Joe Cripps puts the poultry in poetry with his opening haiku.
Mana Vu (Traditional, arr. Finch/No Class Music. BMI)
This is a lovely, tranquil Israeli dance invented by Raya and Josef Spivak, utilizing the Yemenite step (that double scissoring movement).
The Jeffrey (Barnes-Cripps-Finch-Hernandez/Wise Monkey Music, BMI)
The band once discovered Jeffrey Barnes doing this dance all by himself in a corner. He denies all responsibility, as his conscious mind was elsewhere at the time.
The Peanut Vendor (Moises Simons – Marion Sunshine – Gilbert Wolfe/Edward B. Marks Music Co., ASCAP)
This is probably the most famous Cuban song of all, and a marvelous excuse for a conga line. Quotations from “Salt Peanuts” and “The Peanut Polka” make this version particularly leguminous.
Jeopardy Schottische (Griffin/EMI Vine Music)
The real title of this song is “Thinking Music.” It was written by Merv Griffin and is used as its real title indicates on everybody’s favorite game show.
The Hokey Pokey (Go-Go style)
(See above)
Bunny Hop (Ray Anthony – Leonard Auletti/Moonlight Music Inc., BMI)
Cute dance for children or modern fertility rite? That’s the same thing, isn’t it? This version features an Aboriginal dronepipe (didgeridoo) and quotations from “Peter Cottontail” and Duke Ellington’s “Cottontail.”
JEFFREY BARNES woodwinds, harmonica, vocals
JOSEPH CRIPPS percussion, background vocals, chicken haiku
ALAN EMERT drums
CARL FINCH, guitar, keyboards, accordion, vocals
BUBBA HERNANDEZ, bass, vocals
DANNY O’BRIEN brass
Addional Musicians:
MIKE DILLON timbales on “The Hokey Pokey (Go-Go style)” and “The Hustle,” additional percussion on “Limbo Rock” NIKKI NOLEN additional vocals on “The Jeffrey”
PRODUCED BY BRAVE COMBO.
Recorded and mixed at Inside Track Studios, Denton, TX.
Engineering by Terence Slemmons and Jim Vincent.
Mastered at Gateway mastering by Bob Ludwig.
Special Thanks to Voyager’s Dream for lending us their Tam-Tam and Shelly Atkins for her endless help and support.