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.