ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190029
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON, KY.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUT YOUR TWO CENTS IN, take your two cents out, but no one may ever know who really wrote the ``Hokey Pokey.''
An Idaho man gained posthumous fame when obituaries listed him as the author of the universally known ``Hokey Pokey'' song, but a Kentucky man claims he and a friend are the true authors.
Bob Degen, 90, of Lexington, owns a 1944 copyright for ``The Hokey-Pokey Dance,'' and claims to have written the words and music with his friend, the late Joe Brier of Scranton, Pa. It's the only song Degen said he ever wrote.
Degen's version predates a 1950 copyright for another, nearly identical, song called, ``Hokey Pokey,'' by Roland ``Larry'' LaPrise, who died April 4 in Boise, Idaho, and is widely credited as the original author.
But that's plain hokey to Degen.
``He's a faker,'' Degen said of LaPrise. In fact, Degen sued LaPrise in 1956 in U.S. District Court in California.
According to Degen, the two parties settled out of court to split 40 percent of the royalties. Their publishing company at the time, Four-Star Records, took the other 60 percent, he said.
Four-Star went bankrupt in the early 1980s. Nashville-based Acuff-Rose Music Inc. bought the company, which made them part-owners with Degen and LaPrise to both versions of the Hokey Pokey.
Acuff-Rose's copyright manager, Peggy Lamb, confirmed the company owns both versions of the song, and also credits LaPrise - not Degen - as the true author. But she declined to name who receives royalties from the tunes.
LaPrise's daughter said her father wrote the song in 1949, which is five years after Degen obtained his copyright. But Broadcast Music Inc., which has a national registry of songs, says LaPrise registered the Hokey Pokey in 1941.
BMI credits Degen as a derivative author - the secondary source of a song - said Brian McLaughlin, a BMI researcher.
After LaPrise's death April 4, several former GIs said they danced to the Hokey Pokey in England in the closing days of World War II.
A December 1945 issue of Dance magazine contains an article about an English novelty song called ``the Okey Cokey,'' which has almost identical lyrics to the Hokey Pokey.
Although Degen claims original authorship, he takes LaPrise's recognition in stride.
``He can have all the fame he wants as long as I get this,'' said Degen, rubbing his thumb and index finger together - royalties.
Degen and his wife, Vivian, 78, said they have cashed royalty checks worth at least $12,000.
But the song may have had yet another source.
In his 1940 book, The Gift to be Simple, Edward Deming Andrews described a song called ``The Hinkum-Booby'' that was sung by Shakers, a religious sect that was known for its ecstatic style of worship.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB