The Hokey Cokey

I sent off yesterday to Songfacts this article about the disputed authorship of the British participation dance song, "The Hokey Cokey." This is what I wrote:

There have been claims by some Catholic authorities, that the words to this British participation dance song were written by Protestants around 400 years ago to mock the Latin Mass. They maintain that the phrase "hokey cokey" dates back to Reformation England and is a corruption of "Hoc est enim corpus meum," which are the Latin words that the priest said over the bread in the Mass, meaning "This is my body."
The song’s critics add that other lyrics of this song also contain a sinister sectarian message. They explain that "And you turn around" refers to the action of the priest after consecrating the bread and the wine. Because in Reformation England the altar was up against the east wall of the church, the priest had his back to the people, so he had to turn around to show the consecrated bread to them. Furthermore, "Knees bend" refers to the priest extending his arms during the Eucharistic Prayer, which consecrates the bread and wine.
In an article in The Sunday Times January 11 2009, the grandson of one of the alleged composers of this song, Al Tabor defended the right-hand-in, right-hand-out ditty against claims that it mocks the language and actions of Catholic priests. Alan Balfour said his band-leader grandfather wrote the words and music in the 1940s to raise people’s spirits during the Blitz and rather than poking fun at the Mass, the song is all about ice cream. He explained in the article that Tabor wrote the song while working at Murray’s Cabaret Club in Soho, London. Balfour added that his grandfather told him he thought of the ice-cream sellers of his youth when he was looking for a bright and breezy title for what he saw as a throwaway ditty. So according to the article Tabor "took the name from ‘hokey pokey,’ a common term for ice cream and a corruption of the Italian phrase "ecco un poco" used by vendors when they gave their customers a small amount to taste." Tabor subsequently changed the title to ‘hokey cokey‘ at the suggestion of a Canadian officer, because "cokey" was a slang term for crazy in Canada."
An alternative claim to the authorship of this song, has been made by the son of Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy, who is best known for penning the lyrics to "The Teddy Bears’ Picnic." Kennedy Jr. stated in a letter to the Financial Times newspaper that his father penned the song in 1942 with an original title of "Cokey Cokey." He added that it stemmed from an experience his father had with Canadian soldiers stationed at a London nightclub. He wrote: "They were having a hilarious time, singing and playing games, one of which they said was a Canadian children’s game called The Cokey Cokey. I thought to myself, wouldn’t that be fun as a dance to cheer people up! So when I got back to my hotel, I wrote a chorus based on the feet and hand movements the Canadians had used, with a few adaptations. A few days later, I wrote additional lyrics to it but kept the title, Cokey Cokey, and, as everybody knows, it became a big hit."
Despite the alternative claims of authorship (or maybe as a British compromise!), in the United Kingdom for copyright purposes, this song is regarded as a traditional song and is therefore free of copyright restrictions. This does not apply to the similar American participation dance song, "The Hokey Pokey," which is copyrighted to its authors Larry LaPrise, Charles Macak and Tafit Baker.

Kumbaya

I recently researched for Songfacts the story of the traditional spiritual "Kumbaya." This is what I found.
"Kumbaya" originates from the 1920s. It has been traced to the African-American Gullah people, who live on the Sea Islands just off the states of South Carolina and Georgia. In their Creole dialect “kumbaya” means simply “come by here” and this tune began as a Gullah spiritual where the former slaves living on the Sea Islands sang the lyric “Come by here, my Lord, come by here.” It is thought that American missionaries taught the song to locals in Angola, and it was in the African country where it was rediscovered. The spiritual was brought back to America where it became a popular tune in the folk revival and civil rights movements of the 1960s and a standard campfire song.
Peter Seeger recorded this in 1958, but it was Joan Baez’s live version in 1962 that really helped boost its popularity. In 1969 the vocal group, The Sandpipers took this song to #38 in the UK singles charts.

Lily the Pink

Those of a certain generation will probably recall The Scaffold's 1968 British number one hit "Lily the Pink." What I didn't realise was that Lily the Pink was an actual person, a 19th century pioneer in marketing herbal remedies for women. Here is some trivia that I sent to Songfacts earlier today.
The Scaffold were a group formed in Liverpool, England by comic John Gorman, poet Roger McGough and Mike McGear, who was later revealed to be Paul McCartney’s younger brother. They specialised in comic songs, such as this one, which was their only UK chart-topper. Scaffold achieved two other Top 10 hits “Thank U Very Much” and “Liverpool Lou.”
This was based on a bawdy folk song “The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham,” which was traditionally sung in changing rooms by rugby teams after matches. The trio wrote new lyrics for the tune; “Jennifer Eccles and her terrible freckles” were added because Graham Nash joined them in the studios at Abbey Road to contribute some backing vocals and the lyric alluded to Nash’s band, The Hollies,’ hit “Jennifer Eccles.” The verse about “Mr Frears and his sticky-out ears” related to film director Stephen Frears who in his younger days nearly destroyed the trio’s career with his inept directing of their comedy pieces during a tour. Scaffold extracted revenge by writing about his “sticky-out ears.” Frears went on to have a successful career, which included two Oscar nominations for Best Director, (1990 The Grifters and 2006 The Queen).
Nash was not the only well-known name to contribute to this track. A young Tim Rice, who at the time was a teaboy at Abbey Road studios, was a backing vocalist. He would later find fame as a lyricist for musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita. Another young backing vocalist was a certain Reg Dwight, (before he adopted the name of Elton John). Jack Bruce played bass and according to his website Keith Moon was also present.
Mike McGear borrowed Ringo’s bass drum and covered it with his overcoat to get the thump, thump, thump sound right at the end of the song.
The French version of this song, “Le Sirop Typhon” by Richard Anthony, was also a hit selling 800,000 copies.
The real Lydia Pinkham was a 19th century seller of a commercially successful herbal "women's tonic," which was intended to relieve menstrual and menopausal pains. She used the slogan "A Baby in Every Bottle" to advertise her product. A pioneering businesswoman in a man’s world, in the late 19th century, Lydia Pinkham was a household name thanks to her a pioneering and innovative approach to marketing her herbal remedies to women.
The folk song that tells her story was the unofficial regimental song of the Royal Tank Corps during the Second World War. There is also a version by Ragtime revivalist Max Morath on his 1995 album Drugstore Cabaret.