It originates in a British folk dance, with variants attested as early as 1826. Larry LaPrise, who wrote the song and dance classic 'The Hokey Pokey' is dead at 93. They put his left leg in..... and that's when all the trouble started! The modern version of the Hokey Pokey emerged in the 1940s, but earlier traces have been found in records dating back to 1826. The guy who wrote the 'Hokey Cokey died today. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him in the coffin. He was 83. There’s no one definitive answer to where the Hokey Pokey (or Hokey Cokey) ultimately derives from. With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the life and death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed last week. 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." We need you to answer this question! Watch this . The most traumatic part, for his family, was getting him into the coffin. WENDELL, Idaho - Larry LaPrise, who wrote "The Hokey Pokey" for patrons of a ski resort and saw it become a classic in nursery schools and skating rinks nationwide, has died. The general belief is that Charles Mack, Taft Baker, and Larry Laprise wrote the American version of the song "The Hokey Pokey" in 1949 to entertain skiers at … The Hokey Cokey (United Kingdom and the Caribbean) or Hokey Pokey (United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland and Israel) is a participation dance with a distinctive accompanying tune and lyric structure. LaPrise said in 1992: "The Hokey Pokey is like a square dance, really. You just put your right foot in and put your right foot out to perform one of the best-known circle dances in American history. LIghten up everybody, and have a Happy Christmas. Even the modern history of it is somewhat convoluted. My father Bob Degen wrote the Hokey Pokey along with his friend Joe Brier. It was first popularised in England in the 19th century by Italians, & it’s a corruption of their street cry “Have a little”, in Italian – which I’ve forgotten, but musical terms suggest “Pokey” is poco. That said, the convoluted nature of the history of something has never stopped us from trying to trace the origin before, so here goes. I was told long before WW2 that Hokey Pokey was ice-cream. Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote "The Hokey Pokey" died peacefully at the age of 93. So that settles who wrote the popular incarnation of “The Hokey Pokey.” But traces of the Hokey Pokey—an easy dance with a song telling you how to do it—appear in folk dances going back hundreds of years in North American and Europe. The song was first recorded by his group the Ram Trio (on the record their known as the Sun Valley Trio) (with Charles Macak and Tafit Baker ) in 1948.