HOKEY POKEY. BtVS Intertext/Allusion.

In "Intervention," to begin Buffy’s quest to find out more about being a Slayer, Giles must perform a ritual to temporarily transfer his guardianship of her to a spirit guide. He has brought along a bunch of sticks and a gourd, and makes a circle on the ground with the sticks. Their dialogue is as follows (from the transcript at BuffyWorld.com):

BUFFY: So, how's it start?

GILES: I, uh, jump out of the circle and then jump back in it, and then, um ... (embarrassed) I shake my gourd.

BUFFY: I know this ritual! The ancient shamans were next called upon to do the hokey-pokey and turn themselves around.

GILES: (straightens up, gives her a sour look) Go quest.

Buffy makes an amused face. Giles looks embarrassed. He sighs, rolls his eyes, jumps into the circle of twigs, jumps out, and shakes the gourd. Nothing seems to happen. He and Buffy look at each other.

BUFFY: And that's what it's all about.

The Hokey-Pokey (or Hokey-Cokey as it is known in Britain) is a song that is often sung at parties, and is also used as a way of teaching young children the names for different parts of the body. It involves people standing and dancing in a circle, making the movements referred to in the song. At the chorus, they join hands and charge to the center of the circle and out again with each line of ‘Whoa-oh the Hokey-Pokey.’

There are various suggestions as to where the song comes from. It is generally claimed to be of British origin, although the American Roland Lawrence LaPrise and his group, the Ram Trio, recorded the song in 1949 and LaPrise claimed the copyright (disputed by a certain Bob Degan, which resulted in a court case). The origin of the name of the song is the subject of various speculations. One suggestion is that it was a chant made up by Canadian miners in the 19th century and connected with cocaine usage (hence the ‘Cokey’ part of the title), and that the change to ‘Hokey-Pokey’ may have been connected with the criminalization of cocaine in the 1930s when the song was very popular.

A popular theory is that it began in 17th century England, as a ridiculing of the Roman Catholic mass, with the movements constituting a mimicry of those of the priest during the performance of Holy Communion. ‘Hokey-Cokey’ may be a corruption of the Latin words of consecration - Hoc est corpus: 'This is my body'. A further suggestion is that ‘Hokey-Pokey’ comes from ‘hocus-pocus’, which may in turn be a burlesque of ‘Hoc est corpus’. Hocus-pocus came to refer to the sleight of hand tricks used by magicians to create their illusions.

The words are as follows, although the exact body parts involved vary in different versions.

You put your right foot in,
You put your right foot out;
You put your right foot in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

 

Chorus:

Whoa-oh the Hokey-Pokey

Whoa-oh the Hokey-Pokey

Whoa-oh the Hokey-Pokey

Knees bend, arms stretched  rah rah rah!

You put your left foot in,
You put your left foot out;
You put your left foot in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

Chorus

You put your right hand in,
You put your right hand out;
You put your right hand in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

 

Chorus

You put your left hand in,
You put your left hand out;
You put your left hand in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

Chorus

You put your right side in,
You put your right side out;
You put your right side in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

Chorus

You put your left side in,
You put your left side out;
You put your left side in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

Chorus

You put your nose in,
You put your nose out;
You put your nose in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

Chorus

You put your backside in,
You put your backside out;
You put your backside in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

Chorus

You put your head in,
You put your head out;
You put your head in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!

Chorus

You put your whole self in,
You put your whole self out;
You put your whole self in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about

Chorus

--Viv Burr