HOKEY POKEY DIDDLE-DEE-RUM
(Cliff Hess / Wendell Hall)

Wendell Hall - 1926
Ernest Hare & Billy Jones - 1926


Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum
Derby, that's where we came from
It's a town way down in Tennessee
Some folks think it's mighty slow
Still it has it's push and go
And it's plenty fast enough for me

There was a man in Derby town as strong as any ox
They say the reason was because he'd never change his....
Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum, he never changed his mind
He said I'm strong because I'm always drinking pickled brine

The folks in Derby have their freedoms, though it may sound queer
A man can step in anywhere and get a glass of....
Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum, perhaps you think I lie
But every man in Derby has a twinkle in his eye

We have a dentist in our twon, for whom I'd like to vouch
When he extracts your tooth, why all you do is holler....
Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum, which proves as I have said
The only painless dentist is a dentist who is dead

I kicked a little dog one day, you should have heard him wail
Where did I kick him, Sir, you say, oh thereby hangs a....
Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum, oh thereby hangs a tail
I kicked him without conscience and I kicked him without fail

Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum
As a town that makes things hum
Derby takes the cookie every time
Talk about your moneysworth
There's no other place on earth
You can have as much fun on a dime

The circus came to Derby and I saw the old gi-raffe
And when I saw the monkeys, why it really made me....
Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum, I laugh, I tell you friend
To see the doggone elephant with a tail upon each end

We have a dog named Michael and he loves to bark at night
But I am not afraid because a barking dog won't....
Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum, I mean he wouldn't snap
Why, every time he wags his tail, he gives himself a slap

SPOKEN:
HARE: Say, Bill, you know one thing. It appears to me that this song has a lot of words to it.
JONES: Why, I don't mind that, Ernie.
HARE: No?
JONES: Say, Ernie, do you know I can sing two different voices, tenor and bass?
Hare: Oh Bill, you can't sing bass.
JONES: Yes I can sing bass, anytime I wanta. Why anytime I wanta, fact is, 
do you wanna hear me sing?
HARE: Yeah, go ahead, Bill.
JONES: Ha-ha, I don't wanta, Ernie.
HARE: Ha-ha-ha-ha. Well, let's sing these other thousand choruses.
JONES: Alright.

In Derby, our police force says he never goes to bed
So there's no fear of bandits hitting you upon the....
Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum, which means in accents wild
When you are held up, all you yell is "Fireman, save my child"

There was a hen in Derby town that had a wooden leg
One day we fed her sawdust and she laid a wooden....
Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum, and so is your old man
I never eat tomatoes 'til I first remove the can

The boy stood on the burning deck, when all but he had fled
A seagull laid a hard boiled agg and dropped it on his....
Hokey pokey diddle-dee-rum, red rivers, trees and sand
Oh, mama, Johnnie's started singing, ain't the gravy grand


(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - August 2005)