In Memorium
Over 65 years ago, Roland Lawrence “Larry” LaPrise penned a simple children’s song that has become a party favorite. Roland Lawrence “Larry” LaPrise wrote the popular children’s song, “Hokey Pokey” in 1949.
It is with solemn joy that we reflect on the life of a very important man who brought so much happiness into our world through a simple little song, yet his passing went almost unnoticed. Larry LaPrise was a singer/songwriter who created the novelty song-and-dance number “The Hokey Pokey” and unwittingly creating a classic for nursery schools and roller-skating rinks.
The “Hokey Pokey’ is like a square dance, really,”
Larry LaPrise
The “Hokey Pokey’ is like a square dance, really,” Mr LaPrise told The Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1992. “You turn around. You shake it all about. Everyone is in a circle, and it gets them all involved.”
Mr LaPrise passed away peacefully on 4 April 1996 in a Boise, Idaho hospital at age 83. The most traumatic part of his passing was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in – and that’s when the trouble started…
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