The dance and
song originated around the same time, in 1952.It was a hit for Ray Anthony, and a
hit with the kids at San Francisco's Balboa High School, who are
credited with its creation.A conga-like
dance designed to break the ice at parties, it
requires participants to form a line, with the second person putting their
hands on the hips of the leader, and so on through the last dancer.The dance is basically two taps with
the right foot, two taps with the left foot, one hop forward, one hop
backward, and three more hops forward, until the song is over.Ironically, the B side of Ray
Anthony's recording was "The Hokey Pokey". " The Bunny Hop" has
since been recorded by an eclectic mix of artists and groups, including The
Champs, Da Entourage, Delteens,
Duke Ellington, and A Smoky Montgomery.The version by A Smoky Montgomery is
a country instrumental that starts out with twin fiddles, then passes off the melody to the steel guitar and the
piano.The lead guitarist gets
a little more lee-way to improvise, then the twin
fiddles come back and harmonize to the end, with a stinger supplied by the
piano and drums.
