It’s probably going too far to say that Hokey Pokey is an overlooked gem in the Richard Thompson catalog. But this, the second of six studio albums released by Richard and Linda Thompson between 1974 and 1982, generally doesn’t receive the accolades reserved for their first and last. The first, I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight and the last, Shoot Out The Lights deservedly are considered classics. More than classics, defining moments in British popular music of the era.
Hokey Pokey, by contrast, seems like the endearing younger sibling of Bright Lights, particularly when considered on the merits of it's title song. It’s a seemingly lightweight and upbeat number built around Thompson’s memories of the Italian ice cream vendors on the streets of suburban London in the fairly grim postwar years when he was growing up. Sung by Linda with Richard on backing vocals, it is laden with double entendres, driven by Timi Donald’s drums and Pat Donaldson’s propulsive bass guitar and punctuated by Richard’s slashing, pointilist guitar work.
The album, as David Suff’s liner notes on this 2004 remastered edition say, was Richard’s attempt at making a slightly lighter statement than the so-called doom and gloom he was already becoming known for. Thus “Hokey Pokey,” the jaunty “Smiffy’s Glass Eye” and “Georgie On A Spree,” and the closing track, a cover of Mike Waterson’s folksy satire of evangelical Christianity, “Mole In A Hole.”
But the illusion of Hokey Pokey as a change in tone is revealed as just that, an illusion, upon closer examination of even these upbeat-sounding songs. “Hokey Pokey” starts with an innocent picture of kids playing in the street, but soon devolves into convicts in prison and transvestites in the alley. “Smiffy” portrays the cruelty of children to one of their own who has a disability. The female protagonist of “Georgie” is left waiting by the phone for a lover who has probably abandoned her. And the good Christian fellow in “Mole” is called home much too early by his Lord. From: https://agreenmanreview.com/music-2/richard-linda-thompsons-hokey-pokey/
