"Pony Time" is a song written by Don Covay and John Berry (a member of Covay's earlier vocal group, "the Rainbows"), and originally recorded in 1960 by Covay with his group "the Goodtimers".
It achieved greater success when it was recorded …
No licensed photograph yet
Four in five rooms open without one. Add a photograph with a declared licence and your credit sits under it, permanently.
"Pony Time" is a song written by Don Covay and John Berry (a member of Covay's earlier vocal group, "the Rainbows"), and originally recorded in 1960 by Covay with his group "the Goodtimers".
01 · What it is
Music
Vocal, percussive, or instrumental sound tradition carried by community performers.
02 · Where & name
Geography awaiting source
Add a cited source naming the region or community that carries it.
03 · How it is doing
□□□□ (Not yet assessed)
Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
04 · Proof & reuse
2 cited sources
Every claim links to a public record below. Free to quote, teach, and share under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Chapter Takeaways
In popular cultureA reference to the new dance style is made in the song "Back to the Hop" (1961) by Danny and the Juniors, and the song was featured in the 1988 film Hairspray.
Common Questions Answered on Record
What is Pony in plain words?
"Pony Time" is a song written by Don Covay and John Berry (a member of Covay's earlier vocal group, "the Rainbows"), and originally recorded in 1960 by Covay with his group "the Goodtimers".
Where is Pony practised or documented?
No verified geographic place has been linked on record yet — editors can add a cited place from the edit page.
What is the current condition of Pony today?
□□□□ (Not yet assessed): Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
How do I cite or share this Pony entry?
Cite as: "Pony." folkroom, https://folkroom.org/art-forms/pony, text CC BY-SA, with attribution.
"Pony Time" is a song written by Don Covay and John Berry (a member of Covay's earlier vocal group, "the Rainbows"), and originally recorded in 1960 by Covay with his group "the Goodtimers".
It achieved greater success when it was recorded by Chubby Checker the following year, becoming his second US No.1 (after his 1960 single "The Twist"). Chubby Checker's recording of "Pony Time" was also a No.1 hit on the R&B charts. In Canada it reached No. 5.
The "Boogety Shoe" phrase was used in Barry Mann's hit song "Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)" (1961).
The lyrics reverse the Gee and Haw commands. In use by horsemen for centuries, gee was right and haw was left. Beside being used to command horse teams, Gee and Haw was used a lot in naming geographic features, like stream branches. 1
In popular culture
A reference to the new dance style is made in the song "Back to the Hop" (1961) by Danny and the Juniors, and the song was featured in the 1988 film Hairspray.
The song introduced a new dance style, the Pony, in which the dancer tries to look as if riding a horse. The beat is 1&2, 3&4. In the dance the feet are kept comfortably together, while various arm and hand motions are possible. Movement around the dance floor may occur, but there is no line-of-dance. Couples, who generally face each other, do not touch, and turns and chase positions are possible.
The Pony dance is mentioned also in the Wilson Pickett song "Land of a Thousand Dances", in the Nick Lowe song "I Knew the Bride", and in The Go-Go's song "We Got the Beat". Cindy Wilson of The B-52's can be seen performing the Pony in the video for their 1980 song, "Give Me Back My Man", as well as in other films of the band performing between 1978 and 1980 (including their 1980 appearance on Saturday Night Live). The band completed the period effect by wearing early '60s-style outfits and hairstyles. 1
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Pony Time”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. 1
Pony is dance made popular in the 1960s song Pony Time by Chubby Checker, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 2
The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. 2