Hocus Pocus (song)

"Hocus Pocus"
Single by Focus
from the album Focus II
B-side"Janis"
ReleasedJuly 1971 (Europe)[1]
February 1973 (US, Canada)
Recorded1971; re-recorded 1972
Genre
Length6:42 (album version)
3:18 (single edit)
3:25 (re-recording: "Hocus Pocus 2", "Hocus Pocus II")
LabelImperial Records (NL)
Polydor (DE, UK)
Blue Horizon (UK)
Sire Records (US, CA)
Songwriter(s)Thijs van Leer, Jan Akkerman
Producer(s)Mike Vernon
Official audio
"Hocus Pocus" on YouTube

"Hocus Pocus" is a song by the Dutch rock band Focus, written by keyboardist, flutist, and vocalist Thijs van Leer and guitarist Jan Akkerman. It was recorded and released in 1971 as the opening track of their second studio album Moving Waves.[6] An edited version was released as a single (with "Janis" as the B-side) on the Imperial, Polydor and Blue Horizon labels in Europe in 1971, but failed to chart outside of the Netherlands (NL#09).

Buoyed by a live performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test in December 1972 and a subsequent British club tour,[6] the song rose to No. 20 on the UK charts in late January 1973.[7]

In the United States and Canada, the song was released as a single on the Sire Records label in the United States and Canada in 1973. A different recording, a faster version of the song, entitled "Hocus Pocus 2" or "Hocus Pocus II", appeared on the B-side of the original single edit in these territories.[8] It was not available outside the US until Sire Records in 1975 released the compilation album Dutch Masters (1969–73), and it was later added as a bonus track on the CD release of Ship of Memories,[8] where the producer, Mike Vernon, also mentions it in his booklet notes as the US single version.[9]

In the United States and Canada the song peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 the weeks of June 2 and 9 in the US and No. 18 in Canada during the spring and summer of 1973.[10][11]

The song was given new life in the new millennium, when it became the musical signature of the Nike Write the Future advertising campaign, shown during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[6] That year the single re-entered the UK charts at No. 57 and on the Dutch charts at No. 48.

In 1984 the song was covered by California based punk band The Vandals on their When in Rome Do as The Vandals album.

In 1999 the song was covered by German heavy metal band Helloween and released on their Metal Jukebox album.

  1. ^ "Focus singles".
  2. ^ de la Rosa, Manzanares (12 February 2018). "Strange Hits: Focus - "Hocus Pocus"". The Young Folks. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  3. ^ Reed, Ryan (28 July 2021). "Top 50 Progressive Rock Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  4. ^ Todd, Frank (24 May 2018). "Todd's Baby Boomer Trivia: Volume 21". My Central Jersey. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  5. ^ Popoff, Martin (January 5, 2024). "The Top 20 unlikely Progressive Rock hits, ranked". Goldmine. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c "The Story of Focus' Exceptional Hit, 'Hocus Pocus'". Bandonthewall.org. November 2018. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019.
  7. ^ "Hocus Pocus: Singles". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  8. ^ a b Johnson, Peet (2013). Hocus Pocus. The Life & Journey of Rock’s Dutch Masters. Tweed Press. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-0-646-57754-8.
  9. ^ Mike Vernon (1988). Ship of Memories. EMI-Bovema B.V. CDM 7 48858 2.
  10. ^ The Hot 100, Week of June 2, 1973 – Billboard. Retrieved 26 December 2020
  11. ^ The Hot 100, Week of June 9, 1973 – Billboard. Retrieved 26 December 2020