"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.[7] 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 No.9).
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.[7] That year the single re-entered the UK charts at No.57 and on the Dutch charts at No.48.
Description
"Hocus Pocus" was described as "the bludgeoning guitar riff ... broken up (or held together) by whistles, yodels, flutes and all manner of musical graffiti." Another reviewer wrote that "it amounts to ... a modern day 'Teddy Bear’s Picnic' without a let-up". Akkerman himself has said that it "was a send-up of ourselves ... all that serious Monteverdian fantasy."[11] In NME in May 1973 Akkerman said that it was “just a send-up of those rock groups”.[12]
The song takes the form of a rondo, consisting of alternation between a powerful rock chord riff with short drum solos and then varied solo "verses" (in the original all performed by Thijs van Leer) which include yodeling, organ playing, accordion, scat singing, flute riffs, and whistling. The single version is significantly edited from the album version.
"Hocus Pocus 2" is a slightly faster version with some funk elements and rhythms added. It was released as a single in its own right in Europe and was the B-side to the North American release of "Hocus Pocus". When performing live, Focus would play "Hocus Pocus" even faster.[13]
Release
The song was released in 1971, and reached No. 9 in the Netherlands.
In the US and Canada, the song was released as a single on the Sire Records label 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.[14] 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 the 1976 compilation album Ship of Memories,[14] where the producer, Mike Vernon, also mentions it in his booklet notes as the US single version.[15]
In 1999 the song was covered by German heavy metal band Helloween on their Metal Jukebox album.
In 2006 "Hocus Pocus" was covered by Iron Maiden as a B-side on their European DVD single "Different World".
Use in media
The song has also been used in the British motoring show Top Gear during one of The Stig's power laps, on series 6 episode 1, testing a Mercedes-Benz CLS55 AMG; as the exit music on the second series of the BBC TV sitcom Saxondale; in the 1994 film The Stoned Age; in a 2008 McDonald's commercial featuring the website Line Rider; in a 2010 Nike football World Cup advertisement titled "Write the Future"; in the third season episode of My Name Is Earl entitled "Early Release", when Earl Hickley (Jason Lee) is locked in solitary confinement; and in the 2008 Supernatural season 3 episode "Ghostfacers"; for the chase scene early in the first episode of Beyond Paradise 2023.
The song was used in the series 1 episode "Chris" in the Channel 4 teen drama Skins. During a scene where Chris Miles (Joe Dempsie) tries to sell a CD player for pizza, the song can be heard playing in the background while Chris and Sid Jenkins (Mike Bailey) are about to get kicked out of a music shop, the music plays as they end up making their way to a tip where they end up selling the CD player
"Hocus Pocus 2" was included in GuitarFreaks & DrumMania video game V5Rock to Infinity and was also used in the 2014 remake of Robocop during a live-fire test with RoboCop (Joel Kinnaman) against a large number of robot drones and the character Mattox.
The song was also used in the 2013 documentary 1. In this film about Formula 1 racing, the pulsing song was the backdrop for in-car footage of Ayrton Senna's qualifying lap at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Hocus Pocus accompanied the chase scenes of Dave TV's 2016 fantasy comedy Zapped, in series 3 episode 5 entitled "Book".
The song was used in Finland as the theme song for the YLE television programme Iltatähti, which was aired in 1973–1983.[27]
The song was performed in October 2024 in Finland in the YLE programme Elämäni biisi ("Song of my Life"), by the programme's house band. The song had been chosen by Mato Valtonen, who commented the song as follows: "At the age of 16, there was this jolt in my life, when I heard a completely insane song, which had yodeling, whistling and all kinds of crazy sounds. The first thing I thought was that you can't do a song like this, this is too crazy. But my second reaction was that of course you have to be this crazy. I had been inhibited in a hell of a many ways, and this liberated me", Valtonen explained in the episode. In social media, the song was hailed as the greatest one in the history of the show. It was performed by Timo Kämäräinen (guitar), Lenni-Kalle Taipale (keyboards and accordion), and Diandra Flores, Tero Vesterinen and Lauri Mikkola (vocals, Mikkola also played tin whistle).[28][29][30][31]
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