Friday Featured Track
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “Hocus Pocus” by Focus, from the 1971 album “Moving Waves.”
On Thursday night, I was hanging out with my boys at the BAM homestead when my cell chirped, signaling the arrival of a text message.
The message was from my pal Kyle, who was rocking out at the Foo Fighters’ show at the Ford Center:
“They totally just played part of hocus pocus by focus,” he shared.
My response: “Sweet.”
I’m pleased to report that I introduced Kyle, a young rock fan and guitarist, to this bizarre piece of classic rock ‘n’ roll genius a couple of years ago. He knows he can give me a thrill by playing the guitar riff for me, since just the sound of it makes me grin.
The wacky progressive-rock song was on the second album Dutch rock group Focus released. Guitarist Jan Akkerman and flutist/keyboardist/yodeler Thijs van Leer wrote the band’s most famous song.
Yep, that’s right, there’s yodeling. In a rock song. Yes. We know this to be true.
“Hocus Pocus” alternates one of the most amazing and powerful rock guitar riffs ever with a series of what basically amounts to utter nonsense van Leer made up. These crazy alternating segments include organ jams, accordion solos, flute riffs, whistling, the high-pitched caterwauling of absolute gibberish and the aforementioned yodeling. There are no real, intelligible lyrics to speak of.
The results are just insanely incredible or incredibly insane (depends on your point of view and how successfully you adapt to the concept of yodeling in a rock song), especially since all of this craziness and the impressive guitar riff are executed at remarkable speeds. The band actually became known for performing “Hocus Pocus” even faster live than on the swift album version.
Before you start wondering why the heck the Foo Fighters would be playing such a wacky rock oddity, keep in mind that “Hocus Focus” has been covered by several artists, including Iron Maiden, Helloween and The Vandals.
If you haven’t heard this song, you need to educate yourself. And if, like me, you love it, you’ll also enjoy this excerpt of a 1973 live performance of the song, courtesy the magic of YouTube. Watching van Leer in the throes of his musical madness is a heady experience.
- BAM
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I guess this song is supposed to be like casting a spell (“Hocus Pocus” and all), so all the nonsense is like Abracadabra. It’s made up magic words.
(I know I’m reaching here. This has got to be one of the weirdest songs ever done.)