“Yodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodo
yodeadodoyodeadodoyo-bab-baaaaa
Ahhhhhh-aaahhhh-aaaaaa-aaaaAAA!
Ohhhhhh-ooohhh-oooooo-oooOOO!”
“Hocus Pocus” by Focus. I’m misheard more often than not when I reference this song: “Hocus Pocus bifocals?” The confusion doesn’t end at the title — be prepared to listen to “Hocus Pocus” for a second time, it’s unlike anything you’ve ever heard. The genre is progressive rock, but don’t expect to hear any extraterrestrial Moogs: this Dutch band is the only rock band I’ve ever heard with a yodeler. The lyrics look like something I’d type into Microsoft Word with the onset of writer’s block. My take on the sound: Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson (jazz flute, check) bumped into Heidi on his Swiss vacation and took some sort of amphetamine. I cannot, for the life of me, picture this band in a recording studio.
Beyond the yodeling, whistling and the gibberish solo (2:37, I swear), Focus is pretty technically sound. And maybe it’s a product of their overeducated genre, but this song is showcases a truly talented group of musicians with names like Thijs van Leer (which I’m pretty sure shows up the gibberish solo). Listen to the speed of the drum and guitar solos: it honestly sounds like Thijs cranked the tempo of the recording. I’m probably a couple months late in posting this — would have been perfect for you-know-what-holiday — but, at the same time, this song does a great job of revealing my current state of mind. Crazy music for crazy people writing crazy exams.
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8 Comments
Thijs, that’s pronounced like ‘Thai’ with an s at the end.
‘van’ is not like your van. It’s the short kind of ‘a’ as in ‘ball’.
The ‘ee’ in ‘Leer’ is pronounced like a long ‘a’ as in ‘halo’.
There you go. Thijs van Leer. And even though he’s a terrific flute player, I’ll never like the guy. My mom is a flute player herself and wrote a fan letter yeaaars ago. He never answered the letter.
Hahahha you described the song perfectly.
Because some super super busy guy that probably gets more fan mail than you could ever ever take the time to read in your life didn’t respond to your mom’s letter, you don’t like him? Harsh.
It’s the Dutch way
And I’ve got a gut instinct he didn’t get that much fan mail. It’s not like he was pretty back in his heyday http://static.marktplaza.nl/images/1/96/4885396.jpg XD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpV5InLw52U
Live music from this time is always better than recorded. Enjoy
once saw Dave Grohl play it live at the Pinkpop festival with his Foo Fighters. Hardly anyone recognised the song.It’s great!
Be sure to see the version of Hocus Pocus medley by the Girls Singers of Petropolis, a small and beautiful city in Brazil, near Rio de Janeiro. Mauro.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js_9JudG8CY
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