I like strange songs and this one definitely fills the bill. “Hocus Pocus” by Focus (say it three times fast) was released in Europe in 1971. Focus is a Dutch group and their song didn’t make it to the US until 1973. It rose slowly in the record charts. It only got to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 2 weeks (May 27 – June 9). It did slightly better on the Cash Box Top 100 chart where it got up to #4 for the week of June 10 – 16.

The strange thing about the song is that it includes yodeling, eefing, accordion, scat singing, flute riffs, and whistling.

“Hocus Pokus” is a long song. It was 6 minutes and 42 seconds but most radio stations in 1973 had a version that was about half that time. So after a while when the group performed the song on TV they would double the tempo. The first “video” is the original version of the song. The second video is from the TV series The Midnight Special and the group is doing the fast version. The group still does concerts but you would have to go to the UK or Holland to see them.