So there’s this song I hear every now and then, but I can never remember what it’s called. The song, as I recall, starts off relatively normal, then maybe around halfway, there’s some quasi-yodeling added.
It goes like this:
Yodeling sound, yodeling sound, yodeling sound, bum dum dum. (I think it then repeats again – Then right after that, the vocalist starts making a noise which keeps getting higher in pitch, over the span of 3-4 seconds)
Told you that was a terrible description – sorry. So yeah, it’s a male vocalist, and it’s a very upbeat song.
Dude, I freaking love you. I can’t believe you figured it out based on my horrendous description, not to mention that I even got the timing of the yodeling wrong.
BTW I was on the same quest about 15 years ago, trying to figure out the name of this song. Hocus Pocus…by Focus. It’s available in different versions so if you’re thinking of dloading an mp3, keep that in mind. Youtube is your friend.
Don’t know why they had different versions, Red. It could have been that the original was too long for radio play, I guess. At any rate, quite a tour de force musically.
Ha! About 15 years ago, I had the same burning question! I was entranced by the song. I was somehow convinced that it was Jethro Tull (the flute part, I guess). I asked the school’s “Tull expert,” but he had never heard it. One day, I heard it again, and called the station for like 10 minutes, and finally got through and found out the name. Bought the tape, which isn’t so hot, IIRC.
Just by the subject line of the OP, I knew it HAD to be Hocus Pocus, before even opening it. Good times, good times…
I was sorting out some singles I still have a couple of months ago and leaned back - snap!
And that was the end of my Hocus Pocus 45.
The ‘b’ side was Sylvia, as I recall.
Wow, I hadn’t thought about Focus for years. I remember wondering how “Thijs,” which I think was the lead man’s first name was pronounced. Anybody know?
Wow, I hadn’t thought of Focus in years, either. There’s another 17-minute clip of them on You Tube that’s much more recent. I wonder if they’re still touring? I’d forgotten how musically solid they were – so many bands of that era sucked, even if I did love them, but these guys rocked!
I used to say ‘This’ like the beginning of ‘thistle’. Thjis Van Leer and Jan Akkerman are both still touring - Ackermann was the guitarist, Van Leer played the organ & flute - as Focus, and also individually, I think.
