Dutch group Focus (Thijs van Leer, Jan Akkerman, Cyril Havermans and Pierre van der Linden) released the LP "Moving Waves" aka "Focus II" in 1971 with "Hocus Pocus" (Thijs van Leer - Jan Akkerman) as the opening track. An edited version was issued as a single but didn't chart.

A faster re-recording of "Hocus Pocus" was produced in 1973. It was this edited 45 r.p.m. version that reached number nine on Billboard and the top twenty in Canada and the U.K.