Hocus Pocus by Focus

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 21 · Sections: 12

Form: Verse → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Solo → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Verse 1

• A5 – E – Fmaj7 – C – B♭ – Am7/E – A5 – E – F – D – B – E (×2)
  I5 – V – bVImaj7 – bIII – bII – i⁴₃ – I5 – V – bVI – IV – II – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 1

• Am – C – D – Dm – F – G – Em7
  i – bIII – IV – iv – bVI – bVII – v7

Chorus 1

• Am7 – Em7 – F – C – Dm – Am7 – B – E (×2)
  i7 – v7 – bVI – bIII – iv – i7 – II – V
• A – B♭/A – C/A – Dm/A – Em/A – F/A – G/A – A
  I – bII (bass A) – bIII (bass A) – iv⁶₄ – v (bass A) – bVI⁶ – bVII (bass A) – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Solo

• Am
  i

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 3

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 4

• Am – C – D – Dm – F – G – Em7 – Am
  i – bIII – IV – iv – bVI – bVII – v7 – i

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.
• A (I) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.
• B acts as V/V: it resolves to E.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0381, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.