There is more than one artist with this name.
1) a Dutch progressive roc… Read Full Bio ↴There is more than one artist with this name.
1) a Dutch progressive rock band founded in 1969.
2) an American rapper and Hip-Hop producer.
3) Bigband from Valašska, Czech Republic.
4) a Hip-Hop artist from the Sunshine Coast in Australia.

1) Focus is a Dutch progressive rock band founded by classically trained organist/flautist Thijs van Leer in 1969, along with guitarist Jan Akkerman.

They are one of the most well-known and influential rock bands from the Netherlands. They successfully fuse inspired jazz, rock, and blues improvisation, classical musical structures, and accessible pop melodies into a powerful and instantly recognizable sound.

Akkerman's technical mastery of the guitar and the often unpredictable brilliance of his improvisations were the perfect counterpoint to Van Leer's extensive knowledge of musical styles and disciplined approach to composition. Van Leer's tongue-in-cheek musical references include the reworking of motifs from an early Monteverdi opera in the extended piece "Eruption" on the Moving Waves album, the contrapuntal passage in the middle section of "Carnival Fugue" on the Focus 3 album, the Renaissance-era harmonic progressions in "Anonymous II" (also on Focus 3), and the quote from the first chorale of J.S. Bach's oratorio St. Matthew's Passion in the track "Father Bach" on "Mother Focus".

Focus are possibly best known for their "Hocus Pocus", a top 40 hit from the Moving Waves LP, which included inspired bits of yodeling (believe it) and explosive guitar work.

The works of both composers display an impeccable melodic sense more often found in pop songs and Broadway showtunes than in progressive rock compositions. It is to the regret of many rock fans that Thijs van Leer and Jan Akkerman were unable to continue their collaboration, as together they were more than the sum of their formidable parts.

Akkerman's "House of the King" (from the "In and Out of Focus" album) is the title theme of 'Don't Ask Me', a science-based British TV show of the 1970s that made household names of Dr. Magnus Pyke and Professor David Bellamy. It is also the title theme of Steve Coogan's BBC2 sitcom Saxondale. It is often mistaken for a Jethro Tull song.

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2) There is also an American rapper and Hip-Hop producer called Focus. His civil name is Bernard Edwards Jr. He has produced tracks for The Game, Tony Yayo, Stat Quo, Bishop Lamont, Dr. Dre, Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé among others. In 2003, he founded the label
a.Fam Entertainment, Inc. See http://www.myspace.com/Icouldntthinkofabettername and http://www.myspace.com/noimaginationorcreativity.

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3) Focus is a big band (jazz ensemble) from Valašska, Czech Republic.

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4) Focus is also the name of an upcoming Hip-Hop artist from the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Check out http://www.myspace.com/alsocouldnotthinkofabettername for more.

Focus III
Focus Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Focus:

Black Beauty Night was dark, your skin was dark Your eyes were shining…
Brother (text of song Brother from LP Focus Con Proby) I've never…
Focus (vocal) Hey I know what I came to do And that ain't gonna…
Focus II [Instrumental]…
Focus V Every breath I take is heavy with the thought of…
Hamburger Concerto O kerstnacht, schoner dan de dagen Hoe kan Herodes het licht…
Happy Nightmare Only once in a life, mescaline Floating over a mountain, lik…
Hocus Pocus Joladadijoladadijoladadijoladadi Joladadijoladadi-jo-o-ooh J…
Hocus Pocus (Re-Recording Version) Yodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodoyodeadodo yodeadodoyodeadodoyo-ba…

Hocus Pocus 2010 Joladadijoladadijoladadijoladadi Joladadijoladadi-jo-o-ooh J…
I Need a Bathroom Oh I need the bathroom Oh I need the bathroom Oh keep…
Janis [Instrumental]…
La Cathedrale De Strasbourg La Cathedrale de Strasbourg Ding dong, ding dong, La nostal…
Lifted I was a prisoner You had no stain I owed a debt I…
Moving Waves Moving waves, the wind has left you and you are…
Red Sky at Night <Instrumental>…
Round Goes the Gossip Extemplo libyae magnas it fama per urbes, Fama, malum qua no…
Sugar Island Sugar island Cuba You lay there just for fun With all your…
Tokyo Rose Spoken: Hahaha, hey you know something? World War …
Tommy Every breath I take is heavy with the thought of…
Why Dream Why dream about the future? Now is the present as bad…
Why Dream? Why dream about the future? Now is the present as bad…

Wingless I'm a bird but I am wingless On a treetop way…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

TRACKS

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01Focus III

Focus

02Round Goes the Gossip5:12

03Love Remembered2:48

04Sylvia3:27

05Carnival Fugue6:07

06Focus II5:06

07Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!12:09

08Anonymus II (Part 1)0:01

09Anonymus II (Conclusion)7:34

10Elspeth of Nottingham3:13

11House of the King3:02

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Comments from YouTube:

@roypellikaan1

4y↑19

This makes me proud to be Dutch.
Thanks to my dad for raising me on music like this.

@GerryRed7

12y↑5

I saw this band , at last , last month... live... got to talk to Thijs Van Leer as well... what a lovely guy!... Pierre Van Der Linden is still one of the greatest drummers I have ever seen!!!... lovely guitarist and bassist too... an amazing night of memories brought to life! Wanted to see them in 1972, but I was gigging that night...heard them live on the radio instead... magical!!! I played drums that night like a demon!!!... I am now a guitarist!!!... still play 'Sylvia' in our set!...

@smuffman40

12y↑10

one of the greatest bands in the world...saw these guys live in 1972 when they had just released focus 3.....would love to see them again....great talent in this group....their live show back then was awesome...

@Alec_JW

13y↑18

When I was 17 on morning my mother died at 4:00 AM because of cancer. So my dad woke me up en while he was busy arranging things I put his headphones on en replayed this number en Answers?Questions! for the rest of the morning. Now I'm 36 and found out that I'm autistic in the last year. And that autistic people often feel their emotions through music. Maybe that's why -19 years later- it still has such big impact. On my funeral this will be played...

@davidsmale8760

5y↑4

One of the most wonderful pieces of music ever created - and yes, that is a bit of Petula Clark "Dont Sleep In The Subway" in there too! Saw Focus in Bristol just 2 weeks ago & yes, they did Focus 3. Fantastic.

@juleslove6338

5y↑9

My soul fall in to this music .. hard to explain.. i suddenly feels like in the past time.
Long long time ago before i was born.. dark..mellow.. and suddenly the light comes.. Its purely a masterpiece...
These people are genius...
So beautiful... I listen this thousand times never bored..

@phillipramirez8476

2y↑3

Outcast sampled this, wheels of steel. Wow genius!

@UNOENELTODO

10y↑54

A nice melody in a perfect harmony , this is the simple and at the same time complicated style of Focus. And not made for all kind of people: Made just for the ones who can understand it, who can feel it, who can enjoy it.

@tinfoilhatter

it takes a bit of listening,it does follow 'focus 2' , what a band!

@arsberrfill8990

6y↑3

Yes, they're not for everyone, but when you have the luck to understand them, I believe they make the most beautiful music ever.

@AndyinMokum

4y↑4

Focus are for connoisseurs, They're the fine, 16 year old single malt whisky of Prog Rock!

@omaumdom

3y↑2

@Andy Mitchell Yes you are right, at least like a whisky Macallan of 6000 pounds the bottle.

@daweizz

13y↑4

Picked up this album in the bargain bin today, still buying vinyl.

@rogerhennie8939

3y↑2

One of the best albums ever.

@55compost

5y↑3

Pure genius. Saw them several times in the 70s. This music never dates.

@bigroy38

4y↑2

My dad had his midlife crisis when he turned 40 in 1972.He was heavily into prog(Focus,&ELP were the biggest influences).Thank God we lived in a college town then.Their radio station was all prog,& jazz fusion on Sundays.

@fabiocuccu3689

6y↑12

Back to the time when there was no "loudness war"... What a dynamic range!

@alucardtepes5924

5y↑3

Discovered this gem in 1986, on 8 track in my parents basement. Man, this is progressive rock at it's best. From Focus 3 to House Of The King (US version) this album was the best!

@roypellikaan1

11y↑11

Focus' best song! And they made numerous great songs (Tommy, Focus II, Sylvia etc.). But this is their absolute masterpiece

@michaelcunningham1484

7y↑1

brilliant

@rogerhennie8939

2y↑2

Hamburger Concerto is another masterpiece.

@roypellikaan1

2y↑1

@Roger Hennie indeed. And so are many many other Focus songs

@trainguy7276

2y↑2

Add the entire Eruption suite and Answer Questions Questions Answer and you got my top 3 songs right there.

@roypellikaan1

@TrainGuy agreed

@chrisart7

11y↑8

For those not in the know, this song originally sequed into "Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!" which completed the album side. Be sure to listen to it to get 'the full effect.' AQQA has some of this album's best improvisational moments in it. Really fantastic playing from the whole band!

@GerryRed7

13y↑2

One of the best bands in the World!... along with E.L.P . , PFM , Deep Purple, Darryl Way's Wolf , Pink Floyd , The Who and YES....

@thegreypigeon

4y↑1

One of my favourite albums...classic musicianship

@HappilyMarried21021

6y↑12

Im 22 and i listen to focus because my dad who plays various instruments played this to me when i was a child. It really is incredible music.

@leesaunders1930

5y↑1

I hope my son does the same. I'm always playing guitar to him and various focus songs are what i play.

@TheJofrica

8y↑11

A lot of good music from this time period and from this region of the world. Excellent stuff

@PhilMacVee

13y↑1

I cannot believe that only one person has made a comment before. This is the music that I listened to through my teens and it remains with me. TVL JA etc were gods to me. Focus III was, to me, their crowning glory. I originally had to listen to it on a double cassette but now as Youtube grows the digital versions arrive. You made an old man very happy, or a happy man feel very old! Thank you redbullet for uploading this wonderful band and this wonderful track.

@RussianeldoHobo

10y↑7

Such a beautiful melody.

@meloland5649

9y↑10

Masterpiece

@deepindercheema4917

3y↑2

2:02 a piece of Don't sleep in the subway ( darlingk) composed by Tony Hatch made famous by Petula Clark. I asked Mr Van Leer and he said 'Don't sleep in the subway darling.. and said that he had trouble resolving the melody so he took a few bars from Mr Hatch.

@JahJahBruh

12y↑9

Glad to see people can appreciate obscure Dutch masterworks :)

@0babul0

10y↑13

~1:05 - one note melody with different harmonies, just like in Chopin's prelude in e.

@RichXZ

12y

Yes I always did when I first heard it about 40 years ago, and always start singing that Pet Clark song when I hear Focus 3 Saw them (Focus, not Petula Clark) at the rainbow in 1973; good show, nice to re-live it here on youtube (I had the album on cassette tape for years)

@chrisart7

11y↑3

Yes, there's an uncredited quote from Petula Clark's "Don't Sleep in the Subway" (as noted in a 1973 ROLLING STONE review of the "Focus 3" album). The intro is also reminiscent of Schubert's "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel," but it is still great music. I wish that they added some mellotron strings and/or improvised a bit more the second time through, as it gets almost redundant---but it's still GREAT music!

@mrdk216

13y↑2

outkast -wheelz of steel.

@sarahdelasestrellas8382

8y↑7

EXCELENTE!!!!

@furryanimal8776

7y↑5

70s classic.

@DavidSumeray_BassGod

10y↑6

Sublime!

@PauliSmiles

12y↑2

Esto es la mejor musica que existe, Progressive rock la lleva

@JahNeePlay2Much

12y↑2

Wheelz of steel!

@victorcoral

11y↑4

Darryl Way's Wolf and PFM !! that brings back some old memories .. great taste in music .... add Todd Rundgren (and Utopia), King Crimson, Genesis and Santana to your list ..... lol

@fernandomartinheras5025

5y↑2

Música que trasciende los sentidos y llega a lo más profundo de nuestro ser. Perteneciente a una época mágica y a una generación de músicos irrepetible. GRACIAS FOCUS.

@focuselp

12y

saw the guys in concert in 1975 at Wolverhampton Civic....awesome...:))

@marcelotalamo2158

5y↑2

música incomparable esto los escuche desde los 70 nadie los superó

@ninaruth51

11y↑4

Q HERMOSO TEMA.. ME MATA..

@mikeace5831

6y↑10

Well I heard Hocus Pocus by Focus I thought that was it but when I heard this stuff and it's excellent and blows my mind

@TedBoyRomarino

Focus was good because it made them famous

@roypellikaan1

4y↑2

@TedBoyRomarino you mean Hocus Pocus was good because it made them famous. For me personally it's actually not even in my top 10 of favorite Focus songs.

@TedBoyRomarino

4y↑2

@Peli exactly. It was good because it made them famous. If they didn't get famous, probably we wouldn't have heard other pieces like Janis, Focus II, Focus III, Hamburger Concerto..
So, hocus pocus was good because it made them famous.

@fatherchristmas2998

41w

some people can play the guitar but jan is the greatest guitarist ever and focus live at at the rainbow was my first ever lp well double lp

@panchoparisi6051

7y↑4

Temazo!

@traceyhudson2463

8y↑3

Marty The Martian - indeed you did sir by Miss Petula Clarke I believe - both bloody classics though!

@dynamic9016

4y↑1

Classic

@RichRice

13y↑1

Huge talent right here. It's honest. It moves me to a better place. ;)

@vincentadriaanse2032

8y↑1

Nice fade-out at the end

@ricardokize

12y

everyone you mentioned believeit or not are my favs, rock on bro,we must be a split hybrid..

@nirvanafan124

12y↑4

THIS song is my favorite song of all time to listen to when on psilocibin

@jidhed

7y↑2

Time to listen to it again!

@furnaccio

11y↑18

Wheelz of steel. By outkast!

@alucardtepes5924

Fuck OutKast.

@sendanor

13y↑1

@Baspergert A very recognizable experience, friend. I am diagnosed with PDDNOS for 4 years by now and your story sounds so familiar...music is an absolute means for living to me next to eating and drinking.

@63Baggies

7y↑10

Sublime...Although my ears and my soul have been almost completely seduced by the "Live at the Rainbow" version :-)

@Miler97487

5y↑1

Many people point out how this song was partially borrowed from Petula Clark's "Don't Sleep in the Subway", but many don't realize it also bears more than an uncanny resemblance to Earth & Fire's "In the Mountains" from Song of the Marching Children (1971). Earth & Fire was Dutch too, and the Focus bassist Bert Ruiter was romantically involved with Earth & Fire's singer Jerney Kaagman and he eventually joined them after Focus broke up.

@syntheseyez3577

Don't forget Outkast wheelz of steel

@FredericoMendez

13y

@teddingtontcu In the same boat and the same age Rich and tedd..that age listening to this album gave me something special back then..a zillion thoughts and special special memories come flooding back. Awesome...

@chrisdaviesguitar

Thank you

@chordsequencer001

I dont see what other musicians can compose these kind of chord progressions in Focus iii

@CoachEE33

Outkast

@sonykroket

12y↑3

Bach would be proud

@UpJumpsDaParty

1y↑3

This beat was definitely TOUCHED BY THE WHEELS OF STEEL and became a classic hip hop beat.

@StigCarlsson

11y↑3

I should feel privileged, then. I'm very sorry to say that i know hundreds of people that enjoys music like this.

@boogiefever1985

12y

I can hear some influences from Yes in this piece

@tinfoilhatter

you can tell they must also listen to a lotta kid rock!
haha!

@garyoldroyd2239

12y↑13

Most people remember Focus for "Hocus Pocus", shame. There was so much more happening with this band.

@niloduarte7266

I need a bathroom.lol

@drakkuza

3y↑1

@nilo duarte bert’s vocals tho

@martythemartian99

8y↑12

Far out! Did I just hear part of "Don't Sleep in the Subway" at 4:55?

@Kgio-2112

4y↑1

Yup. I think thijs liked petula

@jan208

4y↑1

That would be influenced by fellow composer genius Tony Hatch.

@timato98

12y↑1

@GerryRed7 How can you put focus along side of those bands? Focus is in it's own league bro, far far above those bands.

@FunkyWhitePimp

12y↑3

Organized Noize Productions!! Outkast- Wheelz Of Steel.

@deepindercheema4917

8y↑4

Petula Clark moment's at 2:03

@bust14u21

8y↑2

all out show brought me here

@lfenney5028

1y↑1

Outkast brought me hear with the Wheels of Steel..

@w7777777s

12y

Great song. Love all their music. Does anyone else hear this instrumental quote from the bridge of "Don't Sleep in the Subway" in there? 1st @ around 2:03? - "I've heard it all a million times before. Take off your coat, my love, and close the door" - "Good-bye means nothing when it's all for show. So why pretend you've somewhere else to go?" -

@974ofn2

Retro Tech yes, and rap group outkast song wheels of steel

@koopstamc

7y↑16

OutKast - Wheelz of Steel

@roypellikaan1

Yes sir, indeed.
Perfectly sampled as well 👌

@TheStutzv

hAHA ! yOU hear different things dude! But it's ok, is ok...don't worry...many mother fuckers laugh on funerals cause...ya' no'...Funeral March sound like Tupak at it's best sometimes!

@alucardtepes5924

They ripped it off without a mention in their liner notes. Assholes.

@michaelpagan3914

5y↑1

Appropriation

@ZChoate

4y↑3

@Jerry Schafer IV They were like 16 year old dropouts from the hood. I think they get a pass for that one.

@Pilgrimatthegreyofdawn

12y

So much more profound in caps lock...

@edknoskie99

11y↑1

Touched by the wheelz of steel

@teddingtontcu

Age 13, cycle training, tue evn, put this on after.....................tops

@jorge9277

Anyone know title of movie this score shows up at end?

@illustravitae

"Nothing really mattered, but we did"🤭

@HenZoid93

@Illustra Vitae that the name of the movie?

@MrrJmastaP

12y↑1

Outkast-Wheelz Of Steel

@pex3

11y

why don't you comment something about the song, rather than just stating where you heard it from?

@lorenapasquetti8627

3y↑1

🌷👍❤✨🎇🎆

@dezyy8489

4y↑2

now tell me how you feel

@nima65

13y↑1

@Baspergert Mooi verhaal man! Ook grappige naam verwijzend naar je asperger? Ik ben niet autistisch, maar beleef wel heel veel emotie's door muziek! Zeker bij zo'n mooi lied als dit!

@janbee5179

Ik heb hetzelfde. Ik krijg hier zelfs kippenvel door maar dat komt doordat het gewoon geniale muziek is 👌

@CEREALK

8y↑3

there are at least 3 guys with no ears at the world

@jorge9277

What's this?

@CEREALK

@Jorge people who "disliked" this song

@Alec_JW

13y

@nima65 Ghe ghe.. naam dateert idd uit de tijd dat ik dacht dat ik wel Asperger zou hebben. Werd uiteindelijk PDD-NOS, maar ik zie helaas geen mogelijkheid om mijn username te wijzigen in PDD-Bas :) BTW: Thanks to all who reacted so friendly on my prior comment :D