Hi-Jack Explained

Hi-Jack
Cover:Hi-Jack_Barrabas.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Barrabás
Album:¡Soltad a Barrabás!
B-Side:Lady Love
Released:1974
Recorded:1973–1974
Genre:Disco, funk
Length:5:46
Label:Ariola Records, ATCO Records (USA)

"Hi-Jack" is a 1974 r&b and funk disco based song written by Spanish musician Fernando Arbex and originally recorded by his group Barrabás for their album ¡Soltad a Barrabás!. While their version of the song was a huge success in their native Spain, going all the way to Number one over there, the song flopped in America, stalling at just number No. 104 on the Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 Charts in July 1975. It was later a hit single for jazz flautist Herbie Mann.

Herbie Mann version

Hi-Jack
Type:single
Artist:Herbie Mann & Cissy Houston
Album:Discothèque
B-Side:Lady Marmelade
Released:1975
Recorded:1974
Genre:Disco[1]
Length:5:16
Label:Atlantic Records
Prev Title:My Girl
Prev Year:1974
Next Title:Waterbed
Next Year:1975

Mann's recording of the song featured Cissy Houston on vocals and hit number one on the US Disco Action chart for three weeks in early 1975[2] and made the top 30 on the R&B and pop singles charts.[3] The song was banned on several AM radio stations because of the recent cases of hijackings in the middle East, as well as for the suggestive repeated lyric lines: "Hijack your love" and "I'm gonna steal your love".

In addition to Mann's version, the song has been covered many other artists (notably by Enoch Light) and the various versions have been sampled in songs by hip-hop artists, including The Beatnuts and Jennifer Lopez.

Personnel

Chart positions (Herbie Mann version)

Chart (1975)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4] 73
U.S. Billboard Hot 10014
U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles24
U.S. Billboard Disco Action1

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Precious and Few - Pop Music in the Early '70s. Don. Breithaupt. Jeff. Breithaupt. October 15, 1996. Seventese: Buzzwords. 176. St. Martin's Griffin. 031214704X.
  2. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 356.
  3. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 375.
  4. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 191.