Hi-Jack

{{Infobox song

| name = Hi-Jack

| cover = Hi-Jack_Barrabas.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Barrabás

| album = ¡Soltad a Barrabás!

| B-side = Lady Love

| released = 1974

| format =

| recorded = 1973–1974

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Disco, funk

| length = 5:46

| label = Ariola Records, ATCO Records (USA)

| writer = Fernando Arbex

| producer =

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title =

| next_year =

| misc =

}}

"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

{{Infobox song

| name = Hi-Jack

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Herbie Mann & Cissy Houston

| album = Discothèque

| B-side = Lady Marmelade

| released = 1975

| format =

| recorded = 1974

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Disco{{cite book|title= Precious and Few - Pop Music in the Early '70s|first1=Don|last1=Breithaupt|first2= Jeff|last2= Breithaupt|date= October 15, 1996|chapter= Seventese: Buzzwords|page= 176|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|isbn=031214704X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RMPCAwAAQBAJ}}

| length = 5:16

| label = Atlantic Records

| writer = Fernando Arbex

| producer =

| 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{{cite book |title= Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=356}} and made the top 30 on the R&B and pop singles charts.{{cite book |title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=375}} 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

Herbie Mann - flute
Tony Levin - bass
Steve Gadd - drums
Cissy Houston - backing vocal
Ralph MacDonald or Ray Barretto - percussion

=Chart positions (Herbie Mann version)=

class="wikitable"

!Chart (1975)

!Peak
position

Australia (Kent Music Report){{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=191}}

|align="center"|73

U.S. Billboard Hot 100

|align="center"|14

U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles

|align="center"|24

U.S. Billboard Disco Action

|align="center"|1