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The Joker (Steve Miller Band song)

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This article is about the Steve Miller Band song. For other songs with the same title, see Joker (disambiguation).
"The Joker"
Song
B-side"see track listings"

"The Joker" is a song by the Steve Miller Band from their 1973 album The Joker. It is one of two Steve Miller Band songs that feature the nonce word "pompatus". The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1974.[1]

More than 16 years later, in September 1990, it reached number one in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks[2] after being used in "Great Deal", a Hugh Johnson-directed television advertisement for Levi's, thus holding the record for the longest gap between transatlantic chart-toppers. This reissue of "The Joker" also topped the Irish Singles Chart,[3] the New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart,[4] the Dutch Nationale Top 100[5] and the Dutch Top 40.[6]

The first line of the lyrics is a reference to the song "Space Cowboy" from Miller's Brave New World album. Following lines refer to two other songs: "Gangster of Love" from Sailor and "Enter Maurice" from Recall the Beginning...A Journey from Eden.

Inspiration and writing

During the song, Steve Miller references The Clovers' 1954 song "Lovey Dovey" when he sings "You're the cutest thing that I ever did see/ Really love your peaches, wanna shake your tree / Lovey dovey, lovey dovey, lovey dovey all the time".

The song is noted for its wolf whistle played on a slide guitar after the "lovey dovey" parts and the "some people call me Maurice" part.

The line "some people call me Maurice / 'Cause I speak of the pompatus of love" was written after Miller heard the song "The Letter" by The Medallions. In "The Letter", writer Vernon Green made up the word puppetutes, meaning a secret erotic female paper-doll fantasy figure;[7] however, Miller misheard the word and wrote pompatus instead.[8]

Track listings

7" single (1973)
  1. "The Joker" – 3:36
  2. "Something to Believe In" – 4:40
7" single (1983 - live version)
  1. "The Joker" (live) – 2:55
  2. "Take the Money and Run" (live) – 3:49
7" single (1990)
  1. "The Joker" (single version) – 3:34
  2. "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around" – 2:27
12" maxi (1990)
  1. "The Joker" (LP version) – 4:22
  2. "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around" – 2:27
  3. "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma" – 5:39
CD maxi (1990)
  1. "The Joker" (single version) – 3:34
  2. "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around" – 2:27
  3. "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma" – 3:33
  4. "Living in the U.S.A." – 3:59

Certifications

Country Certification Date Sales certified
U.S.[9] Gold January 11, 1974 500,000
Sweden[10] Gold February 6, 1991 10,000

Charts

Chart (1973/1974) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[1] 1
Canadian RPM Top Singles[11] 2
Dutch Daverende 30[5] 18
Dutch Top 40[12] 18
Chart (1990/1991) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart[13] 5
Dutch Nationale Top 100[5] 1
Dutch Top 40[6] 1
French SNEP Singles Chart[14] 33
Irish Singles Chart[3] 1
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[4] 1
Norwegian Singles Chart[15] 2
Swedish Singles Chart[16] 4
Swiss Singles Chart[17] 5
UK Singles Chart[2] 1
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single
January 12, 1974 (one week) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Irish IRMA number-one single
September 6, 1990 (two weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK Singles Chart number-one single
September 9, 1990 (two weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Dutch Top 40 number-one single
November 3, 1990 (two weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Dutch Nationale Top 100 number-one single
November 10, 1990 (two weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by New Zealand RIANZ number-one single
May 10, 1991 (one week) 		Succeeded by

Cover versions

"The Joker"
Song
"The Joker"
Song

Covers

Album tracks

Live cover performances

Sampling

References and footnotes

  1. ^ a b "Steve Miller Band > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles". allmusic. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Chart Stats - The Steve Miller Band - The Joker". Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  3. ^ a b "irishcharts.ie search results". Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  4. ^ a b "charts.org.nz - Steve Miller Band - The Joker". Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c "dutchcharts.nl - Steve Miller Band - The Joker" (in Dutch). Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  6. ^ a b "Nederlandse Top 40 - Week 44, 1990" (in Dutch). Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  7. ^ 'In Steve Miller's "The Joker," what is "the pompatus of love"?'
  8. ^ "S03E06". Never Mind the Buzzcocks. BBC2.
  9. ^ U.S. certifications riaa.com (Retrieved April 10, 2009)
  10. ^ Swedish certifications Ifpi.se (Retrieved April 10, 2009)
  11. ^ "RPM Volume 20 No. 24, January 26, 1974 - RPM". Retrieved October 6, 2009.
  12. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 - Week 47, 1973" (in Dutch). Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  13. ^ "Steve Miller Band - The Joker - austriancharts.at" (in German). Retrieved October 6, 2009.
  14. ^ "lescharts.com - Steve Miller Band - The Joker" (in French). Retrieved October 6, 2009.
  15. ^ "norwegiancharts.com - Steve Miller Band - The Joker". Retrieved October 6, 2009.
  16. ^ "swedishcharts.com - Steve Miller Band - The Joker". Retrieved October 6, 2009.
  17. ^ "Steve Miller Band - The Joker - hitparade.ch" (in German). Retrieved October 6, 2009.
  18. ^ "Chart Stats - Fatboy Slim - The Joker". Retrieved October 13, 2009.
  19. ^ "Smashing Pumpkins dot com". Retrieved September 28, 2009.
  20. ^ "The Howard Stern Radio Show". 17 Apr 2013. Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Howard 100. {{cite episode}}: Missing or empty |series= (help); Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help)
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