"The Joker" is a song by the

Steve Miller Band The Steve Miller Band is an American rock music, rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles t ...

from their 1973 album ''

The Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, and first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book '' Batman'' on April 25, 1 ...

''. Released as a single in October 1973, the song topped the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in early 1974 and reached the top 20 in Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands. More than 16 years later, in September 1990, "The Joker" reached number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

for two weeks 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 The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

, the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

, the Dutch Nationale Top 100, and the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 ( nl, Nederlandse Top 40) is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica ...

. English musician Fatboy Slim covered "The Joker" and released it as a single on February 28, 2005. This version reached number 32 on the UK Singles Chart and number 29 in Ireland.

Lyrics

Miller borrowed from the hit song "

Lovey Dovey "Lovey Dovey" is a popular American rhythm and blues song originating in the 1950s and written by Eddie Curtis and Ahmet Ertegun, with the latter usually credited using his songwriter's pseudonym "Nugetre" (Ertegun spelled backwards). The song ...

", which shares the lyric, "You're the cutest thing that I ever did see / I really love your peaches, wanna shake your tree / Lovey dovey, lovey dovey, lovey dovey all the time".

Ahmet Ertegun Ahmet Ertegun (, Turkish spelling: Ahmet Ertegün; ; – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist. Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and ch ...

wrote the song, and

the Clovers The Clovers are an American rhythm and blues/ doo-wop vocal group who became one of the biggest selling acts of the 1950s.The Guinness Who's Who of Fifties Music. General Editor: Colin Larkin. First published 1993 (UK). . The Clovers p77. They ha ...

had the highest charting version in 1954. It is one of two Steve Miller Band songs that feature the

nonce word A nonce word (also called an occasionalism) is a lexeme created for a single occasion to solve an immediate problem of communication.''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language''. Ed. David Crystal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ...

pompatus ''Pompatus'' (or ''Pompitus'') () is a nonce word coined by Steve Miller in his hit single "The Joker" (1973). Etymology The word is probably a corruption of—or imagined variation on—the word "puppetutes", which was itself a coinage, originat ...

". The first line of the lyrics is a reference to the song "Space Cowboy" from Miller's ''

Brave New World ''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hiera ...

'' album. The following lines refer to two other songs: "

Gangster of Love "Gangster of Love" is a blues song recorded by Johnny "Guitar" Watson in 1957. When he re-recorded the song in 1978, it became a hit. It is perhaps Watson's best known song and several artists have recorded interpretations. Original song John ...

" from ''

Sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

'' and "Enter Maurice" from '' Recall the Beginning...A Journey from Eden''. 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 The Medallions were an American doo-wop vocal group led by Vernon Green (1937–2000). History The group formed in Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1954, after Vernon Green was heard singing on the street by Walter "Dootsie" William ...

. In "The Letter", writer Vernon Green made up the word ''puppetutes'', meaning a paper-doll erotic fantasy figure; however, Miller misheard the word and wrote ''

'' instead.

Critical reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "The Joker" "is going all the way to become iller'smost successful release ever."

Chart performance

"The Joker" topped the

upon its reissue in 1990 despite selling exactly the same number of copies as that week's number-two single, "

Groove Is in the Heart "Groove Is in the Heart" is a song by American dance band Deee-Lite, released in August 1990 as their debut and lead single from their first album, ''World Clique'' (1990). Written and produced by the band, it was a hit in many countries, reach ...

" by

Deee-Lite Deee-Lite was an American house and dance music group formed in New York City. The group's best-known single is "Groove Is in the Heart", which was released in 1990 from their debut studio album ''World Clique'' (1990), and was a top-ten hit i ...

. Due to a ruling that the higher position should go to the single that had increased its sales most over the week, "The Joker" controversially secured top spot, having grown its sales by 57% compared to Deee-Lite's 37%. It later transpired that a rounding discrepancy had initially caused the tie, with "The Joker" selling eight more copies and topping the charts on merit.

Track listings

7-inch single (1973) # "The Joker" – 3:36 # "Something to Believe In" – 4:40 7-inch single (1983 – live version) # "The Joker" (live) – 2:55 # "

Take the Money and Run ''Take the Money and Run'' is a 1969 American mockumentary comedy film directed by Woody Allen. Allen co-wrote the screenplay with Mickey Rose and stars alongside Janet Margolin. The film chronicles the life of Virgil Starkwell, an inept bank ro ...

" (live) – 3:49 7-inch single (1990) # "The Joker" (single version) – 3:34 # "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around" – 2:27 12-inch maxi (1990) # "The Joker" (LP version) – 4:22 # "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around" – 2:27 # "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma" – 5:39 CD maxi (1990) # "The Joker" (single version) – 3:34 # "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around" – 2:27 # "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma" – 3:33 # "Living in the U.S.A." – 3:59

Personnel

* Steve Miller – guitar, lead vocals * Gerald Johnson – bass, backing vocals * Dick Thompson – organ * John King – drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

The Straight Dope: In Steve Miller's "The Joker," what is "the pompatus of love"?

��post on the etymology of "pompatus". {{DEFAULTSORT:Joker, The 1973 singles 1973 songs 1974 singles 1990 singles 2007 singles Astralwerks singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Capitol Records singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Fatboy Slim songs Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Songs about cannabis Songs written by Ahmet Ertegun Songs written by Eddie Curtis Songs written by Steve Miller (musician) Steve Miller Band songs Tim McGraw songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Steve Miller