"The Joker" | ||||
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Single by Steve Miller Band | ||||
from the album The Joker | ||||
B-side | "Something to Believe In" | |||
Released | October 1973 [1] | |||
Studio | Capitol (Hollywood) [2] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length |
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Label | Capitol | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Steve Miller | |||
Steve Miller Band singles chronology | ||||
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Official video | ||||
"The Joker" on YouTube | ||||
"Take the Money and Run"/"The Joker" (1983,double A-side,live) | ||||
Steve Miller Bandsingles chronology | ||||
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Steve Miller Bandsingles chronology | ||||
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"The Joker" is a song by American rock band Steve Miller Band from their eighth studio album, The Joker (1973). 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 for two weeks after being used in "Great Deal",a television advertisement for clothing company Levi's,and caused controversy for keeping Deee-Lite's "Groove Is in the Heart" off the number-one spot. This reissue of "The Joker" also topped the Irish Singles Chart,the New Zealand Singles Chart,the Dutch Nationale Top 100,and the Dutch Top 40.
Miller borrowed from the hit song "Lovey Dovey",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 and Eddie Curtis wrote the song,and the Clovers had the highest charting version in 1954.
It is one of two Steve Miller Band songs that feature the nonce word "pompatus". The first line of the lyrics is a reference to the song "Space Cowboy" from Miller's Brave New World album. The following lines refer to two other songs:"Gangster of Love" from Sailor 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. In "The Letter",writer Vernon Green made up the word puppetutes,meaning a paper-doll erotic fantasy figure; [3] however,Miller misheard the word and wrote pompatus instead.
Cash Box said that "The Joker" "is going all the way to become [Miller's] most successful release ever." [4] Record World called it "a smooth piece that is highly reminiscent of Van Morrison" and that "could establish Miller as a potent AM act." [5]
"The Joker" topped the UK Singles Chart 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" by Deee-Lite. 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" topping the charts on merit by 44,118 to 44,110 copies. [6]
7-inch single (1973)
7-inch single (1983 –live version)
7-inch single (1990)
12-inch maxi (1990)
CD maxi (1990)
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Sweden (GLF) [36] | Gold | 25,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [37] | Gold | 400,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [38] | 5× Platinum | 5,000,000‡ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Amrican reggae singer Shaggy and Barbadian singer Rayvon's 2001 song "Angel" samples the bassline of the song. [39] It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending March 31, 2001. [40]
English musician Fatboy Slim covered "The Joker" and released it as a single on February 28, 2005. [41] This version reached number 32 on the UK Singles Chart and number 29 in Ireland. [42] [43]
"Groove Is in the Heart" is a song by American dance band Deee-Lite, released in August 1990 by Elektra 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, reaching number-one in Australia and on both the Canadian RPM and US Billboard dance charts. Today it is widely recognized as a classic of its genre. It was accompanied with a psychedelic 60s-themed music video.
"Batdance" is a song by American musician Prince, from the 1989 Batman soundtrack. Helped by the film's popularity, the song reached number one in the US, becoming Prince's fourth American number-one single and served as his first number-one hit since "Kiss" in 1986.
"Angel" is a song by Jamaican reggae artist Shaggy featuring additional vocals from Barbadian singer Rayvon. Sampling the 1973 song "The Joker" by American rock band Steve Miller Band and interpolating the 1967 song "Angel of the Morning" written by Chip Taylor, it was released to radio on 9 January 2001 as the follow-up to Shaggy's international number-one hit, "It Wasn't Me". "Angel" also proved to be successful, reaching number one in 12 countries, including Australia, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
"Praise You" is a song by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim. It was released as the third single from his second studio album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998), on 4 January 1999. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and in Iceland, number four in Canada, number six in Ireland, and number 36 in the United States. As of 1999, it had sold over 150,000 units in the US.
"Lucky Love" is a 1995 song recorded by Swedish group Ace of Base. It is taken from their second album, The Bridge (1995). The song became their fifth worldwide single, and was the first single from the album to be released in Europe; the acoustic version of the song was the second single in the United States and Canada. "Lucky Love" also became the group's first number-one hit in Sweden and it also peaked at number-one in Finland. The single peaked within the top 10 in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Hungary, Israel, Spain, and Zimbabwe. The song's lyrics describe the feeling of being a teenager in love and never forgetting that feeling.
"Blaze of Glory" is the debut solo single of American singer-songwriter Jon Bon Jovi. It reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Album Rock Tracks charts in 1990, becoming his only chart-topper away from his band Bon Jovi. "Blaze of Glory" also topped the Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand singles charts and reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart.
"The Rockafeller Skank", often referred to as "Funk Soul Brother" by fans, is a song by English big beat musician and DJ Fatboy Slim. It was released as the lead single from his second studio album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998), on 8 June 1998. The single peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart in June 1998 and topped the Icelandic Singles Chart for a week the same month. It was the second Fatboy Slim single to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 76. In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked "The Rockafeller Skank" at number 199 on their list of the "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time".
King & Queen is a studio album by American recording artists Otis Redding and Carla Thomas. It is Thomas' fourth album and Redding's sixth and the final studio album before his death on December 10, 1967. Influenced by Marvin Gaye's duets, the album features ten covers of soul classics and the eleventh finishing song co-written by Redding.
"Right Here, Right Now" is a song by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim, released on 19 April 1999 as the fourth single from his second studio album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998). The song samples "Ashes, the Rain & I" by James Gang and an Angela Bassett quote from American science fiction thriller film Strange Days (1995). "Right Here, Right Now" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-40 hit in Australia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the Walloon region of Belgium. It was voted by Mixmag readers as the 10th-greatest dance record of all time.
"I've Been Thinking About You" is a song by British-American band Londonbeat, released as the lead single from their second studio album, In the Blood (1990). The song was produced by Martyn Phillips, and written by band members Jimmy Chambers, George Chandler, Jimmy Helms, and William Henshall. It became a major worldwide hit, reaching the number-one spot in more than 10 countries—including Australia, Canada, Germany and the United States—and peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart.
"If You Don't Know Me by Now" is a song written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, and recorded by the Philadelphia soul musical group Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. It became their first hit after being released as a single in September 1972, topping the US R&B chart and peaking at number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
"Fly Like an Eagle" is a song written by American musician Steve Miller for the album of the same name. The song was released in the United Kingdom in August 1976 and in the United States in December 1976. It went to number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the week of March 12, 1977. The single edit can be found on Greatest Hits (1974–1978). It is often played in tandem with "Space Intro". On the album, the song segues into "Wild Mountain Honey".
"I See You Baby" is a song by British duo Groove Armada, featuring Gram'ma Funk on vocals. The song was also recorded with the chorus line "shakin' that thang" for various markets around the world, and also for use in American TV commercials. The song was later remixed by Fatboy Slim, with this latter version appearing in airplay. It was also remixed by Futureshock.
"Leave a Light On" is a song written by Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley, produced by Nowels for American rock singer Belinda Carlisle's third solo studio album, Runaway Horses (1989). It was released as the album's lead single in September 1989; in Japan, "(We Want) The Same Thing" was issued as the lead single concurrently with "Leave a Light On" the following month. The single narrowly missed the top 10 in the United States, peaking at number 11. It fared better elsewhere, reaching the top five in several countries, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The song's music video was directed by Peter Care.
"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". The song's initial recording by The Clovers remains the best known version, reaching No. 2 for five weeks on the R&B charts in 1954.
"Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" is a song by English drummer Phil Collins, released in April 1990 from his fourth studio album, ...But Seriously (1989). The song peaked at No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 the week of October 6, 1990 and No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart. A live version also appears on the Serious Hits... Live! album. The song is often identified by the recurring hook of "How many times can I say 'I'm sorry'?", however, the title of the song is essentially the 2nd line of the 2nd verse.
Eddie "Memphis" Evans Curtis, Jr. was an American songwriter, born in Galveston, Texas. He is credited as a co-writer along with Steve Miller and Ahmet Ertegun for "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band, which became a U.S. number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of January 12, 1974 and U.K. No.1 single in 1990. "The Joker" used a line from Curtis's song, "Lovey Dovey", which was recorded by numerous artists, beginning with the R&B group The Clovers in 1954. Elements of "The Joker" were used for Shaggy's international number one hit "Angel" (2001), which Curtis also received a co-writing credit for.
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"A Better Love" is a song by British-American dance-pop band Londonbeat, released on 12 November 1990 by Anxious and RCA as the second single from the group's second studio album, In the Blood (1990). It was the follow-up to their international hit "I've Been Thinking About You". "A Better Love" was less successful but still reached the top 20 in several countries, including becoming a top-ten hit in Austria and Canada; it was the 41st-most-successful song of 1991 in the latter country. On the US Billboard Hot 100, the single reached number 18, while on the UK Singles Chart, it peaked at number 24.