THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

715-Steve Miller Band-The Joker.

1973-It did not chart in the UK until 1990, when it reached Number 1,

Best Bit-At 0.17. It’s the best wolf whistle you’ll get all day.

Steven Haworth Miller was born on October 5th, 1943, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, he is a singer/songwriter, and also plays the guitar, harmonica, and keyboards. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that Steve Miller had a head start musically as a child, as his parents were good friends with the musical duo of Les Paul, (1915-2009) and Mary Ford, (1924-1977) Les Paul was Miller’s Godfather. At the age of nine, Miller was taught to play the guitar by the Blues musician T-Bone Walker, (1910-1975) and other visitors to the house included the Jazz bassist Charles Mingus, (1922-1979) and the Jazz guitarist Tal Farlow, (1921-1998) it was T-Bone Walker who taught Miller how to play his guitar behind his back, and also with his teeth in 1952. It was while attending St. Mark’s School in Dallas, in 1955, that Miller first met the future ‘Pop’ star Boz Scaggs, (see also best songs 656) whom Miller would help instruct on guitar chords. Miller and Scaggs, with others would play in a group called the ‘Ardells’ in 1963, before Miller left to attend the University of Copenhagen, in Denmark in 1964. On his return to the United States he formed the ‘Steve Miller Blues Band’ in 1966. As the name suggests the group played ‘Blues/Rock’ in their early days, but they then took a more commercial approach during their most successful period in the 1970’s, and 1980’s. In total there have been 30 different members of the ‘Steve Miller Band’ come and go, including Boz Scaggs, who played on two studio Albums, before starting his own solo career, Steve Miller is the groups one constant.

The discography of the Steve Miller Band includes 18 studio Albums released between 1968-2011, and 30 singles issued between 1968-1993, there are also 11 official compilation Albums, and six live Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, nine of their singles have made the top 40, with three of those reaching Number 1, including ‘The Joker’ in 1973, while in the UK, they have had three top 40 hits, with ‘The Joker’ making Number 1 in 1990.

‘The Joker’ was the first of two singles released from the Steve Miller Band’s eighth studio Album of the same name, from October 1973. The song was written by Steve Miller, with the American songwriter Eddie Curtis, (1927-1983) and Ahmet Ertegun’s, names later added, the song was produced by Miller. ‘The Joker’ was an American Billboard Number 1 single in 1973, but failed to chart in the UK, until being used in a ‘Levi’s Jeans’ television advert in 1990, thus making the song at just short of 17 years, the longest gap between transatlantic chart-toppers (see also best songs 850.) ‘The Joker’s’ melody borrows heavily from the 1972 song ‘Soul Sister,’ by the American R&B artist Allen Toussaint, (1938-2015) although Toussaint doesn’t receive a writing credit. The line, ‘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,’ is lifted from the 1954 song ‘Lovey Dovey,’ by the ‘Clovers.’ That song was written by the Turkish songwriter and record executive Ahmet Ertegun, (1923-2006) and Eddie Curtis, and they therefore also receives writing credits. Steve Miller has said that although it cost him a lot of money in royalties, it was an honour to have his name on the song next to Ahmet Ertegun.

‘The Joker’ is also notable for the made up word ‘Pompatus,’ which has become very famous in ‘Pop’ culture down the years. Steve Miller had heard the song ‘The Letter,’ by the American ‘Doo-Wop’ group ‘The Medallions,’ from 1954, which was written by Vernon Green, (1937-2000) of that group. Vernon Green had made up the word ‘Puppetutes,’ for the song ‘The Letter,’ which Miller had misheard as ‘Pompatus.’ Vernon Green has confirmed that ‘the puppetutes of love’ was a nonsense lyric, ‘A term I coined to mean a secret paper-doll fantasy figure (thus puppet), who would be my everything and bear my children.’ Other lyrics in ‘The Joker’ include ‘Some people call me The Space Cowboy,’ this is a reference to Miller’s 1969 song ‘Space Cowboy.’ The line, ‘Some call me a gangster of love,’ is a reference to the song “Gangster of Love,’ and the line, ‘Some people call me Maurice,’ is a reference to Miller’s 1972 song ‘Enter Maurice.’ And finally the line ‘I’m a midnight toker,’ is a marijuana reference.

‘Cause I’m a picker, I’m a grinner, I’m a lover, and I’m a sinner, I play my music in the sun. I’m a joker, I’m a smoker, I’m a midnight toker, I sure don’t want to hurt no one.’