Hottest Hit On The Planet!: “The Joker” by Steve Miller Band
It’s Steve Miller!
- AKA The Space Cowboy!
- AKA The Gangster Of Love!
AKA Maurice!
(Is it just me, or is that wolf whistle just a bit odd?)
It’s probably just me. But that wolf whistling bothers me. Not necessarily because I’m against wolf whistling per se – it was 1974, it was a different time, etc…
(Although I do think we need to re-evaluate “Oh, Pretty Woman” and understand that Roy was basically being a sex pest, but that’s another issue to tackle on another day…)
But because: why is Steve wolf whistling right at that moment? Right after he calls himself “Maurice”? It makes it sound as though Steve is wolf whistling at himself! Or wolf-whistling at Maurice. Who we have established, is himself!!!
I mean, who does that?
There are plenty of other parts of the song where a wolf whistle might be – at least by the low standards of wolf-whistling – appropriate:
“You’re the cutest thing that I ever did see
Some Random Maurice / Gangster / Space Cowboy Guy
I really love your peaches
Wanna shake your tree”
A totally appropriate – or at least not totally irrational – time to wolf-whistle.
Is wolf whistling what it sounds like when you speak of the Pompatus Of Love? Impossible to say really, given that “pompatus” is not a real word!
The time has come for a deep dive down the rabbit hole that is the origin story of the Pompatus Of Love.
The story is basically this: Steve misheard a lyric from an old doo-wop song called “The Letter” by The Medallions (no relation to “The Letter” by The Box Tops), and the word in question was “puppetutes.”
It will not surprise you to learn that “puppetutes” is also not a real word!!!
The Medallions were big on made-up words. And not only in the ‘shoo-be-do-wop’ sections, where most doo-wop groups put their made-up nonsense words. They also inserted made-up nonsense words into their sincere spoken word passages.
The relevant sincere spoken word passage of “The Letter” states:
“Oh my darling, let me whisper
sweet words of pizmotality
and discuss the puppetutes of love.”
Pizmotality? Puppetutes? That’s two made-up nonsense words with a second of each other!! Who does that?!?
Now, it is well known – or at least Stereogum Author Tom Briehan wrote about it – that the first verse of “The Joker” is just a bunch of references to old Steve Miller songs.
As if he’s John Lennon or something, constantly reminding people that he wrote “I Am The Walrus.”
But it goes further. Because the ‘Maurice’ song that “The Joker” references – “Enter Maurice” – Steve quotes, (or misquotes) the Medallions’ song as well. Steve must really love that Medallions song.
You’d think then, since Steve loves “The Letter” so much, that he’d get the lyrics right. But he does not. In addition to mispronouncing “puppetutes” in “Enter Maurice”, Steve also pronounces “pizmotality” as “epismetology.” But I guess it doesn’t matter. I mean, it’s not as though the word actually exists!
Given that “pompatus” – or “puppetutes” – is a made-up word – and given that “The Letter” wasn’t exactly a major hit – a lot of time, effort and resources have been spent by academics:
Such as Professor of Linguistics and Computer Science, Mark Liberman – who you would think would have better things to do – to hazard a definition.
Professor Liberman has put forward the controversial theory that “puppetutes” is a combination of “puppet” and “prostitute,” and that Vernon Green – the coiner of the phrase – was a teenage boy who thought that “prostitute” just meant an attractive woman.
Hmmm.
“The Joker” is a 7.
Meanwhile in Bowie Land:
“Rebel Rebel”
Bowie was going through a busy phase. Bowie’s entire career was a busy phase, but 1973 was particularly packed.
In the space of about a year, he’d killed off Ziggy Stardust, created “Aladdin Sane” – who, other than having a lightning bolt painted on his face, never really received much by way of character development – and tried to make a TV movie adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984.
When George’s widow, Sonia, refused to allow it, Bowie decided to come up with a dystopian nightmare of his own, complete with a new character called “Halloween Jack.”
“Halloween Jack” came from “Hunger City.” His defining feature was that he wore an eye-patch. This of course made Bowie lose his depth perception. He was constantly bumping into doors.
The song that “Halloween Jack” is mostly associated with – largely because Bowie is dressed as him in the video – is “Rebel Rebel,” a song that would not have made any sense in a TV adaptation of 1984, at least not from what I remember of it from high school.
In the dystopian nightmare of “Rebel Rebel” – a song that sounds way too much fun to possibly co-exist with a dystopian nightmare – your mother is in a whirl, because she’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl.
Are you a boy or a girl? Bowie refuses to say!! Does Bowie even know? All we can say for sure is that you love dancing – to bands, when they play it hard! – you look div-ine – even when you’ve torn your dress, and your face is a mess!
And you’re a “HOT TRAMP!” Also, Bowie loves you so!
The big hit from “Aladdin Sane” – “Jean Genie” – had been about an Iggy-Pop-type. But not, we are assured, Iggy Pop himself (it’s a 9).
This may defy all the known laws of the universe, but “Rebel Rebel” sounds like an even bigger and even more exciting party animal than “Jean Genie!” Out-partying Iggy Pop (sorry, “an-Iggy-Pop-type”), that’s got to be some kind of juvenile success!!!
“Rebel Rebel” is a 9.
Meanwhile in Babs Land:
“The Way We Were” by Barbra Streisand
In which Babs tells us that “memories light the corners of (her) mind.” I’ve spent most of my life thinking – on those rare occasions that I think of this song, that “The Way We Were” was called “Memories”, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
That might be because Babs also had a much smaller hit – with “Memory” from Cats.
Confusing.
So, I watched The Way We Were. The movie. The tale of Babs and Robert Redford and their convoluted decades long relationship. I now have a whole new appreciation for Babs’ face-acting.
What that woman can do with a nostril flare! But I’m a little unclear as to what Babs is remembering, or why she’s remembering it with such rose-coloured glasses.
I mean, they spend most of the movie arguing! Sometimes about FDR. Sometimes about Franco. But mostly about Robert Redford’s terrible – and they are terrible! – friends.
There’s also a weird power imbalance between the two of them, since Robert Redford plays a privileged WASP who looks like Robert Redford, but is cursed with the dumb-ass name of Hubbell, whilst Babs plays a Marxist diner waitress who looks like Barbra Streisand.
Later she works her way up to working at a radio station as part of the war effort – since the bulk of the movie takes place during World War Two – when she bumps into Robert who has become some sort of Naval officer, although since he seems to spend all his time in New York and Washington it’s doubtful he saw a moment of action.
Maybe that’s unfair. When awoken by a shrieking kettle in the middle of the night – Babs is brewing him some coffee – he does cry out “General’s Quarter! General’s Quarter!! Countdown!!!”, which feels like the kind of thing you’d cry out in the middle of the night if you were suffering from post-traumatic stress.
- Then he and Babs make out.
- Then he falls asleep.
- Whilst making out with Babs. Trapping Babs underneath him. Somehow she escapes.
This is not a hugely romantic movie. These are the memories that are lighting the corners of Babs’ mind?
But then, Babs does sing: “what’s too painful to remember, we just choose to for-geeettttt.” Which, in the case of The Way We Were the movie, is virtually every scene. “So it’s the laught-er that we re-mem-ber, when when ever we re-mem-ber, the way… we… weeerrreee.”
“The Way We Were” is a song about the lies we tell ourselves, so that we can have happy memories.
But it’s still a pretty song. It’s a 7.
Meanwhile in Sexy Soul Land:
“Love’s Theme” by Love Unlimited Orchestra
“Love’s Theme” was not the theme song to a television show called Love. Nor the theme song to a movie called Love.
This surprises me, since “Love’s Theme” sounds like every TV theme song that I dimly remember from my childhood. I choose to believe that without “Love’s Theme” there would never have been a “Love Boat Theme.” And thus, perhaps, no Love Boat! I don’t want to imagine a world without Love Boat!
Just to be clear, that video was a compilation. There was sadly no episode of “Love Boat” that featured Michael J .Fox, Tony Danza, Heather Locklear, Tori Spelling, Hulk Hogan, The Village People, The Harlem Globetrotters, Courtney Cox, Janet Jackson, Joan Collins and Leslie Neilsen all in the one show! Imagine though how amazing that episode would be!!
Love Unlimited Orchestra was the backing band for sexy girl-group Love Unlimited. But without Love Unlimited. Love Unlimited were the girl-group for Barry White – complete with sexy Barry White-esque monologues – but with no Barry White. Unless of course, Love Unlimited gave him a call in the middle of their song.
So we effectively have a Love Unlimited record with no Love Unlimited, a Barry White record with zero Barry White – zero Barry White vocals anyway – and yet it is still 100% Barry White. It’s still 100% smooth, 100% sexy, 100% a record that no bachelor pad can be without.
“Love’s Theme” is an 8.
Meanwhile in Glam Land:
“Tiger Feet” by Mud
For decades, if you wanted to find the cheesiest of British rock music, there was only one place to go: Rak Records, the record label started up by Mickie Most, with the money he made from producing the chirpy cheese-fest of Herman’s Hermit’s “I’m Into Something Good,” Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow” – far cheesier than a Dylan wannabe should ever be – and incredibly, just for something different, The Animals’ “House Of The Rising Sun.”
One of these things is not like the other.
Rak Records ruled the 70s.
Novelty glam rock records were right in their wheelhouse.
Particularly when Mike Chapman arrived from Australia to churn out a seemingly endless supply of glam-rock stompers for a whole bunch of bands, including two glam-rock Christmas songs, both of which became UK Christmas Number Ones! Back-to-back, two years in a row!!
That’s the level of shamelessness we are dealing with here!
To have your glam rock party stomper become a great big hit, you don’t just need a novel hook, you need a novel look. In the case of Mud, we have:
- A curious mixture of an aggressively terrible band name
- A singer wearing a velour suit as though he was Fat Elvis
- And a bunch of dancing dudes that look as though they are supposed to be mechanics, dancing a dance that might actually be dumber than the song itself!
And that song, remember, is a song called “Tiger Feet.” A song title so dumb that Mickie Most decided to release it as a single without even listening to it, safe in the knowledge that it was impossible for a song with a title that dumb not to be a great big hit! Which, indeed, it was!!
“Tiger Feet” is a 7.
What a crazy time it was to be alive!
To hear these, and other 70s hits, tune into DJ Professor Dan’s Twitch stream on Thursdays, 8pm Melbourne time, 9am London time, 1am L.A. time (of the night before), middle of the night (before) New York time!!!
Let the author know that you liked their article with a “Green Thumb” Upvote!
Thank You For Your Vote!
Sorry You have Already Voted!
Views: 115
Bowie really was super busy in 1973. He recorded Aladdin Sane and Pin-Ups, used that band to record a disco pop version of “Man Who Sold the World” with Lulu, broke up that band, gave Mick Ronson some good songs to sing for his solo album, wrote and recorded some disco soul tracks for his band with Ava Cherry: the Astronettes, and yes–did that whole abandoned 1984 musical-turned-rewrite into Diamond Dogs. Whew. I need a break just typing that.
I’m just hearing “Tiger Feet” for the first time, and it’s a good song, especially if you don’t watch the video. Why souped-up T. Rex merits such distracting antics is beyond me. Just put on an eye patch and call it a day. Ah yes, it’s been done.
They could have at least made fluffy tiger print boots a thing for the glam kids.
The video is the cherry on top for me. This was their Top of the Pops performance. A bunch of blokes that really don’t look suited to glam rock but having the time of their life regardless.
One of these men went on to write Can’t Get You Out Of My Head for Kylie as well as other dance music bangers in the 90s and 00s. You never can tell.
I just can’t get them out of my head. Now that dance is all I think about.
“Bowie really was super busy in 1973”
Cocaine is a hell of a drug.
Tiger Feet!! Now you’re talking. I’ve got to take issue with the 7 and all the cheese. I’d call it a guilty pleasure but I feel no guilt, its a 10 all day and all of the night.
OK, I will admit that the Chinn/Chapman songwriting duo produced some cheap, knocked off product. It’s to be expected given how prolific they were in the early to mid 70s but they also gave Mud, The Sweet and Suzi Quattro some absolute bangers. Tiger Feet is one of the best with its irrepressible, demented energy that brings a smile to my face.
We’ll ignore that our protagonist has a thing for her ‘tiger feet’. What do her feet even look like; large furry paws that’ll tear you apart? It’s fine, not everyone can be Bob Dylan but Bob could never write something this damm catchy. He did have that one about the Eskimo so he wasn’t averse to the ridiculous either.
For more Mud, here’s one I prepared earlier, way back in 2022
https://tnocs.com/big-in-birmingham-a-bust-in-baltimore-part-2-2/
I have never heard “Tiger Feet” before and I echo others’ thoughts in that it’s a decent song and a fun romp. It reminds me a little bit of early Sweet. The dancing is terrible, but I tend to not care about optics as much as the song anyway. There was a teen fan magazine here called Tiger Beat. I wonder if that information made its way across the big pond and that’s where the song derives its name.
“Aladdin Sane” – who, other than having a lightning bolt painted on his face, never really received much by way of character development
Maybe that lightning bolt just said all that needed to be said.
The Love Boat theme is one of the all time greatest tv show themes in my opinion and I’m so happy it was mentioned. Jack Jones can croon no wrong and the samba/disco beat is magnificently tight. Everything you need to know about that show is in that song. I once kicked off a live set with a cover of it, which baffled the audience, but it was the right thing to do. Sometimes you just know.
I’m just reading the Wikipedia page on Mud and they have a direct connection to Jack Jones. They were his opening act on an early 70s tour. Seems like an odd combination but that’s right, that’s right, that’s right….
Quite odd and very cool!
upvoted love of the theme from Love Boat.
I also thought immediately of Sweet at the beginning of the song — I thought it could turn into Ballroom Blitz at any moment.
And to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Mud has not one but four designated dancers in the band. Suck on that!!!!
First of all, 1974 contains some of my all time favorite songs. But it also contains a few stinkers that taint the year as a whole. I would say “The Way We Were” is one of those. It starts out ok, but by the climax of the song Barbara is oversinging it and it’s ruined. I’m no Streisand hater, but I give this song a 4.
“Tiger Feet”? Never heard that one. Seems like one Tom Breihan would like. It’s pretty fun and obnoxious.
But “Love’s Theme”? 10/10 That song is so dang perfect. And very much puts me in the mind of music churning out of the kitchen transistor radio on the counter, permanently tuned to AM MOR radio station WIBC, Indianapolis’ biggest station in the 70s. Now THOSE are ‘memories’!
I feel like Love’s Theme could be on your short list for walk-up songs.
Now yer talking!
Three that I have heard thousands of times, one that is well-remembered, and one that is brand new to me. That’s the way these things should go. Great fun today.
I cannot think of “The Way We Were” without my brain immediately pulling me to The Naked Gun.
https://youtu.be/x2-aKxkdQm4?si=-RR32Uy7CK3iPV6o
OK, “Tiger Feet” kind of slaps.
Glad to see DJ Professor Dan showing more love to The Way We Were and Love’s Theme than Tom did in his reviews in The Number Ones. As I’ve noted before, 1974 has gotten a bad rep by some in the United States in terms of overall quality on the top 40 due to having a lot of novelty tunes hit the chart (I’m looking at you, Jim Stafford and Ray Stevens) and just weird hits overall (The Americans, Tubular Bells and so on). Thanks for giving it some respect here.
Google is proving me wrong, but I’m 100% sure that Paddy McAloon quotes from “The Way We Were” in the liner notes for Prefab Sprout’s Swoon. It’s possible, Prefab Sprout being a cult band that never toured America, doesn’t have enough obsessive fans who documented everything McAloon ever wrote or said. But that’s why I like “The Way We Were”.
Which reminds me, the next time Barnes and Noble has their biannual 50% sale on Criterion titles, I should really snatch up The Prince of Tides. Long overdue. I saw Yentl two weeks ago. It was great. Critics of the film insist that Streisand was miscast. I can’t find the quote, but somebody once said about The Manchurian Candidate, because Angela Lansbury and Laurence Harvey play mother and son despite being practically the same age, just give it a few minutes, it becomes normal.