This day in HISTOROCK !! Steve Miller !!

            This day in HISTOROCK !!

               In 1990, The Steve Miller Band had a UK No.1 with 'The Joker', incredibly 16 years after it's first release !! The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1974. More than 16 years later, it reached No.1 in the UK Singles Chart 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 !! Truly incredible how a commercial can re-invent a 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 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", the writer made up the word puppetutes, but Miller misheard the word and wrote pompatus instead. The song is also noted for its wolf whistle played on a slide guitar after the "lovey dovey" parts and the "some people call me Maurice" part. The song has been featured on TV shows The Simpsons and That 70's Show as well as video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band !! Following the release of "The Joker",  The Steve Miller Band has had a wealth of major success, with their 2 biggest albums "Fly Like An Eagle"76, which yielded the hits "Fly Like An Eagle", Rockin Me" & Take The Money And Run"and "Book Of Dreams" 77, featuring classic hits like Jet Airliner, Swingtown & Jungle Love !! In 1982 Steve Miller released the album "Abracadabra" which produced his last major hit "Abracadabra" !! Some people call me the "Space Cowboy" :-)

Keep on ROCKIN !!
Trike :-)