[ ]   [ ]   [ ]                        [ ]      [ ]   [ ]
Stealers Wheel — Stuck in the Middle with You
Album: Best of Stealers Wheel
Avg rating:
7.7

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2097









Released: 1973
Length: 3:21
Plays (last 30 days): 1
Well I don't know why I came here tonight.
I've got the feeling that something ain't right.
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
and I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs.

Clowns to the left of me!
Jokers to the right!
Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you,
and I'm wondering what it is I should do.
It's so hard to keep this smile from my face.
Losing control and running all over the place.

Clowns to the left of me!
Jokers to the right!
Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

When you started off with nothing
and you're proud that your a self-made man.
ooooo-ooo-oooh
and your friends they all come crawling,
slap you on the back and say
Please . . .
Please . . .

Trying to make some sense of it all
but I see it makes no sense at all.
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor?
I don't think that I can take anymore.

Clowns to the left of me!
Jokers to the right!
Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

When you started off with nothing
and you're proud that your a self-made man.
ooooo-ooo-oooh
And your friends they all come crawling,
slap you on the back and say
Please . . .
Please . . .

Well I don't know why I came here tonight.
I've got the feeling that something ain't right.
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
and I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs.

Clowns to the left of me!
Jokers to the right!
Her I am stuck in the middle with you.
Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you . . .
Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you . . .
Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you . . .
Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you . . .
Comments (167)add comment
I recently parked behind a car that had two bumper stickers on it.  The one on the left side read simply "Clowns".  The one on the right "Jokers". 
Song always gives me an earache. HMMM
 tarbinator wrote:


:)



Everytime! This scene comes to mind
Yes, Harvey Weinstein's protege put this garbage in one of his movies. It was SO IRONIC in a 90s way.
Would it be wrong to have a version that went to mono part way through?
Voice always reminds me of Dylan, but more sonorous, which isn't saying much.
I can’t remember where I put my keys or the two or three important things I need to do today, but I can still sing along to a song I haven’t heard in forty years.
Best song Bob Dylan didn't write.
 dmcanany wrote:

Very nice transition musically from Negative Attitude. How do you do that, Bill? Do you just know 16,000 songs THAT well? Or do you have some tricks up your sleeves?

A magician never reveals his secrets...
c.

 chkalov77 wrote:


:)
K-Billy plays this song A LOT.
Never fails to bring a smile to the fore...
Very nice transition musically from Negative Attitude. How do you do that, Bill? Do you just know 16,000 songs THAT well? Or do you have some tricks up your sleeves?
Gosh, this sounds like someone... Who might that have been?
 jelgator wrote:

Umm...I liked this song before THAT MOVIE came out.  I still like it.

Rut roh am I f*cked up in the head?  :)



You and Me both, Brother or Sister!!!
Can You Hear That??
One of the most beautiful segues I've ever heard, kudos Bill!
Umm...I liked this song before THAT MOVIE came out.  I still like it.

Rut roh am I f*cked up in the head?  :)
Frankie Bergstein's anthem 
For some reason, I always think of a severed ear when I hear this!
 jedley wrote:
Rafferty did 'Baker Street' the following year, and Egan did 'Magnet and Steel' — great radio pop!
 

Sorry Jedley...think you've got the wrong Egan. Twas Walter Egan that did Magnet & Steel. Red pen put away for now. 
Based on the number of times I hear this song a week I'm starting to think its the greatest song ever recorded...well someone out there thinks so anyway.
COVER YOUR EARS
 jedley wrote:
Rafferty did 'Baker Street' the following year, and Egan did 'Magnet and Steel' — great radio pop!
 
Egan, yes - Walter, not Joe.
This is a great song - 9
 Ihatethissong wrote:

I doubt most know that gif is from the creepy prelude to a grizzly scene.
 I think most actually do.

The stereo effect is verily on this!
 cptbuz wrote:
always some fool clapping on the 1
 that's me!




Posted 3 years ago by DaidyBoy:

Fun. I still like it a lot.

 amb599 wrote:
Some tunes just make you wiggle your booty.
 Or your ear.

For the life of me, I never knew who actually sang it this song.

New thing learned!
always some fool clapping on the 1
I wondered why I don't like this nice song. It reminds me of another one that was played to death.

Sheryl Crow must have been inspired by this one when she 'wrote' All I wanna do... Or maybe the song was meant as a tribute to this one 
 chkalov77 wrote:
 
The mental association of this tune w/ this scene in the movie is maybe what took me from 8 to 10 on this....+ my wife really likes it too....LLRP!!
find yourself someone who looks at you the way gerry is looking at joe
 Proclivities wrote:

This was probably their only Top 25 hit, and Gerry only had two or three as a solo performer.  Come on, man, don't start a sentence with the word "so".
 

So what?
 chkalov77 wrote:
 
I know.  Unfortunately I will never be able to hear this song with out this scene popping into my head.  
{#Devil_pimp}zesty pure pop pleasure / did love raffertys solo work in particular snakes and ladders
Some tunes just make you wiggle your booty.
 On_The_Beach wrote:

Wasn't that Walter Egan? Or is it the same guy?
 

Joe Egan and Rafferty were contractually obliged not to release any recordings for three years; eventually Egan recorded a solo debut album, Out of Nowhere, in 1979. He registered a minor hit with his first single release "Back on the Road", and that same year released a second single titled "Out Of Nowhere".[citation needed]

1981 saw the release of his second album, Map, which was not a critical or commercial success, and subsequently no singles were released in support of it. After this he did not release any new recordings and left the music industry, though he did briefly reunite with Rafferty to perform vocals on some tracks on the latter's 1992 album On a Wing and a Prayer.


This sounds different from the radio version, with a longer bass solo at the beginning and much louder hand claps. Or is just because I'm hearing it on a good set of headphones?
 jedley wrote:
Rafferty did 'Baker Street' the following year, and Egan did 'Magnet and Steel' — great radio pop!
 
Wasn't that Walter Egan? Or is it the same guy?
Reservoir Dogs!!!
 zillah wrote:

And how can you not love that cowbell and the clapping?
 
That sounds sarcastic, but cowbell and clapping are ancient sounds that still work.  I have a fever for cowbell.
the WORST of the '70s
 zillah wrote:

And how can you not love that cowbell and the clapping?
 
And the bass is just great too!!
 cely wrote:
All time favorite.  I think it's the rhythm.  And the lyrics.  

 
And how can you not love that cowbell and the clapping?
 Proclivities wrote:

This was probably their only Top 25 hit, and Gerry only had two or three as a solo performer.  Come on, man, don't start a sentence with the word "so".

 
"So" is a pretty damned good Peter Gabriel album.
All time favorite.  I think it's the rhythm.  And the lyrics.  
 hoppin_bob wrote:

So they did have a fair amount of very attractive, interesting music.
Ferguslie Park was the anthemic album of housecleaning for us and a lot of folks we knew... a Saturday morning special!

That said, am surprised RP has only one song of theirs credited.... At least 2 or 3 songs charted well.  And Gerry Rafferty did go on to do rather well...

 
This was probably their only Top 25 hit, and Gerry only had two or three as a solo performer.  Come on, man, don't start a sentence with the word "so".
If you like this song (I do) and haven't seen the official video, you're going to love this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohRa9lsx0Q
 finoufk wrote:
 RParadise wrote:
There's a "Best Of" album?  A "Very Best Of" album?

REALLY??

   coming next : the anthology !    {#Propeller}

 
So they did have a fair amount of very attractive, interesting music.
Ferguslie Park was the anthemic album of housecleaning for us and a lot of folks we knew... a Saturday morning special!

That said, am surprised RP has only one song of theirs credited.... At least 2 or 3 songs charted well.  And Gerry Rafferty did go on to do rather well...
 RParadise wrote:
There's a "Best Of" album?  A "Very Best Of" album?

REALLY??

   coming next : the anthology !    {#Propeller}


Still love that bass!
Fun.  I still like it a lot.
K-Billy's Super Sounds of the 70's weekend just keeps on...truckin'.
There's a "Best Of" album?  A "Very Best Of" album?

REALLY??
 treatment_bound wrote:
With all apologies to Michael Madsen & Steven Wright, I had to dump out.  Just too much mileage on this one for me...

 
It's the summer of 1978 and this song along with Justin Haywood's "Forever Autumn" symbolized big changes in my life.

I'll always want to listen to this.


 LuvWilloughby wrote:
Fewer hand claps and more cow bell would be great.

 
We concur
Fewer hand claps and more cow bell would be great.
With all apologies to Michael Madsen & Steven Wright, I had to dump out.  Just too much mileage on this one for me...
Julian Lennon, 1-hit wonder himself, ripped off this song nicely.
From harlequins and clowns to clowns and jokers. I see what you did there, Bill!
Absolute  awesomeness 
Reminds me of high school and riding the bus home.
Really?

For the first time ever . . . Really??
I always liked the song, and then someone said to me "You'll never think of this song the same way once you see Reservoir Dogs." And he said it in such a way that I felt a little disturbed. So I purposefully avoided seeing the film for several years, because I didn't particularly want it ruined for me. But see it I did. I have to admit that I do think of the scene now, which is a bit of a bummer. But it was brilliantly pulled off by QT, so I've got respect for that. Other than that, I still like the song.
maybe in a bizarre way we all deserve to hear the actual "Quentin's Theme" from Dark Shadows (I'm feeling all wolfy just thinkin' about it)

Isn't this a parody of Dylan? did I miss something?

Oh yes, the superb sax in that other Rafferty piece.


 BCarn wrote:
I remember this from my youth way before QT used it. Reservoir Dogs was just a movie. The song was used as a period ref obviously so it needn't be associated with the gruesome scene from a classic Tarantino flick. 

 
Yes, I also heard this song quite often, long before Mr. Tarantino started making films.  It's weird how many hundreds of song comments there are in these threads which mention him - as if his films are the primary point of reference for a lot of folks.  Are memories really that short or have very few people here ever heard this song (or surf rock for that matter) before Tarantino started subjecting us to his "entertainment"?
Interesting how the association with a particular movie or TV commercial can change your perceptions of a song. Generally good music is damaged by the association whereas crap, such as this, benefits from it.

 fredriley wrote:
This irritated the almighty crap out of me when it came out, for reasons I'm not sure I understand myself. The nasal voice does grate, but I've got nothing against Gerry Rafferty in his other work, and often quite like it. The lyrics, maybe, though other songs are as, or more, twee and pretentious. Maybe it was just my time of the month and the mood's stayed with me ever since. The real clincher, though, was the song's use in Tarantino's appalling Reservoir Dogs, which has indelibly associated it with bloody torture. 1's too good for it {#Arghhh}
   

Jelani wrote:

C'mon Fred. Off the rag and on the dance floor! razor and all! :-)

 
Strangely, fredriley, I didn't realize that was Gerry Rafferty until I read your post. Usually I pick that sort of thing up quickly. "Twee and pretentious lyrics"--well, ye-esss, that's possibly true. But hey, it was the 70s. Remember the Bay City Rollers? {#Stop}

No wonder the Sex Pistols and the Clash looked so good back then...

Actually, I liked "Reservoir Dogs" although it wasn't as good as "Pulp Fiction." Also liked this song back in the day but I know how fred feels: sometimes you hate a song and you can't change your mind. 

 
Can I have mi ear back please
"Yeah, that's easy for you to say, you're Mr. White, you have a cool sounding name. Alright look, if it's no big deal for you to be Mr. Pink, you wanna trade?"
At the time, it was very hard to turn on the radio without hearing this song. Unfortunately, unlike some songs of that era, it has not aged well.
 deepwoodskev wrote:
It's the 70's and I've got Chicago's WLS AM on my little radio. 

Dood!  {#Eek}  Me too!  {#Dance}
Cheese I haven't heard Gerry Refertree in a long time. {#Bananajam}  {#Lol}
well, I only first saw a reservoir Dogs about a month ago so having seen it now I can't not think of it when I hear this song especially with things uhaving listen to the Steven Wright intro
okay, I only just recently saw Reservoir Dogs, but having seen it I am going to always think of it when I hear this song particularly because of the Steven Wright intro.
I once wondered if this was Dylan trying to actually sing, but then I heard "Nashville Skyline" and knew what that actually sounded like.
Bill must know, sometimes I hear what he plays ...
I remember this from my youth way before QT used it. Reservoir Dogs was just a movie. The song was used as a period ref obviously so it needn't be associated with the gruesome scene from a classic Tarantino flick. 
 fredriley wrote:
This irritated the almighty crap out of me when it came out, for reasons I'm not sure I understand myself. The nasal voice does grate, but I've got nothing against Gerry Rafferty in his other work, and often quite like it. The lyrics, maybe, though other songs are as, or more, twee and pretentious. Maybe it was just my time of the month and the mood's stayed with me ever since. The real clincher, though, was the song's use in Tarantino's appalling Reservoir Dogs, which has indelibly associated it with bloody torture. 1's too good for it {#Arghhh}
 
C'mon Fred. Off the rag and on the dance floor! razor and all! :-)
About 10 years ago, Hanes used this song for advertising their underwear... the ad showed a variety of ladies thongs hanging on a clothesline {#Moon} I will forever correlate this song with that ad


It's the 70's and I've got Chicago's WLS AM on my little radio.
This song has just enough cowbell.  It's the Goldilocks of cowbell.  You might even say its Stuck in the Middle in terms of its cowbell usage.

What?  I'm sick of reading about that movie.  It's been out for a while.  Gotta move those comments 
down
the
page.
 
 fredriley wrote:
<...> The real clincher, though, was the song's use in Tarantino's appalling Reservoir Dogs, which has indelibly associated it with bloody torture. 1's too good for it {#Arghhh}
 
:) Well, first time I heard it was Reservoir Dogs, and the combination of violence and this relaxed, happy rythm made me love it. I still see the two steps forward, once step back dance...


Stealers Wheel - Stuck in the Middle with You
Southern Culture on the Skids - The Wet Spot
Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman
The Cat Empire - Fishies

Incredible set! This energetic music is going to induce me to get off my ass and send out some job applications—or rather, get ON my ass.  {#Jump}
dated and too 70's or not...  still a great song.
Thought it was a lame song the first time I heard, and my opinion hasn't changed with time.
 Detlaps wrote:
SO 70's.
 
Yep and loving it!
Klaus to the left of me, Joe goes to the right . . .
Such a good dancing song ! {#Dancingbanana_2}
 socalhol wrote:
Added appeal thanks to Quentin Tarantino  {#Yes}
 
Who?

SO 70's.

 ansugon wrote:

Oh, yeah!  Can't listen to this without thinking about Michael Madsen and a straight razor.  Brutal!

 
"You gonna bark all day, little dog, or are you gonna bite?"

 socalhol wrote:
Added appeal thanks to Quentin Tarantino  {#Yes}
 
Oh, yeah!  Can't listen to this without thinking about Michael Madsen and a straight razor.  Brutal!

I still love this song.
 socalhol wrote:
Added appeal thanks to Quentin Tarantino  {#Yes}
 
??

GR was very talented. I'd assumed, for the longest time, that "City to City" is a greatest hits compilation; each track a gem. I was surprised to learn, years after initial exposure, it's not. Too bad about his sad demise and now his passing.


RIP Gerry
such a great tune, brings back so many memories. . .
Added appeal thanks to Quentin Tarantino  {#Yes}
 grace_blaum wrote:
This song brings fond memories of my teenage years.  :-)
 
Me too.   I will always remember this as the song I heard the first time I got drunk  {#Drunk}  loved it then and still do.   the song and the drinking...lol...

This irritated the almighty crap out of me when it came out, for reasons I'm not sure I understand myself. The nasal voice does grate, but I've got nothing against Gerry Rafferty in his other work, and often quite like it. The lyrics, maybe, though other songs are as, or more, twee and pretentious. Maybe it was just my time of the month and the mood's stayed with me ever since. The real clincher, though, was the song's use in Tarantino's appalling Reservoir Dogs, which has indelibly associated it with bloody torture. 1's too good for it {#Arghhh}
I've heard this for years and never knew who recorded it.
oooh I want this with Jeff something blind slide gutarist
great song anyway

 

 Tim_in_N_FL wrote:
So, is this Gerry Rafferty: vocals, lead guitar (1972-1975) singing lead on this tune?  In the U.S., did SW have any other "hits"?  I'm glad to know of Rafferty's involvement.  If you're a fan of his work be sure to check out the soundtrack to the movie "Local Hero" (headed-up by Mark Knophler — of Dire Straits fame).  That is one great soundtrack...

 
Gerry Rafferty's another gifted musician and songwriter who struggled to keep up with life, apparently he walked out of hospital care last year with a serious liver condition and hasn't been seen since. It's a shame that his creativity dried up, while Stealers Wheel and his solo output was widely played that doesn't take away from the fact that it's damned good to listen to (IMHO, of course). "The Right Moment" is a personal favourite.

Rafferty did 'Baker Street' the following year, and Egan did 'Magnet and Steel' — great radio pop!
This song brings fond memories of my teenage years.  :-)
Always thought this was a silly song, not really "bad" - just one of those songs I heard over and over back then.  One of the reminders of what was mediocre about the 1970's.

So, is this Gerry Rafferty: vocals, lead guitar (1972-1975) singing lead on this tune?  In the U.S., did SW have any other "hits"?  I'm glad to know of Rafferty's involvement.  If you're a fan of his work be sure to check out the soundtrack to the movie "Local Hero" (headed-up by Mark Knophler — of Dire Straits fame).  That is one great soundtrack...

 lsherida wrote:
Better as a Burger King commercial...
 
better as an underwear commercial

 MM_Prague wrote:
Here's the cover of a K-Tel album back in the 70's that had this song on it... :-)


 
K-Tel was my first several albums. I had this very album. I may still have this very album in the attic.

Ah the childhood memories! Thanks for the imagery.

Better as a Burger King commercial...
Aww, damnit! Just missed it. {#Doh}
{#Devil_pimp}This song always reminds me of the Reservoir Dogs montage.
Aaaaarrrrrrrr me ear!!!!!!!!  {#Silenced}

 

One of the best slide guitar's ever.

This song to me has just been that silly song from 1973 that Gerry Rafferty's old band recorded and had a big hit with.
This Saturday, Sept 6, 2008, I was going to work listening to hit songs from 1973.  And it hit me - that amazing slide guitar. I was 13 in 1973 - Those licks have influenced me so much of what I like and listen to.   For 35 years and I never even realized it.
The break too is great - just a fantastic song.

I played it again yesterday - same reaction. I gotta buy the full album (not the Greatest Hits) in the next few days - I gotta see how the rest of the album was.

Today Bill plays it.

Bill how do you always know what to play - I think you have a giant computer that reads your listeners minds - and then you make the play sets.  :)




Diddn't like it then, don't like it now...sorry. Actually its an odd piece to throw into this most excellent set.

 daveesh wrote:
the very best of stealers wheel? do they HAVE another tune?

 

Excellent point, my friend!