I did too, as I worked on my sermon this week-only to be reminded that Ginger had referenced the song in her first virtual sermon back in March. One of the songs that was popular when I was in high school that has managed to stick around for almost half a century is a tune by the Scottish band Stealers Wheel called “Stuck in the Middle with You,” which includes the memorable linesĬlowns to the left of me jokers to the rightĪ pandemic anthem well before its time, don’t you think? Since our sanctuary is not air conditioned, we filmed in Ginger’s office. The passage was Matthew 14:13-24-the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand-which is one of my favorites. (It’s recommended that you listen to this on Spotify as their embed only has 200 songs.I preached this week for our church. “Stuck in the Middle With You” Official Music Videoĭid you miss a Certain Song? Follow me on Twitter: Certain Songs DatabaseĪ filterable, searchable & sortable somewhat up to date database with links to every “Certain Song” post I’ve ever written. Of course, now doubt part of that was its use in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs in the mid-1990s - something that I’m required by law to mention when writing about the song - but even without that, it would still probably be remembered as a classic 70s song. Which, of course, it was: “Stuck in the Middle With You” was a massive massive hit, topping out at #6 on the Billboard Charts and #8 over in the U.K., the only time they even came close to the top 10 (though Rafferty’s awesome “Baker Street” - which I somehow totally forgot to write about, because I’m either a clown or a joker - made it to #2 a few years later), and has been a rock staple ever since, having been streamed over 400,000,000 times on Spotify. It’s quite literally a song that could only have been a hit in the early 1970s. I love how the whole song comes to a dead halt, except for a single cowbell, as Rafferty sings “pleeeeeeeease”. That’s Egan adding the harmony vocals, and either Rafferty or Egan playing a cool staccato rhythm guitar part while lead guitarist Paul Pilnick wraps his slide guitar all around the song, all of which comes together on a bridge that’s nearly as cool as the chorus.Īnd you’re proud that you’re a self-made man Oh wait, that’s not it: he’s describing a record company party where the band got signed, and how he and - presumably - his partner, Joe Egan, are the only people at the whole godsdamned party with a lick of sense, leading to one of the most well-known and parodied choruses in pop music history: I’m so scared in case I fall off my chairĪnd I’m wondering how I’ll get down the stairs I got the feeling that something ain’t right Well, I don’t know why I came here tonight ![]() ![]() Opening with an acoustic guitar, rumbling bass and handclap(!)-dominated rhythms, “Stuck in the Middle With You” wastes no time digging right into singer Gerry Rafferty’s dilemma: he wants to be Bob Dylan. “Stuck in the Middle With You” came out at almost the exact moment I fell in love with KYNO-AM and spent all my time listening to it, and even though I don’t think I ever bought the single, it was definitely one of my favorite songs of 1973, and looking back, it’s pretty easy to see why.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |