“The Joker” by Steve Miller Band

The vocalist of this song is, self-admittedly, the titular “joker”. And what that designation basically means is that he’s not really serious about anything, a characteristic which others have noticed in him also. However, he doesn’t come off as being the harmful type, but rather someone who is fun-loving to a fault. 

And the reason that others are concerned apparently has something to do with the lady he’s currently dating. So the implication would be that they perceive him as being childish or a playa or what have you and as such are warning this girl accordingly. But contrastingly, Steve is assuring her that he’s very much committed or “right here at home”, as in not fooling around, as the singer puts it.

But all of that noted, Miller may be asserting his devotion as a pickup line, so to speak. In other words, other parts of the song allude to him acknowledging that he is in fact akin to a transient lover, being “the gangster of love” even. 

But either way, what would perhaps be the thesis sentiment of this piece is that he is indeed feeling the addressee, i.e. his current romantic interest. But we also have to conclude, all lyrics considered, that whereas the vocalist may be infatuated with her at the moment, by the end of the day he’s likely to prove himself to not really be committed, as usual.

When was “The Joker” released?

This is the title track from the album that the Steve Miller Band dropped, via Capitol Records, in October of 1973.  The said project was actually their eighth studio album, with the band coming out with their first, “Children of the Future”, in 1968. 

Indeed the Steve Miller Band were very active during their early goings and went on to release 10 studio albums as well as 2 compilations within a decade, i.e. from 1968 to 1978. And two of them, “The Joker” and “Book of Dreams” (1977), fell just a spot sort of topping the Billboard 200, with the crew hailing from San Francisco.

Success of “The Joker”

One of the big reasons this album blew is because “The Joker” (the single) proved to be a big hit itself. It was a Billboard Hot 100 chart topper and furthermore, it put the Steve Miller Band on the map.

However, it charted in even more countries almost 20 years later, in 1990. That was when it was featured in a commercial directed by Hugh Johnson (d. 2015), who would go on to serve as cinematographer on some pretty big films. 

But anyway, said commercial was for Levi’s jeans. And the result was “The Joker” not only charting in the United Kingdom for the first time but also topping the UK Singles Chart in the process.

It also proved to be a chart topper in a handful of other European countries and overall charted in over a dozen nations in Europe. FYI: the first time around the song only appeared in five countries in total.

And turning our attention back to the States for a moment, “The Joker” (the single) was certified gold in 1974, which at the time meant it sold in excess of 1,000,000 copies. So accordingly a few years later, it received its platinum plaque also, as used to signify million sellers in more modern times.

Famous Songs that have Sampled “The Joker”

For all of you Geto Boys’ fans out there, it was actually this song that is sampled onto their raunchy 1989 classic “Gangsta of Love”. And you may have noticed that the same rhythm was used on an even bigger hit, “Angel” (2001) by Shaggy, which also sampled “The Joker”. 

But to note whereas Shaggy had received permission from Steve Miller to use the tune, the Geto Boys had not. And as a result Miller successfully sued them thereafter.

Who wrote “The Joker”?

Steve Miller is credited with writing this song alongside two other individuals, one of them being the late Eddie Curtis (1927-1983). And the other was actually Turkish-American businessman Ahmet Ertegun (1923-2006), i.e. the cofounder of Atlantic Records.  Well actually concerning Curtis and Ertegun’s contribution, they wrote another song dating back to 1953 entitled “Lovey Dovey” by The Clovers. And “The Joker” utilizes a line or two from said track, thus their songwriting credit.

And Steve Miller, who himself is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, also produced The Joker.