Stuck in the Middle with You
"Stuck in the Middle with You" (sometimes known as "Stuck in the Middle") is a song written by Scottish musicians Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan and performed by their band Stealers Wheel.
"Stuck in the Middle (song)" redirects here. For the song by Clea, see Stuck in the Middle (Clea song). For other uses, see Stuck in the Middle (disambiguation)."Stuck in the Middle with You"
The band performed the song on the BBC's Top of the Pops in May 1973, and the song charted at No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart. It also became an international hit, reaching No. 6 in the US Billboard Hot 100.
Overview[edit]
"Stuck in the Middle with You" was released on Stealers Wheel's 1972 eponymous debut album.[3] Gerry Rafferty provided the lead vocals, with Joe Egan singing harmony. It was produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.[4] Rafferty's lyrics are a dismissive tale of a music industry cocktail party written (e.g., the clowns and jokers would be all the music executives and hangers on), and performed as a parody of Bob Dylan's style (the vocal impression, subject, and styling were so similar, listeners have wrongly attributed the song to Dylan since its release).[5][6][7][8]
The band was surprised by the single's chart success.[5] The single sold over one million copies, eventually peaking at No. 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, No. 8 in the UK, and No. 2 in Canada.[9] Billboard ranked it as the No. 36 song for 1973.
The band appeared playing the song on BBC's Top of the Pops on 18 May 1973.[10]
Music video[edit]
The video portrays the band performing in a corner of a large, empty building. Their performance is intercut with shots of Egan, miming to a vocal track by Rafferty (who had by then left the band), at a small banquet table with a number of garishly dressed and made-up supper guests. These include an actual clown, a bespectacled bowler-hatted gent devouring spaghetti and a lavishly dressed woman eating cream cakes and grapes. The clown, who has difficulty eating a plastic chicken, continually squeezes Egan out whenever he tries to take food from the table. The guitar solo is played on a guitar played flat with an empty beer bottle used as a slide. Eventually, the other band members appear, driving off the strange characters so that Egan can sit down at last.[11]
Personnel are taken from the Stealers Wheel website.[12]
Cover versions[edit]
English singer Louise recorded a cover that was released on 27 August 2001.[26] Her version reached number four on the UK Singles Chart in September 2001.[27]
Lazlo Bane released a cover on the album Guilty Pleasures in 2007. Their version was used in the film Let's Be Cops and included on the soundtrack.[28]
Jeff Healey also performed a cover.[29]
A cover version by Grace Potter was used as the theme song for the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, and appears in full on the Grace and Frankie (Original Television Soundtrack).[30][31]