When I first heard this 1973 song I would have sworn it was Bob Dylan. The song peaked at #6 in the Billboard 100, #8 in the UK and #2 in Canada. Gerry Rafferty is singing the lead vocal with bandmate Joe Egan harmonizing with him. The two wrote the song.
Quentin Tarantino used this song in a horrific torture scene in Reservoir Dogs to great effect.
From Songfacts.
Also known simply as “Stuck In The Middle,” this Stealers Wheel classic was co-written by the group’s guitarist Gerry Rafferty and keyboard player Joe Egan.
In his obituary of Rafferty for the January 5, 2011 issue of the Daily Telegraph, Martin Chilton said of this song that it was “Written as a parody of Bob Dylan’s paranoia, it ridiculed a music industry cocktail party, with the lyrics:
Clowns to the left of me
jokers to the right
here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
To Rafferty’s utter disbelief his parody, composed as little more than a joke but with a catchy Pop arrangement, struck gold, selling more than a million copies. The song reached a new generation of listeners when Quentin Tarantino used it in the notorious ear-slicing scene in his 1992 movie Reservoir Dogs.”
Commenting to the BBC shortly after Rafferty’s death, music industry pundit Paul Gambaccini echoed Chilton’s sentiments about the song.
Stuck in the Middle with You
I 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
And I’m wondering what it is I should do,
It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face,
Losing control, yeah, I’m all over the place,
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you
And you’re proud that you’re a self made man,
And your friends, they all come crawlin,
Slap you on the back and say,
Please, please
But I can see that it makes no sense at all,
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor,
‘Cause 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
And you’re proud that you’re a self made man,
And your friends, they all come crawlin,
Slap you on the back and say,
Please, please
I 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,
Stuck in the middle with you, here I am stuck in the middle with you
Another example of a song being used in a film to great effect. When I think of Reservoir Dogs my first thought is this song…. I think Dylan should cover this song- does sound a lot like him.
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This song became really powerful in that movie.
He should cover it…just because…
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He has covered the old standards the past three albums- he should do an album of songs by the ‘new dylan’s who sprang up in the 60s-70’s and 80’s… just a crazy idea.
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Of all the artists he would be the one to do it. Hear him cover old Donavan and Springsteen songs etc.
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