‘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. 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. The band were surprised by the single's chart success. 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. Billboard ranked it as the No. 36 song for 1973.
‘Stuck in the Middle with You’ was released on Stealers Wheel's 1972 eponymous debut album. Gerry Rafferty provided the lead vocals, with Joe Egan singing harmony. It was produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Rafferty's lyrics are a dismissive tale of a music industry cocktail party written (i.e. 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).
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 several 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 song is used in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 debut film Reservoir Dogs, during the scene in which the character Mr. Blonde (played by Michael Madsen) taunts and tortures bound policeman Marvin Nash (Kirk Baltz) while singing and dancing to the song.
Label – A&M
Songwriters – Gerry Rafferty, Joe Egan
Producers – Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Well, I don't know why I came here tonight
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
[Chorus]
Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you
[Verse 2]
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, yeah, I'm all over the place
[Chorus]
Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you
[Post-Chorus]
Well, you started out with nothing
And you're proud that you're a self-made man
And your friends, they all come crawling
Slap you on the back and say
Please
Please
[Verse 3]
Trying to make some sense of it all
But I can see 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
[Chorus]
Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you
[Post-Chorus]
And you started out with nothing
And you're proud that you're a self-made man
And your friends, they all come crawling
Slap you on the back and say
Please
Please
[Verse 4]
Yeah I don't know why I came here tonight
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
[Chorus]
Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you
[Outro]
Yes, I'm stuck in the middle with you
Stuck in the middle with you
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you