The Joker – Crash Into Me

My point of sacred egress today is a small one, but I can’t stop thinking about it. I suspect that after reading this, you won’t be able to stop thinking about it either. This observation isn’t original to me. I heard about it first on a podcast in which guitarist extraordinaire Cory Wong interviewed guitarist extraordinaire John Mayer. The two six-string wonder-boys talked about things in popular recordings that work, but also don’t work. 

One of their prime examples is the crash cymbal in Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker.”

Aside from all of the other wonderfully weird things about this song – the singer’s many identities to begin with – Why wouldn’t someone named Steve be known as Maurice, a space cowboy, AND a gangster of love. And that’s just in the first 25 seconds of the song…

Also, the pompatus of love?

Beyond the lyrical shenanigans, there’s the mix. Specifically, the crash cymbal that wanders around, just popping up and over the rest of the mix like stray fireworks. The more times I hear the song, the more it seems to pop. Even now as I listen to it, the underlying logic of its timing is nearly as thought-provoking as the well-mixed army of acoustic guitars. That cymbal just jumps out of the mix. It’s like the drummer held the engineer in thrall, bending the very will to mix. Or maybe the mic slipped before recording, who knows.

The thing is – it works. I can’t imagine the song without that random landslide of high end that comes at the whim of the drummer. I heard a live version from 1974 with toned down crash cymbals (in fairness, there may not have been time to get them in there with the runaway tempo of that rendition…) and it just wasn’t the same.

I don’t mean to take away from a great song. It’s a classic for a reason. But it’s funny how the imperfection (in my opinion) only adds to that feeling. It enhances the character of the song and pushes it toward such a unique place. It’s the kind of thing that I couldn’t imagine the song without. This is worth keeping in mind in an age of precision and perfection. Maybe that wandering crash is just what we need.