When I was younger and really stared getting into music, Steve Miller Band's "The Joker" was one of the first songs I learned the lyrics of from start to finish. I knew the whole song, but would always glaze over the line "the pompatus of love" because I just did not think I knew the word (I was young and didn't want people to KNOW that I didn't know it though). In fact, my brother heard my glaze over that part once and he made fun of me because i didn't know what it meant!
After all these years, I'm completely vindicated, as I've learned from a Steve Miller when he was a guest recently on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, that, in fact, POMPATUS IS NOT A WORD and he simply made it up! I love proving my brother wrong!
Check out the video!
Photo: Getty