A Song Parodied Bob Dylan so Successfully That People Think He Wrote It
In 1973, the band Stealers Wheel released “Stuck in the Middle With You,” a song that many listeners have incorrectly attributed to Bob Dylan. Dylan had nothing to do with the song, but it’s unsurprising that people think it was his. The lyrics sound like Dylan could have written them, and the nasally vocals sound like his. In reality, “Stuck in the Middle With You” was a surprise hit that singer Gerry Rafferty wrote to parody Dylan.
The song ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’ is meant to sound like Bob Dylan
In 1973, Scottish band Stealers Wheel released “Stuck in the Middle With You,” a song about their experience in the music industry.
“We signed a contract with a big American company and they threw a launch party in a chic restaurant in Chelsea,” Rafferty told Record Collector. “There was a huge table with about 50 people there, record company executives and their wives, and musicians and their wives, and the wine was flowing. It was a boisterous evening, but I was sandwiched between two rather boring label executives and their wives. Two days later, Joe Egan and I sat down and we wrote that song in half an hour.”
After the song’s release, people began comparing the song to Dylan’s work. Some listeners even believed it was a new song by Dylan.
“That happened by chance,” Rafferty said. “The vocal inflections are certainly reminiscent of Bob Dylan and, if I’ve taken anything from him, it’s his phrasing. I suppose the subject matter and the rather dark humour are akin to Dylan too.”
The vocals are a clear parody of Dylan’s distinct style. Many listeners have also noted that the sense of paranoia in the song also sounds like Dylan.
“Well I don’t know why I came here tonight/I’ve 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,” Rafferty sings in the opening verse.
What other songs have parodied Bob Dylan?
Dylan’s distinct style makes him a target for musical parody, and some artists have jumped at the chance to write one. In 1965, Paul Simon — who was not a fan of Dylan’s personality — wrote the harsh parody “A Simple Desultory Philippic.”
In 1979, John Lennon wrote the song “Serve Yourself,” which took direct aim at Dylan’s song “Gotta Serve Somebody.” Lennon couldn’t stand the song, and wrote his own version to make his irritation with the direction of Dylan’s music clear.
Finally, unsurprisingly, “Weird Al” Yankovic released the song “Bob” in 2003. It is palindromic, meaning that every line reads the same backward as it does forward.
Bob Dylan has written music to poke fun at other artists
A number of artists have parodied Dylan, and he has done something similar. After hearing The Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood,” which he directly inspired, Dylan grew irritated. Too many artists were copying his style.
“What is this? It’s me, Bob. He’s doing me!” Dylan said, per the book Who Is That Man? In Search of the Real Bob Dylan by David Dalton. “Even Sonny and Cher are doing me, but, f***ing hell, I invented it.”
As a result, he wrote the song “4th Time Around” to parody the Lennon-penned tune.
