Joe Egan obituary
=================

Stealers Wheel were more than one-hit wonders,
but they will always be remembered for their
trademark single Stuck in the Middle With You
(1973), from their eponymous debut album,
released the previous year. Written by Joe Egan,
who has died aged 77, and Gerry Rafferty, it
reached No 8 on the UK chart, before going
global and jumping to No 6 on the US chart. It
sold more than a million copies.

Over a rambling folk-rock beat, the song
described a freak show in which the singer was
surrounded by "clowns", "jokers" and assorted
parasites, prompting an attack of advanced
paranoia ("I'm so scared in case I fall off my
chair"). Both the subject matter and Rafferty's
whiny lead vocal (Egan sang the harmony part)
prompted comparisons with Bob Dylan, though
there may be a little bit of Randy Newman's Mama
Told Me Not to Come in there too.

But there was an inherent instability in
Stealers Wheel that prevented them from reaching
the superstardom that seemed about to be thrust
on them. Rafferty had already left the band by
the time their first album appeared, so Egan
took centre stage when the video for Stuck in
the Middle was filmed.

The success of the album, which reached No 50 in
the US chart, prompted Rafferty to return, but
then everybody else quit except Egan. They
decided to continue as a duo, bringing in
additional musicians as the occasion required.

They had further singles success with Everyone's
Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine (1973)
and the following year scored a Top 30 hit on
both sides of the Atlantic with Star, but a
second album, Ferguslie Park, was a flop,
causing severe tensions between Rafferty and
Egan. The departure of their producers Jerry
Leiber and Mike Stoller heaped further pressure
on the duo, and by the time their final album,
Right Or Wrong, appeared in 1975, Stealers Wheel
had disintegrated.

Egan was born into an Irish Catholic family in
Paisley, a dozen miles from Glasgow. He and
Rafferty attended the same primary school,
though Rafferty was a year ahead of him, and
both subsequently enrolled at St Mirin's
academy, a Catholic secondary school for boys.
However, as Egan pointed out, "we didn't really
hook up until we'd left".

Egan's first ambition was to become a
professional footballer - he was a contemporary
of fellow Paisley native and future Scotland
international Archie Gemmill - but, as he put
it, "when it became clear that I thought I was
better than I actually was, I threw myself
headfirst into my music. That's when Gerry and I
got together and were part of bands such as the
Mavericks and the Sensors. It was a great time
to be around because the music scene in Paisley
was buzzing."

In 1969, Rafferty joined the folk-rock band the
Humblebums, alongside Billy Connolly, and they
recorded a couple of albums before splitting up.
Rafferty recorded the solo album Can I Have My
Money Back? (1971), featuring Egan as backing
vocalist, but, despite being described by
Billboard magazine as "high-grade folk-rock", it
sold poorly.

In 1972 the pair formed Stealers Wheel, with the
original lineup completed by Rab Noakes, Roger
Brown and Iain Campbell. This proved short-
lived, and by the time the band signed to A&M
Records later in 1972, Egan and Rafferty were
accompanied by Tony Williams, Paul Pilnick and
Rod Coombes. The Stealers Wheel album was
released at the end of the year.

Rafferty went on to find his greatest success as
a solo artist, having big hits with the albums
City to City and Night Owl and soaring up the UK
and US charts with his classic single Baker
Street.

Meanwhile, Egan enjoyed more modest returns with
his solo career. He released his first album,
Out of Nowhere, in 1979, which generated some
radio airplay with the track Back on the Road
Again. His follow-up album, Map, appeared in
1981, to little acclaim. In 1992, Egan sang
backing vocals on Rafferty's album On a Wing & a
Prayer, and Rafferty's album Over My Head (1994)
included several Rafferty/Egan compositions.

Stuck in the Middle With You enjoyed a dramatic
revival when it featured in Quentin Tarantino's
Reservoir Dogs (1992), where it accompanied a
hair-raising scene in which policeman Marvin
Nash (Kirk Baltz) is tortured by Mr Blonde
(Michael Madsen). Tarantino was so convinced
that the song was indispensable to his film that
he blew his entire music budget on it.

Egan subsequently retreated from the performing
side of the music business, and ran his own
publishing company, Baby Bun Music, from his
home in Renfrewshire. He kept in touch with
Rafferty until his death in 2011, and described
how they would "talk on the phone for hours and
reminisce about the old days".

He is survived by his wife, Sylvia. Their
daughter, Claire, predeceased him.

* Joe Egan, musician, singer and songwriter,
born 18 October 1946; died 6 July 2024



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