Abracadabra (Steve Miller Band song)

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"Abracadabra"
Abracadabra Steve Miller Band.jpg
Single by Steve Miller Band
from the album Abracadabra
B-side"Never Say No"
ReleasedMay 1982
Recorded1981
Genre
Length5:08 (Album version)
3:34 (Single/Video version)
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)Steve Miller
Producer(s)Steve Miller, Gary Mallaber
Steve Miller Band singles chronology
"Heart Like a Wheel"
(1981) 		"Abracadabra"
(1982) 		"Keeps Me Wondering Why"
(1982)
Music video
"Abracadabra" on YouTube

"Abracadabra" is a song by American rock group Steve Miller Band, written by Steve Miller. The song was released as the first single from the 1982 album of the same name the same year.

Origins[]

The song is said to have been inspired by the American singer Diana Ross, whom Miller had met when they each performed on the same episode of the pop music television show Hullabaloo in the 1960s.[1] The lyrics "Round and round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows" are a reference to the spinning wheel segment from The Original Amateur Hour. Speaking on The Howard Stern Show in June 2016, Miller said at first his record company Capitol Records did not see the potential hit it would become. "Capitol didn't believe in it and didn't want to release it. I had a different deal with Phonogram in Europe. When it came out in Europe, I cancelled my American tour because it was No. 1 everywhere in the world, except the States."[citation needed] After seeing its success overseas, Capitol released it in the U.S. and it also climbed to No. 1.

Commercial performance[]

The song became a worldwide hit, charting in ten countries and topping the charts in six. In the U.S., the song was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks, becoming the band's third number one hit in the U.S. along with "The Joker" and "Rock'n Me". It was knocked off the top by Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry", only to return to No. 1 two weeks later. A similar occurrence happened in 1976, when "Rock'n Me" knocked Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" out of the No. 1 spot. The song also showed substantial longevity, spending fourteen weeks in the top ten of the Hot 100 chart. "Abracadabra" is listed at No. 90 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of all time.[2]

Alternate versions[]

The UK single version has never yet appeared on CD. It is 3:33 and is an exclusive edit where the chorus is edited back in at 3:06 and repeats to fade. The non-UK single version of the song appears in several Steve Miller Band compilation albums such as Young Hearts as well as on the Time-Life compilation Sounds of the Eighties: 1980–1982 and on a CD of songs hand-picked by Guy Fieri titled Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives: Road Songs That Rock. Capitol issued an alternative version on a promotional 12" single (Capitol Records #SPRO 9797) for radio airplay; it featured a slightly slower tempo, removal of the second verse and first chorus, and a slightly earlier fade than the LP version. A live version of the song was released on Steve Miller Band Live! in 1983.

Music video[]

The video is one of the most iconic music videos of all time and was shown alongside the birth of MTV[citation needed]. The language of music videos was yet to be created and with the Abracadabra video many aspects of the music video's visual vocabulary were pioneered in this video, setting a precedent for all videos that followed. The main lyric "Abra, abra cadabra, I'm going to reach out and grab ya" is epitomized by a beautiful sorceress with flowing hair, performed by a teenage actress/model symbolizing "the Abracadabra girl" , MTV's first "video vixen". With the repeating image of her bewitching stare and blowing hair, she appears to be casting a spell, directing the magical actions, encapsulating the playful sexy spirit of this ear-worm of a pop song.

Two young men, professional jugglers perform alongside the beautiful "witch". In a series of magical situations, wearing various costumes, the trio perform tricks and illusions. The boys juggle batons, the girl juggles scarves, a handkerchief turns into a dove, stars come out of a hat and other witchery. The Abracadabra girl set a precedent or formula for other video vixens to follow, i.e. the mysteriously beautiful and seductive muse, full of surprises. Another example of repeated imagery is that of the magician stubbing out the cigarette and that of the sorceress taking the ball from a swirling umbrella: "round and round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows."

The video editing methods, such as repetition of imagery and action, the pop art colors and stylized representations were new at the time and have since become part of music video's video language and vocabulary ever since. The actors in the video have chosen to retain their anonymity for reasons of privacy; however all continue to be active in the arts.

Abracadabra is the first music video to use special effects and make use of a "body pan", a camera move which pans across the subject's body in an objectifying way. The video received an MTV award for best effects, considered adventurous at the time.

Another woman who appears briefly in the video is unraveled from a piece of cloth and does a dance with one of the magicians dressed as a harlequin, also suddenly reappears in a sorcerer's cape making a dramatic conjuring gesture with her arms whilst observed by the Abracadabra girl.

Since Steve Miller himself was touring Europe at the time and unavailable for the shoot, he appears in the video only in a series of still shots, wearing sunglasses or a black video strip across his eyes and at times juxtaposed with images of the Abracadabra girl. The actors provided their own wardrobe and props and did their own hair and makeup.

Shot in one day, the video was produced and directed by Peter and Koko Cohn who co-conceived the basic concept of the video.

Chart performance[]

Single track listings[]

7" 45 RPM[]

Side one
  1. "Abracadabra [Single version]" (Note: UK 7" version is an exclusive edit - see above for details)
Side two
  1. "Baby Wanna Dance" (North American release)
  3. "Never Say No" (European release)

12" Maxi[]

North American release[]

Side one
  1. "Abracadabra" [Album version]
Side two
  1. "Macho City" [Album version]

European release[]

Side one
  1. "Abracadabra" [Album version]
Side two
  1. "Never Say No" [Album version]

Covers[]

Cover versions of the song have been performed by Sugar Ray on their album 14:59 and by the Mike Chapman Band. A live version by the Belgian band Das Pop appeared on their 2004 DVD-single Love is Fair. The song was also covered by Australian jazz/folk group on their self-titled debut album (2010).[26] John Parr and Rick Wakeman covered this song, which was released in 2013 on the album Fly Like An Eagle: An All-Star Tribute to Steve Miller Band. In an Alarm für Cobra 11 episode "Tödlicher Ruhm" (Deadly Fame) Mark Keller and Scooter performed a cover of this song.

In 2009, YouTuber Robert Lund posted a song called "The Awful Truth About Hannah Montana" to the tune of "Abracadabra", parodying the many evil things people allegedly were missing about the then-teen star in progressively outrageous choral couplets ("Hannah, Hannah Montana - imports her hash from Havana/hates all Arquette's but Rosanna/carjacked my van in Tarzana", etc).

Eagles of Death Metal covered the song on the 2019 cover album Eagles of Death Metal Presents Boots Electric Performing the Best Songs We Never Wrote.[27]

Depictions in popular media[]

"Abracadabra" was used in the season 12 episode "The Witches of Langley" of the animated television series American Dad! during a musical montage when Steve and his friends take up witchcraft to gain popularity at school. It was also used in the 2013 film The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.

See also[]

  • List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1982

References[]

  1. ^ "Dallas hitmaker Steve Miller brings local flavor to 'Bingo!'". Dallasnews.com. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
  2. ^ "Billboard Hot 100 Chart 50th Anniversary". Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  3. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  4. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Steve Miller Band – Abracadabra" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  5. ^ "50 Singles". RPM. 36 (24). July 24, 1982. ISSN 0315-5994. Archived from the original (PHP) on January 30, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  6. ^ "Danish Charts Archive?".
  7. ^ "The Irish Charts - search". Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  8. ^ "The IBA Chart - search". Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  9. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Steve Miller Band – Abracadabra" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  10. ^ "Charts.nz – Steve Miller Band – Abracadabra". Top 40 Singles.
  11. ^ "Topp 20 Single uke 30, 1982 – VG-lista. Offisielle hitlister fra og med 1958" (in Norwegian). VG-lista.
  12. ^ "TOP 20 TMP Portugal - number one in the 80's airplay charts".
  13. ^ "SA Charts 1965 - 1989". Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  14. ^ "Listas de superventas: 1982". 12 February 2010.
  15. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Steve Miller Band – Abracadabra". Singles Top 100.
  16. ^ "Steve Miller Band – Abracadabra – Hitparade.ch". Archived from the original on 2011-11-10. Singles Top 75. Hung Medien.
  17. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  18. ^ "Steve Miller Band Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  19. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 165.
  20. ^ "australian-charts.com - Forum - Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts - 1980s (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  21. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
  22. ^ "Top Selling Singles of 1982". Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  23. ^ "Top 20 Hit Singles of 1982". Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  24. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1982/Top 100 Songs of 1982". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
  25. ^ "Hot 100 turns 60". Billboard. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  26. ^ Video on YouTube
  27. ^ "'The Best Songs We Never Wrote': Track by Track with EODM's Jesse Hughes". 7 June 2019.
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