Rock'n Me

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"Rock'n Me"
Rock n Me.jpg
The European release of "Rock'n Me" by Mercury Records.
Single by Steve Miller Band
from the album Fly Like an Eagle
B-side"Mercury Blues"
ReleasedAugust 1976 (US)
  • October 1976 (UK) [1]
Recorded1976 at CBS Studios in San Francisco, California[2]
GenrePop rock[3]
Length3:05
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)Steve Miller
Producer(s)Steve Miller
Steve Miller Band singles chronology
"Take the Money and Run"
(1976) 		"Rock'n Me"
(1976) 		"Fly Like an Eagle"
(1976)

"Rock'n Me" (also known as "Rock 'N Me" or "Rock 'N' Me") is a song by American rock group Steve Miller Band, written by the group's leader Steve Miller.[3] The song was released as the second single from the group's ninth studio album Fly Like an Eagle in 1976; Miller also produced the song and album.[4] The North American release of the single was generally credited to Steve Miller as a person, while the European release was generally credited to the Steve Miller Band as a whole group.

The single achieved lasting commercial and critical success, with the publication Billboard labeling it "an immediate audience grabber".[4] It became the band's second #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed at the top for one week,[5] and it also topped the RPM Top Singles chart in Canada.[6] In later years, the song has been included in several compilation albums such as 1978's Greatest Hits 1974–78 and 1991's The Very Best of the Steve Miller Band.[3]

Miller has acknowledged that elements of "Rock'n Me", particularly the intro, was a tip of the hat to British group Free's "All Right Now". He stated:[4]

Yeah, it's a tack on the wall for Paul (Kossoff). I did one concert in the two years that I was off the road. I went to London and played with Pink Floyd... it was a big, huge outdoor show so we needed a big rock and roll number that was really going to excite everybody. I just put it together and didn't think much about it.

He returned to the subject in an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock Nights, referring to his support slot at Pink Floyd's one-off appearance at Knebworth on June 1975:[7]

I had thought about the gig and I knew they way it was going to work was, I was going to play just before Pink Floyd... the sun would be going down, it would be really cold, there wouldn’t be any lights on the stage, it would be a lousy time ... I went, 'You know, I’m gonna kick those guys in the butt.' So what I did was, I wrote 'Rock'n Me' as a song to play at a festival, to just get it going.

Composed for that kind of pop and rock festival atmosphere,[4] the lyrics and vocals have been labeled as having an 'every man' quality to them.[3] It is sung from the point of view of someone frequently traveling while keeping a positive, upbeat attitude. Locations mentioned in the song include the major cities of Phoenix, Arizona; Tacoma, Washington; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Atlanta, Georgia; and Los Angeles, California.

Billboard Magazine described "Rock'n Me" as a "catchy and highly humorous midtempo rocker," saying that the melody sounds like the Beach Boys and the Eagles in places.[8]

The song is a playable track on the video game Rock Band 2, and featured in Grand Theft Auto V and Tap Tap Revenge 3 for iOS.

Personnel[]

Charts[]

Chart (1976) Peak
position
Canadian Top Singles[6] 1
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[9] 22
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[10] 23
South Africa (Springbok)[11] 3
UK Singles (OCC)[12] 11
US Billboard Hot 100[5] 1
Chart (1977) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[13] 25
West Germany (Official German Charts)[14] 28

References[]

  1. ^ "Steve Miller singles".
  2. ^ Brown, Ashley, ed. (1990). "Space Cowboy". The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated History of Popular Music. Vol. 11 (Reference ed.). Marshall Cavendish. p. 1227. ISBN 1-85435-026-9. |volume= has extra text (help)
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Sullivan, Denise. "Rock 'N Me – Steve Miller,Steve Miller Band | Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th ed.). Billboard Books. ISBN 9780823076772.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Whitburn, Joel (2010). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (9th ed.). Billboard Books. p. 443. ISBN 9780823085545.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Top Singles". RPM. Vol. 26 no. 7. November 13, 1976. p. 23. ISSN 0315-5994. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  7. ^ Kielty, Martin. "The Song Steve Miller Wrote To Kick Pink Floyd 'In the Butt'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  8. ^ "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard. August 14, 1976. p. 78. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  9. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Steve Miller Band – Rock'n Me" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  10. ^ "Charts.nz – Steve Miller Band – Rock'n Me". Top 40 Singles.
  11. ^ "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (M)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  12. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  13. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Steve Miller Band – Rock'n Me" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  14. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Miller,Steve Band – Rock'n Me". GfK Entertainment Charts.
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