| "Abracadabra" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Steve Miller Band | ||||
| from the album Abracadabra | ||||
| B-side | "Baba Wanna Dance" | |||
| Released | May 1982 | |||
| Format | 7" 45 RPM | |||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||
| Genre | Rock, new wave | |||
| Length | 3:34 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Writer(s) | Steve Miller | |||
| Producer | Steve Miller, Gary Mallaber | |||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA)[1] Silver (BPI)[2] |
|||
| Steve Miller Band singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"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 (see 1982 in music). The song is said to have been inspired by the American singer Diana Ross with whom Miller had met while performing together on Hullabaloo in the 1960s[3] and is listed at #70 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of all time.[4]
|
The song became a world-wide hit, charting in ten countries and topping the charts in six countries, and has became one of the band's biggest hits, along with "The Joker".
In the United States, the song was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks. It knocked Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" out of the #1 spot, just as Chicago had done to the Steve Miller Band in 1976 when "If You Leave Me Now" knocked "Rock'n Me" out of the #1 spot. The song holds the record for the biggest drop out of the Top 10/Top 40. In the fall of 1982, as it was moving down the chart, "Abracadabra" fell 38 spots from #10 to #48 in one week.
The single version of the song appears several Steve Miller band compilation albums such as Young Hearts as wells 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. A live version of the song was released on Steve Miller Band Live! in 1983.
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.
| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] | 1 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 75)[6] | 1 |
| Canada (RPM)[7] | 1 |
| Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100)[8] | 26 |
| New Zealand (RIANZ)[9] | 8 |
| Norway (VG-lista)[10] | 4 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[11] | 1 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[12] | 1 |
| UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[13] | 2 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[14] | 1 |
| Preceded by "I've Never Been to Me" by Charlene |
Canadian "RPM" Singles Chart number-one single July 24, 1982 |
Succeeded by "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor |
| Preceded by "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor (first run) "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago (second run) |
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single September 4, 1982 September 25, 1982 |
Succeeded by "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago (first run) "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp (second run) |
| Preceded by "The Other Woman" by Ray Parker, Jr. |
Australian Kent Music Report number-one single September 6, 1982 – September 13, 1982 |
Succeeded by "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor |