The Joker

The line in this song, "I speak of the pompatus of love," has baffled listeners for some time. The word "Pompatus" does exist in the Oxford English Dictionary, and it means "to act with pomp and splendor." Miller most likely heard the word on a song called "The Letter," released by the Los Angeles doo-wop group The Medallions in 1954. It was written by their lead singer, Vernon Green, who was 16 at the time and crippled with polio. The song is a love letter to the woman of his dreams, and includes these spoken-word lyrics: Let me whisper sweet words of pizmotality and discuss the pompatus of love Put it together and what do you have? Matrimony Except "pompatus" is really "puppetutes," according to Green. He defines it as "A secret paper-doll fantasy figure who would be my everything and bear my children." A variation of the word "puppet." We only know this because there is a 1995 movie directed by Richard Schenkman and starring Jon Cryer called The Pompatus Of Love, titled after the line in "The Joker." In the film, the main characters analyze the line and draw connections to their love lives. They posit that Miller could be singing "pompadours," "impetus," or "prophetess" of love. Schenkman's friend told him about "The Letter," so Cryer knew it was likely the origin of the phrase "pompatus of love." When Cryer was promoting the movie he appeared on CBS This Morning, where he talked about The Medallions song. Vernon Green was watching and contacted Cryer's publicist, who set up a call. In his memoir So That Happened, Cryer recounts his conversation with Green, where he learned about "puppetutes." Green had never heard "The Joker," so Cryer played it for him over the phone. As for Miller, he admitted the line came from "an old doo-wop song." Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2019, he said, "It was a different term and I misunderstood it, so I made up the word pompatus." Miller gave a more oblique expository on the lyric during his 2022 Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony. "'Pompatus of love?' My attorney is here tonight and he will explain what it is and how much it costs when you say it," he said of the line.

Miller drew associations to some of his other songs in the lyrics to this one. The line, "Some people call me The Space Cowboy" is a reference to Miller's 1969 song "Space Cowboy." The line, "Some call me a gangster of love" is a reference to his song "Gangster of Love." The line, "Some people call me Maurice" is a reference to Miller's 1972 song "Enter Maurice." In that song Miller also sings about "The pompatus of love" and includes another quizzical misheard line from "The Letter": I can whisper sweet words of epismetology in your ear In "The Letter" the line is really "sweet words of pizmotality."

Miller got the line at the end, "I really love your peaches want to shake your tree, lovey dovey, lovey dovey..." from "Lovey Dovey," a 1953 song by the R&B group The Clovers. That song's co-writer was Ahmet Ertegun, who later became head of Atlantic Records. Ertegun sued Miller for plagiarism. Miller recalled to Mojo magazine in 2012: "To me, it was an old blues double entendre, but I had to give him credit. I don't mind having Ahmet's name beside mine though."