"Stuck in the Middle" was released on Stealers Wheel's 1972 self-titled debut album. Gerry Rafferty provided the lead vocals, with Joe Egan singing harmony. The song is often wrongfully attributed to Bob Dylan.
The band was surprised by the single's chart success. The single sold over one million copies, eventually peaking in 1973 at number 6 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 8 in the UK. The song achieved its greatest popularity in Canada, where it peaked at number 2.
It was produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
The song is used in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 debut film Reservoir Dogs, during the scene in which the character Mr. Blonde (played by Michael Madsen) taunts and tortures bound policeman Marvin Nash (Kirk Baltz) while singing and dancing to the song.[16] In an interview with Rolling Stone, Tarantino recalled
"That was one of those things where I thought [the song] would work really well, and [during] auditions, I told the actors that I wanted them to do the torture scene, and I'm gonna use 'Stuck in the Middle With You,' but they could pick anything they wanted, they didn't have to use that song. And a couple people picked another one, but almost everyone came in with 'Stuck in the Middle With You,' and they were saying that they tried to come up with something else, but that's the one. The first time somebody actually did the torture scene to that song, the guy didn't even have a great audition, but it was like watching the movie. I was thinking, 'Oh my God, this is gonna be awesome'