The Steve Miller Band classic 'Space Cowboy' features the lyric, "…cause I speak of the pompatous of love." What does that mean?

shanetrane

The line in this song, "I speak of the pompatus of love," has baffled listeners for some time. Greil Marcus provided the best explanation we've seen in a 2002 article for Los Angeles Magazine titled "In The Secret Country." 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," which was recorded 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 contained these lyrics: "Let me whisper sweet words of dismortality, and discuss the pompatus of love. Put it together and what do you have? Matrimony." http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1189 Jan 23 08, 3:24 PM