Thursday, January 6, 2011

Last Stroll Down Baker Street

We lost Gerry Rafferty on Tuesday.
The Scottish singer/songwriter with the awesome 1978 hit "Baker Street" (from the "City To City" LP - yeup, LP: remember them?) died at 63. According to British media, Rafferty had been in poor health in recent years and had struggled with alcohol-related issues.
Prior his solo work, he was also in Stealer's Wheel, co-writing the smash hit "Stuck In The Middle With You".
"Baker Street" featured a bloody impressive saxophone hook, which had been intended for guitar. Raphael Ravenscroft was in the studio to record a brief soprano sax part and, when he heard the guitarist was not available to play the solo, he suggested he record it using an alto saxophone. It led to what became known as "the 'Baker Street' phenomenon", a resurgence in the sales of saxophones and their use in mainstream pop music and TV advertising.
While Rafferty had a few more modest hits, such as "The Royal Mile" and "Get It Right Next Time", he'll always be remembered for "Baker Street" - which incidentally featured the world's first BLUE-and-white video: no big deal now but in '78, it rocked!
And a Rolling Stone readers' poll in 2008 placed it among the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time...

No comments: