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| Gerry does his impression of
a flashing garden gnome |
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OK, so what's pop music's most memorable
sax intro of all time? No contest. "Baker Street"
wins by a country mile, unless you're a Kenny G fan, in which
case we won't waste time arguing with you, you're not worth
the effort.
Ironically though, Gerry Rafferty's
finest moment is not Rafferty's at all. The searing, soaring
sax solo we all know and love was originally written as a
guitar solo and was even tried as a vocal harmony before eventually
falling into the hands of session musician Raf Ravenscroft
who literally blew everyone away with the spine-tingling saxophone
version that made it onto the final record. He is an unsung
hero who, outwith the music industry at least, has never received
the recognition he deserved.
Born in Paisley in 1947, Gerry Rafferty
first came to prominence when he became a member of Glasgow
folk band, The Humblebums, joining Billy Connolly and Tam
Harvey.
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| With Billy Connolly in The Humblebums |
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As Connolly's humorous dialogues between
songs began to take centre-stage in their performances, the
more musically ambitious Rafferty became increasingly frustrated
and the band split up in 1971 leaving Connolly to pursue his
career in comedy. Wise move, Big Yin.
After recording the promising, but commercially
unsuccessful solo album "Can I Have My Money Back",
Rafferty joined forces with old friend Joe Egan to form Stealers
Wheel in 1972. They released three albums together before
disbanding in 1975. The band are probably best known for "Stuck
in the Middle With You", a song which Paul Simon once
described as his favourite ever pop record and one which was
later used to unlikely and shocking dramatic effect by Quentin
Tarantino in the film "Reservoir Dogs".
Much like the "accidental"
sax riff of "Baker Street", the writing of "Stuck
in the Middle With You" was the result of a happy twist
of fate. The song was inspired by a pre-signing party laid
on for the duo at a fashionable London Restaurant at which
Rafferty and Egan were surrounded by a posse of fatcat freeloading
record execs. Rafferty remembers, "We all sat at a huge
long table (clowns to the left of them, jokers to the right,
there they were, stuck in the middle) ,like one of those scenes
from the Last Supper. A few days later, Joe and I wrote this
humorous little ditty, never thinking it would go to No.1
in America."
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| An unfortunate lapse in judgement
- being photographed with Cliff Richard |
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His lyrical opinions of the "clowns
and jokers" of the music industry establishment would
prove to be strangely prophetic. Three years of legal battles
with his management kept him quiet until the release in 1978
of "City to City".
The album was an enormous success, thanks
largely to the almost unprecedented airplay that "Baker
Street" received from radio stations everywhere. Incredibly,
the song never went to No.1 and was only kept off the coveted
top spot by Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing", proof
if ever it was needed that there's no justice in this world.
The song received the ultimate "confirmation
that you're a legend" accolade when it was featured on
"The Simpsons", with an episode about Lisa having
sax lessons and playing that solo.
Gerry Rafferty continues to record and
has released several solo albums since "City to City",
although none of his subsequent recordings have quite scaled
the musical heights or achieved the popular success of "Baker
Street" and "Stuck in the Middle".
GERRY RAFFERTY TRIVIA FOOTNOTE
Gerry Rafferty was the Producer
on the 1987 hit, "Letter to America" by .
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