"Baker Street" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Gerry Rafferty | ||||
from the album City to City | ||||
B-side | "Big Change in the Weather" | |||
Released | 3 February 1978 | |||
Recorded | 1977 | |||
Studio | Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Oxfordshire, UK | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 6:06 (album version) 4:10 (single version) 5:56 (US 12-inch promo single version) 6:29 (1989 “Right Down The Line” compilation remix version) | |||
Label | United Artists | |||
Songwriter(s) | Gerry Rafferty | |||
Producer(s) | Hugh Murphy, Gerry Rafferty | |||
Gerry Rafferty singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Baker Street" on YouTube | ||||
Audio sample | ||||
"Baker Street" is a single by the Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty,released in February 1978. It won the 1979 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically [2] and reached the top three in the UK,US and elsewhere. The song is known for its saxophone riff,written by Rafferty and performed by Raphael Ravenscroft.
"Baker Street" was included on Rafferty's second solo album, City to City (1978). It was his first album after the resolution of legal problems surrounding the breakup of his old band,Stealers Wheel,in 1975. In the intervening three years,Rafferty had been unable to release any material because of disputes about the band's remaining contractual recording obligations. [3]
Rafferty wrote "Baker Street" while trying to extricate himself from his Stealers Wheel contracts. He was regularly travelling between his family home in Paisley,Scotland,and London,where he often stayed at a friend's flat on Baker Street in Marylebone. [4] The resolution of Rafferty's legal and financial frustrations may have accounted for the exhilaration of the song's final verse: [5]
When you wake up it's a new morning
The sun is shining, it's a new morning
You're going, you're going home.
Rafferty's daughter Martha suggested in 2012 that he could also have taken inspiration from a book he was reading while travelling, Colin Wilson's The Outsider (1956), which explores ideas of alienation and creativity and a longing to be connected. [6]
"Baker Street" was recorded in 1977 at Chipping Norton Studios, Oxfordshire, during the sessions for City to City. [7] It was co-produced by Rafferty and Hugh Murphy. [8] It features a guitar solo played by Hugh Burns. [9]
"Baker Street" features a prominent eight-bar saxophone riff by the session musician Raphael Ravenscroft, played as a break between verses. Billboard described it as "the most recognizable sax riff in pop music history". [10] It is said to have been responsible for a resurgence in the sales of saxophones and their use in mainstream pop music and television advertising. [11]
Rafferty said Ravenscroft had been his second choice to play the part, after Pete Zorn, who was unavailable. [12] Ravenscroft came to the studio to record a soprano saxophone part, and suggested that he use instead his alto saxophone. [5] Ravenscroft was reportedly paid £27 for the session. [13] In 2011, Ravenscroft said listening to the song irritated him because he was out of tune. [13]
According to Ravenscroft, Rafferty instructed him to fill several gaps in "Baker Street". He said: "Most of what I played was an old blues riff. If you're asking me: 'Did Gerry hand me a piece of music to play?' then no, he didn't." [14] This was disputed by Rafferty, who said he was irritated that people assumed Ravenscroft had written it. He said: "It was my line. I sang it to him." [12]
Rafferty's account was corroborated by Burns, who said the part also appeared on Rafferty's demo, played on guitar. He said Rafferty had also asked him to try playing it, but they agreed it would be better suited to saxophone. [9] Rafferty's demo, with the riff played on guitar, was released on the 2011 reissue of City to City. [15] [9] In the liner notes, Rafferty's collaborator Rab Noakes wrote: "Let's hope [the demo] will, at last, silence all who keep on asserting that the saxophone player came up with the melody line." [15]
A similar saxophone melody appears on the 1968 Steve Marcus track "Half a Heart", credited to the vibraphonist Gary Burton. [9] When interviewed by The Atlantic , Burton suggested Rafferty may have subconsciously plagiarised it, likening it to the lawsuit over the 1970 George Harrison song "My Sweet Lord". [9] However, Burns said the similarity was a coincidence and that Rafferty "was an artist through and through". [9]
The saxophone riff is the subject of an urban legend created in the 1980s by the British writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie. [16] In the spoof "Would You Believe It?" section in the music magazine NME , Maconie falsely claimed that the broadcaster Bob Holness had played the saxophone part. [16] The claim was widely repeated. [17] [18]
Released as a single in 1978, "Baker Street" reached No. 3 in the UK [19] and No. 2 for six consecutive weeks in the US. It reached number one in Cash Box and number two on the Billboard Hot 100 [20] where it held its Billboard position for six weeks, kept out of the number one spot by Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing". The song spent four weeks at number one in Canada, [21] reached number one in Australia, [22] and made it into the top 10 in seven European countries in addition to the UK. In October 2010, "Baker Street" was recognised by BMI for surpassing five million performances worldwide. [23]
Another urban myth has claimed that "Baker Street" did overtake "Shadow Dancing" on the Billboard Hot 100 during one of its seven weeks on top in the summer of 1978, with Casey Kasem recording his American Top 40 countdown placing it at #1. However, at a dinner with Gibb's managers, then-Billboard chart director Bill Wardlow was allegedly told that if "Shadow Dancing" did not remain at #1, Gibb would be pulled from the lineup of an upcoming Billboard-organized concert. Wardlow then supposedly asked the magazine to leave the song at the top, and Kasem was told to re-record his countdown. [24]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [50] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [51] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
"Baker Street" was cited by guitarist Slash in 1987 as an influence on his guitar solo in "Sweet Child o' Mine". [52]
Financial expert and radio personality Dave Ramsey has used "Baker Street" as bumper music for his eponymous radio show (now called The Ramsey Show ) since the show's debut in 1992. [53]
"Baker Street" is heard in the Happy Endings episode "Cocktails and Dreams" (S02E16). Penny's dream involves a fingerpicked-guitar version of the saxophone riff.
In the closing scene of "Lisa's Sax" (season nine, episode four of The Simpsons), Lisa Simpson performs a brief rendition of the "Baker Street" hook on a saxophone before the music segues into Rafferty's recording. [54]
The Canadian rock musician A.C. Newman cited the song as an inspiration for his album Shut Down the Streets (2012). [55]
The song is featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto V as part of Los Santos Rock Radio. [56]
"Baker Street" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Undercover | ||||
from the album Check Out the Groove | ||||
Released | 3 August 1992 | |||
Genre | Rave • Dance • Pop [ citation needed ] | |||
Length | 4:04 | |||
Label | PWL | |||
Songwriter(s) | Gerry Rafferty | |||
Producer(s) | Steve Mac | |||
Undercover singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Baker Street" on YouTube |
British dance group Undercover covered the song on their 1992 album Check Out the Groove . This version was released in August 1992 by PWL and produced by Steve Mac. It reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-three hit in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. A music video was produced to promote the single, shot in black-and-white. [59]
A writer for Lennox Herald named the song a "stand out" from the Undercover album. [60] Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Gerry Rafferty's rainy days anthem is now transferred from the comfortable living room to the heat of clubland. The typical saxophone hook is on acid as well." [61] Mark Frith from Smash Hits commented, "This one's quite good actually. Transformed from a hoary old late '70s epic into a PWL rave anthem for the '90s, "Baker Street" has tootling sax, great vocals and is probably the most unusual record turned into a rave tune ever." [62]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Germany (BVMI) [85] | Gold | 250,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
"Baker Street" | |
---|---|
Song by Foo Fighters | |
Released | 19 January 1998 |
Recorded | 1997 |
Length | 5:39 |
Label | |
Songwriter(s) | Gerry Rafferty |
Producer(s) | Simon Askew |
The American rock band Foo Fighters covered the song on their 1998 "My Hero" UK CD single release, on the Australian tour pack (grey cover) release, on the limited-edition European bonus EP and as one of several bonus tracks added to the remastered tenth anniversary release of their second studio album, The Colour and the Shape , reissued in 2007. [86] The saxophone part is played on electric guitar. [87]
"Stuck in the Middle with You" is a song written by Scottish musicians Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan and performed by their band Stealers Wheel.
Gerald Rafferty was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in the late 1970s included "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line", and "Night Owl".
"Alphabet St." is a song from American musician Prince's tenth album, Lovesexy (1988). It was the first single from that album and the album's only top 10 single, reaching the top 10 in both the UK and US. Initially written as an acoustic blues song, the song's final version includes a rap by Cat Glover and is full of samples. "Alphabet St." generally echoes themes from the rest of Lovesexy.
"Miss You" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on Rolling Stones Records in May 1978. It was released as the first single one month in advance of their album Some Girls. "Miss You" was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
"The Morning Papers" is a song by American musician Prince and the New Power Generation from their 1992 album Love Symbol. It was released as the fourth worldwide single from the album in March 1993 by Paisley Park and Warner Bros.; the B-side is "Live 4 Love", a track from Prince's previous album, Diamonds and Pearls (1991). The UK CD single included "Love 2 the 9's" as well, also from Love Symbol. "The Morning Papers" peaked at numbers 44 and 35 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100.
"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", also written "Da' Ya' Think I'm Sexy", is a song by British singer Rod Stewart from his ninth studio album, Blondes Have More Fun (1978). It was written by Stewart, Carmine Appice, and Duane Hitchings, though it incorporates the melody from the song "Taj Mahal" by Jorge Ben Jor and the string arrangement from the song "(If You Want My Love) Put Something Down On It" by Bobby Womack.
Raphael Ravenscroft was a British musician, composer and author. He is best known for playing the saxophone riff on Gerry Rafferty's song "Baker Street".
City to City is the second solo studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty, released on 20 January 1978 by United Artists Records. It was Rafferty's first solo release in six years—and first release of any kind since 1975—due to his tenure in the band Stealers Wheel and subsequent legal proceedings which prevented Rafferty from releasing any new solo recordings for the next three years. The album was well received, peaking at No. 1 in the US and going Platinum, as well as reaching No. 6 in the UK Albums Chart and achieving Gold status. "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line" and "Home and Dry" were hits on the American charts.
"I Love Your Smile" is a song by American singer-songwriter Shanice, released in October 1991 by Motown as the lead single from her second studio album, Inner Child (1991). The song was produced by Narada Michael Walden, and the radio version removes the rap bridge from the album version. It features a saxophone solo by Branford Marsalis as well as laughter from Janet Jackson and René Elizondo Jr. near the end of the song. To date, "I Love Your Smile" is Shanice's best known and most successful hit.
"My Life" is a song by Billy Joel that first appeared on his 1978 album 52nd Street. A single version was released in the fall of 1978 and reached No. 2 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart. Early the next year, it peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Urgent" is a song by the British-American rock band Foreigner, and the first single from their album 4 in 1981.
Night Owl is the third studio album by Scottish musician Gerry Rafferty. It was released a year after Rafferty's Platinum-selling album City to City. While not quite performing as well as its predecessor, Night Owl still managed enough sales to achieve platinum status in Canada, gold in the United Kingdom, and gold status in the U.S. The title song reached No. 5 on the UK charts. The album made the UK Top 10.
"Night Owl" is a song by Gerry Rafferty. It is the second track on his 1979 album of the same name. It features a Lyricon solo played by "Baker Street" saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft. An edited version, omitting one verse, made the top five in the UK Singles Chart, and along with "Baker Street" is one of two solo efforts by Gerry Rafferty to accomplish this feat.
Snakes and Ladders is the fourth album by Gerry Rafferty. It was released in 1980, following the success of his previous two albums, City to City and Night Owl. The album charted at No. 15 in the UK but only reached No. 61 in the US, while singles achieved #54UK, and #67UK / #54US. The album was released on CD in 1998 [EMI 7 46609-2] but deleted soon after that, and it got reissued on CD in August 2012 as a 2-CD set with "Sleepwalking."
"Right Down the Line" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. Released as a single in the US in July 1978, it was the follow-up to his first major hit as a solo artist, "Baker Street", and reached No. 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 8 on Cash Box and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary charts.
Undercover is a British dance music group which was formed in 1991 and had three UK top-30 hits, two of them top-five, in 1992. The group's vocalist, John Matthews, continues to perform solo as Undercover across the UK, Europe and South America. The keyboard player, Steve Mac, went on to become a songwriter and music producer for other artists. Bass guitarist Jon Jules worked in the UK soul music scene as a DJ, radio presenter and event organiser.
"The Heat Is On" is a song written by Harold Faltermeyer and Keith Forsey, and recorded by Glenn Frey for the American film Beverly Hills Cop (1984). The song was published as a single and as the sixth track of the album Beverly Hills Cop: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1984).
"My Best Friend's Girl" is a song by American rock band the Cars from their 1978 self-titled debut album on Elektra Records, released on June 6 of that year. Written by Ocasek as a song about something that "probably ... happened to a lot of people," the track found radio success as a demo in 1977.
"Never Let Her Slip Away" is a song written by American musician Andrew Gold, who recorded it for his third album, All This and Heaven Too (1978). The single reached number five on the UK Singles Chart and number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. Queen frontman Freddie Mercury contributed harmony vocals to the song, as an uncredited background singer. A 1992 cover version by British dance outfit Undercover was also an international hit.
Check Out the Groove is the debut album by British dance group Undercover, released in 1992 by PWL International. The album contains mostly cover versions of songs from the 1970s and 1980s.