Professor, Love your show! Your passion and attention to detail is what sets you apart from all of the noise out their on the web. In a sea of voices jockeying for position, yours does not compete with others... *_...they compete with YOU!_* ==========//=========== *INDEED!* _The greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time!_ Which is why you absolutely MUST cover *Alan Parsons* ...and in particular, *_The Alan Parsons Project's_* INCREDIBLE album, *I ROBOT*
@@pg1171 @L.T. W In addition to *The Alan Parsons Project,* Alan Parsons worked as an engineer at *Abbey Road Studios* and helped with the production of some *_amazing band's albums_* such as *Al Stewart - Year Of The Cat* *Ambrosia's first album which produced the amazing hit song - Holding On To Yesterday* *Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon* *The Beatles - Abbey Road* But when it comes to Alan Parsons Project albums, hands down, my favorite is *I ROBOT* and my second is almost certainly His debut album *Tales Of Mystery And Imagination* which was based on the works of *_Edgar Allan Poe._*
Why do you say that? In what way is he "underrated?" Every musician and serious music fan I know says the exact same thing about Rafferty: extremely talented, great songs. They all recognize his talent and his contribution. He had perhaps 3 hits in the US, yet Baker Street and Right Down the Line are still played constantly on radio. How is that "criminally underrated?"
Glasgows finest. Also check out Stone The Crows who were a bit like a female zeppelin managed by Peter Grant and John Martyn who is an unbelievable singer songwriter.
I worked as a 17 year old rookie beach lifeguard in cape May New Jersey in the summer of 78. Freshly graduated from high school. Every time I heard the song it resonated deeper. By the end of the summer it became clear that I like the author was deeply unhappy. It was helpful in a strange way. It Helped me begin to come out of denial about my own unhappiness
Spring 1978. I got off work at 4 a.m. The book I read before going to bed at daylight was Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. When Baker Street came on I would stop reading just to absorb the music. It was a great year.
Baker Street is one of the gold standard records of the 70s. No one can ever match it or improve upon it. The song also sets the tone for the late 70s, looking back at life with longing and thinking about how to improve yourself after the tragedies that take us down the wrong path. Thank you, Gerry Rafferty, for your music and for both the memories and hopes that it conveys.
I agree and is underrated, I only remember the sax from the Simpson and only a few years ago discovered this song and has become part of my greatest hits
Always loved the hell out of this song----especially that saxophone break, which is the main reason it's remembered, and that beautiful, laid-back breezy jazz opening. It's like two songs in one----a laid-back R&B song, and a hard-rock song blasting out for a minute.
I have always thought that “Baker Street” was one of the most overlooked and under appreciated songs of the 70’s. Thanks for your review and recognition.
Never gets played by our Classic Rock station. I think it got way overplayed in the late 70s early 80s and needs a comeback to find its rightful place.
Gerry Rafferty is one of my personal favorites. Besides Baker Street, I love the songs The Long Way Round and Right Down the Line. All of his music has this smooth facade with inner turmoil underneath. The verses are breezy, the choruses are epic and the bridges are just filled with pain. They encapsulate the human experience in musical form. He was one of a kind.
Wonderful…Gerry Rafferty, an icon, lifted me up when I was down. The first time I heard Baker Street I went wow! I always thought it was about UK history. The song is actually about Gerry Rafferty’s life. Without a doubt, the man was in his own league and glad that his daughter put out Rest in Blue!
“BAKER STREET” takes me to a time in my life that I constantly crave for....nostalgic doesn’t begin to describe the feeling that tune gives to me....simply love it.
Baker Street was "our song." We got married June 24, 1978 and went on a one-week honeymoon to Florida, where we saw everything they had, kind of raced from place to place all around Florida. Baker Street was on every station. We both loved it. The divorce was final in 2004. Hearing the song again is just bittersweet. And learning whatever happened to Gerry Rafferty is sad. Thanks for the video.
Baker Street was the first song I remember hearing as a child. I suffered from deafness. The day I got tubes in my ears, I heard this song. It will ALWAYS be my favorite. Thank you for honoring Gerry.
I'm 48 now so I first heard this in the 70s. A friend who lived down my road, cannot for the life of me remember her name, sat me down and put the 7 inch of Baker Street on her turntable. I sat mesmerised through the whole song. It became a favourite song and still is. Best listened to for me now in the dark driving on my own and very loud. Amazing song ❤
For some unexplainable reason, whenever I hear Baker Street, I think of the equally incredible song by Al Stewart, *Year Of The Cat* ( _and vice versa_ ). Those two songs evoke memories of my adolescent years...of me with my family, camping in the Berkshires...a place called *Sherwood Forest* in Becket Massachusetts. _All good memories...all good!_
I always put the two of them together too for some reason - same time period. FM radio in the cool babysitter's Celica (?) I have (had) albums, now cd's of both - Stewart is interesting for historical lyrics, but Rafferty had by far the better voice - great guitar lick and a sax solo is guaranteed to hook me. Then too, Rafferty lived the life - not that it worked out all that well in the end. I have some empathy - took me till 38 to kick those demons, but I did.
This might have been put out 3 yrs ago but I'm here in July 2024 cause I LOVE this song & I LOVE the Prof ❤ could watch & listen to his voice for hours ❤️
Some songs go to number one on the pop charts. Others just stick around as great art, for generations. Baker St. will be here for quite some time to come. A master work recording and arranging, composition. Whole package.
Everywhere I went as a 16-year-old in '78 (first solo drive, first car date, first makeout session at the lake with my girl, first well-paid job) this song was there. From being annoyed about how much airplay it was getting at first, by the end of the year I eagerly anticipated every time it came on the radio and that thrill you get when the sax kicks in again at the end of the first verse. I only have to hear that opening sax riff and it's like I'm back in the day. Unlike me, this song will never grow old.
Hearing this song will always take me back to Navy boot camp, 1978, in Orlando. My company had aced a barracks inspection and earned the privilege of having a radio. On the weekends, I remember hearing that saxophone solo echo through the barracks. Such a wonderful piece of music.
I graduated from high school in 1980. This song was life. Every single day was Baker Street. It was always way too big of a song to just be "on the radio." To be coming out of an AM transistor from Radio Shack. It immediately mesmerized the mind and you had to stop what you were doing and drink it in. I grew up in Southern California and it screamed SoCal to me. This was fantastic by the way. Excellent analysis.
As a 22 yr old, I don’t really have many peers who appreciate this music so hearing you talk about this music with such passion really makes me feel validated. I feel like you have such a natural ability to make the lyrics of a song really connect almost as if you’re hearing them again for the first time. Your love for this music makes it valid and worthy of appreciation and turns even the simple pop songs into works of art to me. It moves me to tears in every video. You really have a gift. God bless you man! You’re brilliant!! also if you ever did a video on the smiths I’d get such a shock I’d probably lie in the middle of the street and die 😅
Well, I'd definitely say that's your gain and their loss. You're in good company here. This is when music was actually music, not the crap that usually gets put out these days, although there are exceptions.
My 15 year old son had to be the only child at the Chicago and also the Styx concerts I took him to last year. We saw Elton for his 13th birthday. You have peers in this generation.
Soul! It’s about soul. I remember the first time I heard this song as a child...we were driving to my grandparents house. Everyone in the car was asleep but me and my dad...he had the window cracked, and I remember the blue light from the dashboard and looking at the sky as we sped through the night with the cool breeze kissing my face. He didn’t know I was awake but we shared a moment in time that I have relived a thousand times since. It meant so much to me that I made sure I shared it with my kids, too. It’s our official road trip song...especially when it’s dark. I’m always trying to capture that moment again. And I do every time...it’s just perfect.
“Baker Street” was the theme song of my senior year of high school. I remember driving home from show rehearsals, my headlights reflecting off the wet pavement on the twisting country roads near my school. That’s the video I see when I hear the song. Definitely a song for a life milestone.
Funny - I was just thinking about the video in my head: Everything is in fast motion, except one man, who is in slow-motion - struggling to get through a day....
Baker Street was what I had termed one of my "lost classics" when I was a kid. I would hear it in the background everywhere in the '80s, but didn't know its name or who released it. I would hear it in grocery stores, from passing cars, randomly on the radio. The saxophone, of course, haunted me. When I joined the Army I was telling a fellow Soldier about this song with the haunting saxophone solo and thought I was doing a terrible job describing it. He said, "oh, that's Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty." Then he went back to his room and brought me the cassette. That entire album is fantastic and listening to it brings back fond memories of a young lady I was fortunate enough to know before I left the Army to go to college.
This song absolutely defined the summer of 78. I was working as a beach lifeguard in cape may New Jersey and during that first summer after graduating from high school I assumed I had life figured out. When the song came on the radio I was literally sitting on my stand and acting like the stoic lifeguard but inside I was completely destroyed. Hooked. Blown away mesmerized. I couldn’t figure out why. Coincidentally within a few weeks I had been fired from my job and found myself in relationship hell as well when it struck me that like the character in that song something was really wrong in my life. . So to hear Baker Street I felt like I had a secret friend who would tell me each time it played that he too was in a bad place emotionally. That song riveted me so much that I thought about the lyrics even when the song wasn’t playing. I can’t say enough about this song. Life changing (14 years and many drugs later I finally got the help I needed to begin to recover from severe childhood abuse ). Thank you Gerry for throwing me a lifeline in 1978. “ just one more year and I will be happy .....”. Wow.
There was a Baker Street on my block, right near my house. Blasted the song when I was a kid...loved it from the minute it came out. i was 5 years old...
This song transcends the Billboard charts. Whenever it came on the radio back in the day, it lifted me to another plane. And not one, but TWO timeless solos (Sax/Guitar) in one song? C'mon...it's one of the greatest songs of all time.
I stole it from a psuedo relligious philosophy (which I. don't believe) where one tries to "achieve" a "higher plane of existence", or awareness about life and the universe. Although I don't ascribe to this, I used it as a metaphor. That song has the effect of lifting my spirts, so I copped the "higher plane" idea to try and describe it in a creative and complimetary way.
The way the guitar solo flows into the saxophone solo outro is simply pure musical genius. EDIT: I don't know why I typed bass instead of saxophone when I first posted this reply. I played bass in the high school jazz band and we would play Baker Street as an instrumental. I guess I had bass on the brain thinking about the song.
You have great taste in music..love Boz too..loved Down two then Left also..another very underrated singer/songwriter..gosh just thinking about all those wonderful songs take me back to a very very happy time of my life..I'd go back and do it all again in a heartbeat..
In the WKRP Episode where they finally reach #7 or so, everyone is stoked, except Andy. In that episode, he enters his office and you hear Supertramp's "Take the Long Way Home" the WKRP jingle, and then a Gerry Rafferty masterpiece "Get It Right Next Time" - Baker Street part II.
@@TheEntilza There IS a full-song version of “Theme From WKRP”. I haven’t heard it in years, and I wish I could tell you where to find it. But it IS out there…somewhere. Hugh Wilson, creator of WKRP, would know. But I don’t know how to reach him, either.
The amount I learned about this song in a few minutes is just unbelievable. For me, this song was a soundtrack of my college years. One of the last LP's I bought new as CD's took over.
Gerry Rafferty's song Baker Street helped me literally to come out of the emotional pain I was suffering at the time, and move forward!! I still love to hear this song! I never knew other people felt the same. Thank You, Adam for the accolades to this beautifully accomplished song!! I love Baker Street, and Gerry Rafferty. Please bring this song forward to the future generations to come!! Peace Out!✌
Lying in my bed in April 1978...I had an 8 o'clock class...6:30 AM alarm...and Baker Street made its way into my life. I was 22. I followed the Billboard charts at that time of my life and watched every week to see when it would hit Number One. And it stuck at Number two. Yes, it was a number one song. And it was THE song of 1978. Nothing else came close. Thanks for this. I lived your story.
Absolutely loved this analogy of this timeless classic. It was and still is my favourite song of all time. In 1978, At 18 i was at an extremely low point in life. As a teenager I was almost swallowed up by the drugs scene back then. I eventually turned my life around , and I am now happily married with a loving family. This song helped me through that experience. It gave me the confidence to rebuild my life. Thank you for a wonderful video.. Derek in Wales 🏴
"City to City" is a such a fantastic album. I simply love it since I heard it the first time. It was my mother who bought the record and I stumbled over it when I stepped through her record collection when I was 12 years old. Till now this recording stayed with me wherever I was.
You are what I miss about when MTV was relevant. It's s shame, even though I love watching everything you do here that someone doesn't want you doing a televised show. You're so amazing
I played this LP non stop till I had worn it out. Bought this on cassette to play in the car and got it on CD, and now I’ve downloaded it. Thanks for remembering a great musician so eloquently. RIP Jerry
Al Stewart is a very underrated artist who has so much good music in his catalog, especially if you enjoy history. He is definitely due for a rediscovery!!!
Baker Street has always been one of my favorite songs, with Raphael's sexy saxophone notes forever calling me back to less stressful times. Gerry Rafferty was truly a musical genius.
Interesting in that it has verse, pre-chorus, then the saxaphone plays the chorus "riff" ...I am always reluctant to call a song that doesn't have a chorus to sing along to a masterpiece....the boxer is another one where the chorus is just a chant, lie da dai, lai da dai rather than a straight chorus....they work though, still great songs
First time I heard Baker Street I was driving to work and the hair on my arms stood at attention. I still get that feeling when I hear the song. Loved Gerry Rafferty.
I was ten years old and living in suburban Halifax in Nova Scotia. We had a cottage up on Northumberland Strait. Coming back to it from visiting friends in Amherst meant driving along this two-lane highway, no lights, huge pines hugging the road between placid farms, and nothing but moonlight, starlight, and my parents in the fronts seats as we coasted along. And amidst it all, this song on the radio defining the moment and crystalizing it. Every time I hear it, it puts me right back there.
I remember hearing this song as a 7 year old when it came out. It was all over the radio. To this day I consider this song very special both lyrically and musically. A true gem of the 70's
An absolute genius who remains underrated to this day. Haunting songs like winters come and whatever's written in your heart deserve to be honoured by all. A fantastic songwriter.
This is one of the songs that changed my life and made me fall in love with music. I'd be a different person today had it not been for songs like Baker Street. Always #1 in my heart.
Loved this episode! This song is one of my favorites. My husband and I first bonded over this song. We had casually met and became Facebook friends and stayed that way for about a year, until I posted this video and talked about how great this song is. He chimed in with an agreement, a discussion ensued, we met up again, and married nine months later. Thanks Gerry!!!!
I was maybe 10 or 11 when this song came out here in Germany. We used to have an old radio in the kitchen, and they played Baker Street all the time. It really is something special! SInce then, I've grown into something like a Metalhead, but I still have a soft spot for great music from the past. Love your show!
This is simply one of the greatest pop songs ever, in my opinion. It kind of had it all. So fascinating that Gerry HATED the industry (actually, that's what Stuck In the MIddle With You is all about) - and yet created all these great songs. I think he would have done very well in this day of direct distribution and solid legal ownership. But throughout his WHOLE career he battled alcohol - so he was doomed from the start. That album is incredible.
Music industry is shady & thats being understated. Billy Squier, Alannah Myles, Milli Vanilli..just to name a few. Musicians need good agents, managers, & lawyers.
@@crusheverything4449 they had 2 really great singers just in the background the original recording was done long before the lip synching & music video posers Millie Vanilli
Gerry was one of rock’s greatest songwriters who has gone under the radar. Listen to “Whatever’s written in your heart” and you’ll understand what I mean.
Without fail, when I hear "Baker Street", I flash back to a summertime visit to the Gulf Coast, the last one I would have with my family before my parents divorced and my younger brother and I would emotionally part company as siblings. Powerful song with powerful memories 4 decades later.
I really like these stories , not because of the content necessarily, because I know them. It's more because of the way you tell them. It's like a young man learning of an amazing discovery with new eyes.
I remember listening to "America's Top 40" every weekend back then and praying for this song to make it to #1. I loved hearing the story behing this song.
I bought 'CITY to CITY' in 78'. I loved every song-which resegnated w/my feelings, actual events/I dealt w/1st boyfriend,everything first! Always loved the lyrics.But the music always took me to places that were so gratifying-at 18 years old!!Total LUV!!!
This is a classic, the musicianship is off the charts. This song is about self delusion. Keep telling yourself that everything is ok. The final line hits hard because that is what you have to tell yourself to go on, to perform. You must sing that tune to go one day after day.
I come from and still work in Paisley, Gerry Rafferty’s home town. Night Owl was the first album I ever bought for my father. Gerry Rafferty was truly a local hero, he lived around the corner from me during this time. Thanks for this review, I guess everyone has a local creative hero, he is mine. His descent in alcoholism is narrated through his songs such as this and Night Owl. It is also a scourge of our society here. The creativity shines through though and Rafferty distilled all his folk, pop, blues and rock influences into a perfect song writing style that is timeless, hence your moving tribute.
I was just thinking recently of how many great songs from the 80s had sax solos, and missing it. Duran Duran's Rio, Spandau Ballet's True, INXS's Never Tear Us Apart, Huey Lewis's Heart of Rock & Roll, Tears For Fears' The Working Hour, Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark, Hall and Oates' Maneater. Most of these bands had a sax player in their normal repertoire. We need to bring back the sax.
Incredible songwriter but not enough is said about his amazing vocal tone. That's what drew me in, his phrasing was always so cool and effortless. You can't imagine anyone else singing his songs. Keep up the great work you do.
![Gerry Rafferty- "Baker Street" LIVE 1978 [Reelin' In The Years Archives]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vUKsXMtXiYM/mqdefault.jpg)
Professor,
Love your show! Your passion and attention to detail is what sets you apart from all of the noise out their on the web. In a sea of voices jockeying for position, yours does not compete with others...
*_...they compete with YOU!_*
==========//===========
*INDEED!* _The greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time!_
Which is why you absolutely MUST cover *Alan Parsons* ...and in particular,
*_The Alan Parsons Project's_* INCREDIBLE album,
*I ROBOT*
OMG! Yes! Alan Parsons Project was another piece of perfection! Can't get his songs out of my head!
Yes yes Alan Parsons Project absolutely. Any song for me will do. He is a genius in so many ways.
@@l.t.w8985 ...i am the eye in the sky...that shit is real genius. man, what a thrill to know so many fellow music fans. love them dudes from 70's.
@@pg1171 @L.T. W
In addition to *The Alan Parsons Project,* Alan Parsons worked as an engineer at *Abbey Road Studios* and helped with the production of some *_amazing band's albums_* such as
*Al Stewart - Year Of The Cat*
*Ambrosia's first album which produced the amazing hit song - Holding On To Yesterday*
*Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon*
*The Beatles - Abbey Road*
But when it comes to Alan Parsons Project albums, hands down, my favorite is *I ROBOT* and my second is almost certainly His debut album *Tales Of Mystery And Imagination* which was based on the works of *_Edgar Allan Poe._*
Did you see our video with Alan Parsons from a few weeks ago?
Gerry Rafferty is a criminally underrated musical genius.
YEP!
City to City, Track 9: ISLAND Just ONE example.
You are correct!
Ummm..that would be "was" underrated.
Why do you say that? In what way is he "underrated?" Every musician and serious music fan I know says the exact same thing about Rafferty: extremely talented, great songs. They all recognize his talent and his contribution. He had perhaps 3 hits in the US, yet Baker Street and Right Down the Line are still played constantly on radio. How is that "criminally underrated?"
Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street and his song Right Down The Line are 2 songs, that I can never get enough of.
Lisa Heisey You got that right, Sister. Both songs are cemented into my psyche
Get It Right Next Time was another modest hit for Mr. Rafferty, great song too if you are unfamiliar with it.
Glasgows finest. Also check out Stone The Crows who were a bit like a female zeppelin managed by Peter Grant and John Martyn who is an unbelievable singer songwriter.
You have great taste in music, Lisa.
Home and Dry is fantastic too!
Its not just the singles.....the whole album is solid gold....my time machine is going back to the summer of 78....who else wants to go 😉
Sign me up, pal!
@@michaelnash2138 all aboard !!
Me!!!
I am there already, what’s keeping you all?
I worked as a 17 year old rookie beach lifeguard in cape May New Jersey in the summer of 78. Freshly graduated from high school. Every time I heard the song it resonated deeper. By the end of the summer it became clear that I like the author was deeply unhappy. It was helpful in a strange way. It Helped me begin to come out of denial about my own unhappiness
2023 and this song still gives me chills like it did at age 17. RIP Gerry Rafferty, a true musical genius. ❤
"Baker Street" is very intimidating music. A song full of fear and pain. Especially fear.
Spring 1978. I got off work at 4 a.m. The book I read before going to bed at daylight was Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. When Baker Street came on I would stop reading just to absorb the music. It was a great year.
Baker Street is one of the gold standard records of the 70s. No one can ever match it or improve upon it. The song also sets the tone for the late 70s, looking back at life with longing and thinking about how to improve yourself after the tragedies that take us down the wrong path. Thank you, Gerry Rafferty, for your music and for both the memories and hopes that it conveys.
Maybe "Year of the cat" by Al Stewart.
Not by singing, but by overall composition and instrumentation.
Baker Street is one of the all time best songs for me. A masterpiece.
I agree and is underrated, I only remember the sax from the Simpson and only a few years ago discovered this song and has become part of my greatest hits
Always loved the hell out of this song----especially that saxophone break, which is the main reason it's remembered, and that beautiful, laid-back breezy jazz opening. It's like two songs in one----a laid-back R&B song, and a hard-rock song blasting out for a minute.
I have always thought that “Baker Street” was one of the most overlooked and under appreciated songs of the 70’s. Thanks for your review and recognition.
It was huge.
It's staying power says a lot for this song.
The opening is like a spiritual awaking
Never gets played by our Classic Rock station. I think it got way overplayed in the late 70s early 80s and needs a comeback to find its rightful place.
Not just a classic of the 70s, a classic from the 60s to today, and glad that the prof mentioned the guitar solo. Also outstanding.
Gerry Rafferty is one of my personal favorites. Besides Baker Street, I love the songs The Long Way Round and Right Down the Line. All of his music has this smooth facade with inner turmoil underneath. The verses are breezy, the choruses are epic and the bridges are just filled with pain. They encapsulate the human experience in musical form. He was one of a kind.
Great comment, your observations are spot on.
Right Down the Line is one of my favourites after Baker Street ❤
Wonderful…Gerry Rafferty, an icon, lifted me up when I was down. The first time I heard Baker Street I went wow! I always thought it was about UK history. The song is actually about Gerry Rafferty’s life. Without a doubt, the man was in his own league and glad that his daughter put out Rest in Blue!
Another big guitar solo from Gerry, "Right Down the Line".
That is a pop masterpiece
Its actually BJ Cole one of the greatest pedal steel players of all time
Brent Richards Amen to that...
That song is why I love Gerry.
The entire album is terrific. Love Right down the line!
“BAKER STREET” takes me to a time in my life that I constantly crave for....nostalgic doesn’t begin to describe the feeling that tune gives to me....simply love it.
You nailed it!!
Baker Street was "our song." We got married June 24, 1978 and went on a one-week honeymoon to Florida, where we saw everything they had, kind of raced from place to place all around Florida. Baker Street was on every station. We both loved it. The divorce was final in 2004. Hearing the song again is just bittersweet. And learning whatever happened to Gerry Rafferty is sad. Thanks for the video.
Oh ya, this is one of my favorite songs ever, this song has so much going on with stellar sax and awesome guitar. I still have a frequent listen
Baker Street was the first song I remember hearing as a child. I suffered from deafness. The day I got tubes in my ears, I heard this song. It will ALWAYS be my favorite.
Thank you for honoring Gerry.
I was 8 years-old in 1978...I loved Shadow Dancing then and I love it now, but Baker Street is a straight-up masterpiece.
I'm 48 now so I first heard this in the 70s. A friend who lived down my road, cannot for the life of me remember her name, sat me down and put the 7 inch of Baker Street on her turntable. I sat mesmerised through the whole song. It became a favourite song and still is. Best listened to for me now in the dark driving on my own and very loud. Amazing song ❤
For some unexplainable reason, whenever I hear Baker Street, I think of the equally incredible song by Al Stewart, *Year Of The Cat* ( _and vice versa_ ).
Those two songs evoke memories of my adolescent years...of me with my family, camping in the Berkshires...a place called *Sherwood Forest* in Becket Massachusetts.
_All good memories...all good!_
Gerry from Paisley and Al from Greenock - about 15 to 20 miles apart in the west of Scotland. Both masterpieces.
Me too! I was 6 and 8 tho. Teenage sisters, so I was “around” then.
@@manxuberglider8
I also had 2 older sisters, and an older brother...so I was exposed to all sorts of music in the 60s and 70s!
I always put the two of them together too for some reason - same time period. FM radio in the cool babysitter's Celica (?) I have (had) albums, now cd's of both - Stewart is interesting for historical lyrics, but Rafferty had by far the better voice - great guitar lick and a sax solo is guaranteed to hook me. Then too, Rafferty lived the life - not that it worked out all that well in the end. I have some empathy - took me till 38 to kick those demons, but I did.
Yeah - me too.
This might have been put out 3 yrs ago but I'm here in July 2024 cause I LOVE this song & I LOVE the Prof ❤ could watch & listen to his voice for hours ❤️
I'm here too!
Some songs go to number one on the pop charts. Others just stick around as great art, for generations. Baker St. will be here for quite some time to come. A master work recording and arranging, composition. Whole package.
Gerry’s music never ceases to get stale- it’s quite amazing
You mean it never gets stale, don't you?
Baker Street is so amazingly underrated. The sax, the guitar, oh hell all of it. It transports me back in time. Should have been number 1 hands down.
It's not underrated at all. It has the most recognisable sax riff ever. Baker Street is an all-time classic enjoyed by many generations.
Everywhere I went as a 16-year-old in '78 (first solo drive, first car date, first makeout session at the lake with my girl, first well-paid job) this song was there. From being annoyed about how much airplay it was getting at first, by the end of the year I eagerly anticipated every time it came on the radio and that thrill you get when the sax kicks in again at the end of the first verse. I only have to hear that opening sax riff and it's like I'm back in the day. Unlike me, this song will never grow old.
Loved Baker Street. Fell in love with that sax but the blistering guitar solo blew me away!
I was 18 when it came out....loved it then and still do....You're right, the guitar solo is phenomenal
Hearing this song will always take me back to Navy boot camp, 1978, in Orlando. My company had aced a barracks inspection and earned the privilege of having a radio. On the weekends, I remember hearing that saxophone solo echo through the barracks. Such a wonderful piece of music.
I graduated from high school in 1980. This song was life. Every single day was Baker Street. It was always way too big of a song to just be "on the radio." To be coming out of an AM transistor from Radio Shack. It immediately mesmerized the mind and you had to stop what you were doing and drink it in. I grew up in Southern California and it screamed SoCal to me. This was fantastic by the way. Excellent analysis.
As a 22 yr old, I don’t really have many peers who appreciate this music so hearing you talk about this music with such passion really makes me feel validated. I feel like you have such a natural ability to make the lyrics of a song really connect almost as if you’re hearing them again for the first time.
Your love for this music makes it valid
and worthy of appreciation and turns even the simple pop songs into works of art to me. It moves me to tears in every video. You really have a gift. God bless you man! You’re brilliant!!
also if you ever did a video on the smiths I’d get such a shock I’d probably lie in the middle of the street and die 😅
Well, I'd definitely say that's your gain and their loss. You're in good company here. This is when music was actually music, not the crap that usually gets put out these days, although there are exceptions.
My 15 year old son had to be the only child at the Chicago and also the Styx concerts I took him to last year. We saw Elton for his 13th birthday. You have peers in this generation.
Soul! It’s about soul. I remember the first time I heard this song as a child...we were driving to my grandparents house. Everyone in the car was asleep but me and my dad...he had the window cracked, and I remember the blue light from the dashboard and looking at the sky as we sped through the night with the cool breeze kissing my face. He didn’t know I was awake but we shared a moment in time that I have relived a thousand times since. It meant so much to me that I made sure I shared it with my kids, too. It’s our official road trip song...especially when it’s dark. I’m always trying to capture that moment again. And I do every time...it’s just perfect.
Sugar Sheila - I have similar memories of that song and that time. Thanks for evoking them!
My 3 year old loves this song.
Baker Street is one of my favourite songs and Rafferty is great as well. I can listen to him sing for hours.
Baker Street is one of my favorite songs of all time. Every time I hear it I think of myself and my place in the world.
Right down the line is my personal favorite!
it's been you, wumaan
Awesome song! Despite the word "through" sounding like "shrew" each time it occurs. (I wonder what's the story behind that?)
Baker street is a smarter and powerful song. Right down the line it's different but beautiful song too.
Rick and morty
Also an awesome song
“Baker Street” was the theme song of my senior year of high school. I remember driving home from show rehearsals, my headlights reflecting off the wet pavement on the twisting country roads near my school. That’s the video I see when I hear the song. Definitely a song for a life milestone.
Funny - I was just thinking about the video in my head: Everything is in fast motion, except one man, who is in slow-motion - struggling to get through a day....
Baker Street was what I had termed one of my "lost classics" when I was a kid. I would hear it in the background everywhere in the '80s, but didn't know its name or who released it. I would hear it in grocery stores, from passing cars, randomly on the radio. The saxophone, of course, haunted me. When I joined the Army I was telling a fellow Soldier about this song with the haunting saxophone solo and thought I was doing a terrible job describing it. He said, "oh, that's Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty." Then he went back to his room and brought me the cassette. That entire album is fantastic and listening to it brings back fond memories of a young lady I was fortunate enough to know before I left the Army to go to college.
City to City is part of my collection. Baker Street sends me back to the late 70's and my younger days ,
This is . my favorite song when I hear it. Thank you Gerry R. Baker Street
This song absolutely defined the summer of 78. I was working as a beach lifeguard in cape may New Jersey and during that first summer after graduating from high school I assumed I had life figured out. When the song came on the radio I was literally sitting on my stand and acting like the stoic lifeguard but inside I was completely destroyed. Hooked. Blown away mesmerized. I couldn’t figure out why. Coincidentally within a few weeks I had been fired from my job and found myself in relationship hell as well when it struck me that like the character in that song something was really wrong in my life. . So to hear Baker Street I felt like I had a secret friend who would tell me each time it played that he too was in a bad place emotionally. That song riveted me so much that I thought about the lyrics even when the song wasn’t playing. I can’t say enough about this song. Life changing (14 years and many drugs later I finally got the help I needed to begin to recover from severe childhood abuse ). Thank you Gerry for throwing me a lifeline in 1978. “ just one more year and I will be happy .....”. Wow.
That sax solo at the end has always given me an unbridled sense of joy!!
Whatever’s written in your heart is a brilliant Rafferty Recording as well.
Yes, one of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching breakup songs ever. It described one of mine perfectly.
Big love for this one.
City to city is a masterpiece
City to City is a great album, there isn't a bad track on it.
I love Baker Street. Takes me back to my youth and soft rock radio.
There was a Baker Street on my block, right near my house. Blasted the song when I was a kid...loved it from the minute it came out. i was 5 years old...
This song transcends the Billboard charts. Whenever it came on the radio back in the day, it lifted me to another plane. And not one, but TWO timeless solos (Sax/Guitar) in one song? C'mon...it's one of the greatest songs of all time.
It lifted you "to another plane?" What does that mean?
I stole it from a psuedo relligious philosophy (which I. don't believe) where one tries to "achieve" a "higher plane of existence", or awareness about life and the universe. Although I don't ascribe to this, I used it as a metaphor. That song has the effect of lifting my spirts, so I copped the "higher plane" idea to try and describe it in a creative and complimetary way.
@@ronricherson6685 Are you a prfessional writer? If not you should be. What an answer!
What a great compliment! Thanks! As a matter of fact, I'm putting the finishing touches on my first book. Your comment greatly encourages me.
The way the guitar solo flows into the saxophone solo outro is simply pure musical genius.
EDIT: I don't know why I typed bass instead of saxophone when I first posted this reply. I played bass in the high school jazz band and we would play Baker Street as an instrumental. I guess I had bass on the brain thinking about the song.
Love your passion! Rafferty’s City to City and Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees are my two favorite albums from the 70’s. Still listen to them frequently.
Down Two Then Left and Slow Dancer are both HIGHLY underrated Boz albums as well.....
thank you mine to
You have great taste in music..love Boz too..loved Down two then Left also..another very underrated singer/songwriter..gosh just thinking about all those wonderful songs take me back to a very very happy time of my life..I'd go back and do it all again in a heartbeat..
This song always reminds me of coming home from elementary school in the 80s and watching reruns of WKRP in Cincinnati for some reason.
WKRP's Thanksgiving turkey episode is fucking gold.
One of the cool things in life...how some things trigger other things.
I really love their theme song. Wish they had a full song version. I love Howard Hesseman on that.
In the WKRP Episode where they finally reach #7 or so, everyone is stoked, except Andy. In that episode, he enters his office and you hear Supertramp's "Take the Long Way Home" the WKRP jingle, and then a Gerry Rafferty masterpiece "Get It Right Next Time" - Baker Street part II.
@@TheEntilza There IS a full-song version of “Theme From WKRP”. I haven’t heard it in years, and I wish I could tell you where to find it. But it IS out there…somewhere. Hugh Wilson, creator of WKRP, would know. But I don’t know how to reach him, either.
The amount I learned about this song in a few minutes is just unbelievable. For me, this song was a soundtrack of my college years. One of the last LP's I bought new as CD's took over.
It was #1 in Cash Box magazine for two weeks, July 15 and July 22, 1978. Great record, great video!
Gerry Rafferty's song Baker Street helped me literally to come out of the emotional pain I was suffering at the time, and move forward!! I still love to hear this song! I never knew other people felt the same. Thank You, Adam for the accolades to this beautifully accomplished song!! I love Baker Street, and Gerry Rafferty. Please bring this song forward to the future generations to come!!
Peace Out!✌
Lying in my bed in April 1978...I had an 8 o'clock class...6:30 AM alarm...and Baker Street made its way into my life. I was 22. I followed the Billboard charts at that time of my life and watched every week to see when it would hit Number One. And it stuck at Number two. Yes, it was a number one song. And it was THE song of 1978. Nothing else came close. Thanks for this. I lived your story.
He was a gifted songwriter and lyricist. I Loved Right Down the Line even more. It was Loving and filled with gentle awe and gratitude.
You are so spot on in this video: YES YES YES, Baker Street is THE GREATEST SONG EVER !!!! Period. No question about it.
Absolutely loved this analogy of this timeless classic. It was and still is my favourite song of all time. In 1978, At 18 i was at an extremely low point in life.
As a teenager I was almost swallowed up by the drugs scene back then.
I eventually turned my life around , and I am now happily married with a loving family. This song helped me through that experience. It gave me the confidence to rebuild my life. Thank you for a wonderful video.. Derek in Wales 🏴
"City to City" is a such a fantastic album.
I simply love it since I heard it the first time.
It was my mother who bought the record and I stumbled over it when I stepped through her record collection when I was 12 years old.
Till now this recording stayed with me wherever I was.
You are what I miss about when MTV was relevant. It's s shame, even though I love watching everything you do here that someone doesn't want you doing a televised show. You're so amazing
Gregory Reed Amen Brother!
I remember listening to this song late at night, on a transistor radio. I can't tell you how many times I've heard it, but it never gets old.
I played this LP non stop till I had worn it out. Bought this on cassette to play in the car and got it on CD, and now I’ve downloaded it. Thanks for remembering a great musician so eloquently.
RIP Jerry
Baker Street is one of my favorite songs of all time.
How about Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat.”
That is a masterpiece!
Year Of The Cat and Time Passages. Both Great Songs from Al Stewart.
Marlon Hinton They are great albums too.
Hell yea I love that song I still listen to it just about every day..
Al Stewart is a very underrated artist who has so much good music in his catalog, especially if you enjoy history. He is definitely due for a rediscovery!!!
@@marlonhinton2371 The whole is great. It's one of those albums I like to put on and then turn the lights off and listen to in the dark.
'Baker Street' and 'Right Next Time' are absolute classics... whenever I hear them on the radio they take me to a different place. Genius.
"Right down the line" off that City to City is FIRE
Absolutely! Can’t mention Gerry without Right Down the Line.
that TITLE of that song was my tribute to my Mom....it was you woman...right down the line.
Rafferty’s voice is like sonic valium.
Baker Street has always been one of my favorite songs, with Raphael's sexy saxophone notes forever calling me back to less stressful times. Gerry Rafferty was truly a musical genius.
Bakers Street is a songwriting(& arranging) masterpiece. As a passionate songwriter myself, I wish I wrote it.
Interesting in that it has verse, pre-chorus, then the saxaphone plays the chorus "riff" ...I am always reluctant to call a song that doesn't have a chorus to sing along to a masterpiece....the boxer is another one where the chorus is just a chant, lie da dai, lai da dai rather than a straight chorus....they work though, still great songs
“Get it right next time” his best that not many know.
That’s not the main thing...
Good approach to Life.
First time I heard Baker Street I was driving to work and the hair on my arms stood at attention. I still get that feeling when I hear the song. Loved Gerry Rafferty.
Oh yes, awesome song
I love this song too. It has a subtly addictive feel that builds to a crescendo and makes you want to listen again.
I was ten years old and living in suburban Halifax in Nova Scotia. We had a cottage up on Northumberland Strait. Coming back to it from visiting friends in Amherst meant driving along this two-lane highway, no lights, huge pines hugging the road between placid farms, and nothing but moonlight, starlight, and my parents in the fronts seats as we coasted along. And amidst it all, this song on the radio defining the moment and crystalizing it. Every time I hear it, it puts me right back there.
This sing has always captivated me. There's a little 'Baker Street' in all of us...regret and optimism...so human!
I had this as a ring tone for several years, and it would stop strangers on the street...
This song is a masterpiece, pure and simple. It's my favourite song of all time. Have never gotten sick of it.
I remember hearing this song as a 7 year old when it came out. It was all over the radio. To this day I consider this song very special both lyrically and musically. A true gem of the 70's
im 70..
i love music of all genres from mannnnny decades...just love talented people....This is in my top 10
All I can say is thank you..Thank you. As a 70’s child, Thank You. He, Rafferty made all worthwhile.
"Whatever Written in your Heart" is also AMAZING.
One of my top favorite 70s songs ever!
An absolute genius who remains underrated to this day. Haunting songs like winters come and whatever's written in your heart deserve to be honoured by all. A fantastic songwriter.
Really one of the best songs in history!
Easily one of the top and most recognizable hits of the entire decade of the 70’s! A perfect song!
This is one of the songs that changed my life and made me fall in love with music. I'd be a different person today had it not been for songs like Baker Street. Always #1 in my heart.
The tone of the Guitar Solo is arguably one of The greatest Guitar Tones ever ranking up there with VH Brown Sound
Without a doubt. The rock Tone Masters, Jimmy Page, Ted Nugent, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Baxter, David Gilmour, and of course Eddie Hazel.
He had a very unique sound and wrote a lot of great stuff nobody ever heard.
Baker Street is one of my favorite 70's songs
One of those rare songs, like Hotel California, that I never get tired of hearing.
As a young child, I loved when this song came on the radio. Talking 4 to 6 years old.
Loved this episode! This song is one of my favorites. My husband and I first bonded over this song. We had casually met and became Facebook friends and stayed that way for about a year, until I posted this video and talked about how great this song is. He chimed in with an agreement, a discussion ensued, we met up again, and married nine months later. Thanks Gerry!!!!
I was maybe 10 or 11 when this song came out here in Germany. We used to have an old radio in the kitchen, and they played Baker Street all the time. It really is something special! SInce then, I've grown into something like a Metalhead, but I still have a soft spot for great music from the past. Love your show!
I always get a surreal feeling everytime I listen to this song, nothing else can replicate it, RIP to all the band members.
I was a 12 year old kid living in Phoenix in 1978, so this song is in my DNA. #1 In My Heart Indeed. 🎸🎷🎤
This is simply one of the greatest pop songs ever, in my opinion. It kind of had it all. So fascinating that Gerry HATED the industry (actually, that's what Stuck In the MIddle With You is all about) - and yet created all these great songs. I think he would have done very well in this day of direct distribution and solid legal ownership. But throughout his WHOLE career he battled alcohol - so he was doomed from the start. That album is incredible.
Thanks for the comment!
Music industry is shady & thats being understated. Billy Squier, Alannah Myles, Milli Vanilli..just to name a few. Musicians need good
agents, managers, & lawyers.
gin ngo - And some, like Milli Vanilli, need good singers.
@@crusheverything4449 they had 2 really great singers just in the background the original recording
was done long before the lip synching & music video posers
Millie Vanilli
Great alternative Mad Men ending. I agree about the song. 👍
Gerry was one of rock’s greatest songwriters who has gone under the radar. Listen to “Whatever’s written in your heart” and you’ll understand what I mean.
A stunningly beautiful song.
Love, love that song! I can't believe that it wasn't a big hit for Gerry Rafferty.
His early stuff is also JAWDROPPINGLY good.....ua-cam.com/video/KmQbUdxJEVA/v-deo.html
Without fail, when I hear "Baker Street", I flash back to a summertime visit to the Gulf Coast, the last one I would have with my family before my parents divorced and my younger brother and I would emotionally part company as siblings. Powerful song with powerful memories 4 decades later.
Similar timing to my family split
Right down the line . Greatest love song ever.
Gerry was a great artist!!! Baker Street was a jem among other greats👍👍
I really like these stories , not because of the content necessarily, because I know them. It's more because of the way you tell them. It's like a young man learning of an amazing discovery with new eyes.
I remember listening to "America's Top 40" every weekend back then and praying for this song to make it to #1. I loved hearing the story behing this song.
Me as well :(
Such a truly brilliant song in every way. Even the guitar solo at the end is is never mentioned anywhere and it’s just awesome.
I bought 'CITY to CITY' in 78'. I loved every song-which resegnated w/my feelings, actual events/I dealt w/1st boyfriend,everything first! Always loved the lyrics.But the music always took me to places that were so gratifying-at 18 years old!!Total LUV!!!
This is a classic, the musicianship is off the charts. This song is about self delusion. Keep telling yourself that everything is ok. The final line hits hard because that is what you have to tell yourself to go on, to perform. You must sing that tune to go one day after day.
I come from and still work in Paisley, Gerry Rafferty’s home town. Night Owl was the first album I ever bought for my father. Gerry Rafferty was truly a local hero, he lived around the corner from me during this time. Thanks for this review, I guess everyone has a local creative hero, he is mine. His descent in alcoholism is narrated through his songs such as this and Night Owl. It is also a scourge of our society here. The creativity shines through though and Rafferty distilled all his folk, pop, blues and rock influences into a perfect song writing style that is timeless, hence your moving tribute.
awesome!
Gerry Rafferty was a perfectly eccentric and detached singer/ songwriter...
On par with legends like Zevon and Nilsson.
Just awesome.💪👍🎸
Great comps. Couldn’t agree more.
Definitely!
@@ProfessorofRock Would love a Zevon profile!
I was just thinking recently of how many great songs from the 80s had sax solos, and missing it. Duran Duran's Rio, Spandau Ballet's True, INXS's Never Tear Us Apart, Huey Lewis's Heart of Rock & Roll, Tears For Fears' The Working Hour, Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark, Hall and Oates' Maneater. Most of these bands had a sax player in their normal repertoire.
We need to bring back the sax.
Heat is on by Glenn Frey too
Kudos for mentioning The Working Hour.
Stay now , Hazel Oconnor that sax solo at the end is one of the sexiest solos i've ever heard
Candy by Cameo is another song with awesome sax work.
@@delian1671 you belong to the city is another by Glenn Frey
Simply the greatest song ever written. Gets to me every time.......every emotion is touched.
Incredible songwriter but not enough is said about his amazing vocal tone. That's what drew me in, his phrasing was always so cool and effortless. You can't imagine anyone else singing his songs. Keep up the great work you do.
That is trulu right.