Story of Soft Rock 70s Hit Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty | #1 in our hearts | Professor of Rock

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  • Опубліковано 23 лис 2024

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  • @mbgrafix
    @mbgrafix 4 роки тому +286

    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
      @pg1171 4 роки тому +18

      OMG! Yes! Alan Parsons Project was another piece of perfection! Can't get his songs out of my head!

    • @l.t.w8985
      @l.t.w8985 4 роки тому +13

      Yes yes Alan Parsons Project absolutely. Any song for me will do. He is a genius in so many ways.

    • @carolincas
      @carolincas 4 роки тому +10

      @@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.

    • @mbgrafix
      @mbgrafix 4 роки тому +9

      @@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._*

    • @ProfessorofRock
      @ProfessorofRock  4 роки тому +19

      Did you see our video with Alan Parsons from a few weeks ago?

  • @jeffcohen9616
    @jeffcohen9616 4 роки тому +411

    Gerry Rafferty is a criminally underrated musical genius.

    • @alexanderhamilton8585
      @alexanderhamilton8585 4 роки тому +1

      YEP!

    • @alexanderhamilton8585
      @alexanderhamilton8585 4 роки тому +4

      City to City, Track 9: ISLAND Just ONE example.

    • @gregwinter8503
      @gregwinter8503 4 роки тому

      You are correct!

    • @ilovegoodsax
      @ilovegoodsax 4 роки тому +1

      Ummm..that would be "was" underrated.

    • @jakesnake66
      @jakesnake66 4 роки тому +4

      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?"

  • @lisaheisey6168
    @lisaheisey6168 4 роки тому +396

    Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street and his song Right Down The Line are 2 songs, that I can never get enough of.

    • @simonsayscain
      @simonsayscain 4 роки тому +5

      Lisa Heisey You got that right, Sister. Both songs are cemented into my psyche

    • @Trenchbroom
      @Trenchbroom 4 роки тому +14

      Get It Right Next Time was another modest hit for Mr. Rafferty, great song too if you are unfamiliar with it.

    • @andym28
      @andym28 4 роки тому +1

      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.

    • @67marlins81
      @67marlins81 4 роки тому +1

      You have great taste in music, Lisa.

    • @cageycretins8710
      @cageycretins8710 4 роки тому +5

      Home and Dry is fantastic too!

  • @jonsingle1614
    @jonsingle1614 3 роки тому +144

    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 😉

    • @michaelnash2138
      @michaelnash2138 2 роки тому +4

      Sign me up, pal!

    • @jonsingle1614
      @jonsingle1614 2 роки тому +4

      @@michaelnash2138 all aboard !!

    • @GROOVYJOJO
      @GROOVYJOJO 2 роки тому +3

      Me!!!

    • @bomat761
      @bomat761 2 роки тому +4

      I am there already, what’s keeping you all?

    • @magnusdude61
      @magnusdude61 Рік тому +5

      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

  • @lamann2437
    @lamann2437 Рік тому +22

    2023 and this song still gives me chills like it did at age 17. RIP Gerry Rafferty, a true musical genius. ❤

    • @bencollins1980
      @bencollins1980 7 місяців тому +1

      "Baker Street" is very intimidating music. A song full of fear and pain. Especially fear.

  • @krisgreenwood5173
    @krisgreenwood5173 Рік тому +9

    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.

  • @stu8506
    @stu8506 4 роки тому +95

    Baker Street is one of the all time best songs for me. A masterpiece.

    • @EazyT8439
      @EazyT8439 3 роки тому +1

      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

    • @alondathomas293
      @alondathomas293 2 роки тому +1

      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.

  • @jamesschuck1210
    @jamesschuck1210 Рік тому +19

    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.

    • @Romiman1
      @Romiman1 24 дні тому

      Maybe "Year of the cat" by Al Stewart.
      Not by singing, but by overall composition and instrumentation.

  • @tombohley3265
    @tombohley3265 4 роки тому +209

    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.

    • @studio-flash
      @studio-flash 4 роки тому +6

      It was huge.

    • @jerryjazzbo2845
      @jerryjazzbo2845 4 роки тому +2

      It's staying power says a lot for this song.

    • @christophermirkovich7290
      @christophermirkovich7290 4 роки тому +3

      The opening is like a spiritual awaking

    • @jaustill237
      @jaustill237 3 роки тому +4

      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.

    • @alanyates5088
      @alanyates5088 3 роки тому +1

      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.

  • @dtpugliese318
    @dtpugliese318 3 роки тому +36

    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.

    • @altbinhax
      @altbinhax Рік тому +1

      Great comment, your observations are spot on.

    • @Kt33373
      @Kt33373 4 місяці тому

      Right Down the Line is one of my favourites after Baker Street ❤

  • @SajjadShah-ku5nj
    @SajjadShah-ku5nj 10 місяців тому +1

    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!

  • @brentrichards4191
    @brentrichards4191 4 роки тому +226

    Another big guitar solo from Gerry, "Right Down the Line".

    • @gbaker9295
      @gbaker9295 4 роки тому +5

      That is a pop masterpiece

    • @regaltip8A
      @regaltip8A 4 роки тому +4

      Its actually BJ Cole one of the greatest pedal steel players of all time

    • @simonsayscain
      @simonsayscain 4 роки тому

      Brent Richards Amen to that...

    • @jasonkesser
      @jasonkesser 4 роки тому +2

      That song is why I love Gerry.

    • @Sugarsugar-24
      @Sugarsugar-24 4 роки тому +8

      The entire album is terrific. Love Right down the line!

  • @tombaldwin1700
    @tombaldwin1700 4 роки тому +59

    “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.

  • @Witchywop
    @Witchywop 4 роки тому +76

    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 ❤

  • @SusanBame
    @SusanBame 2 роки тому +7

    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.

  • @whutzat
    @whutzat Рік тому +8

    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.

  • @mbgrafix
    @mbgrafix 4 роки тому +133

    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!_

    • @Jint27
      @Jint27 4 роки тому +7

      Gerry from Paisley and Al from Greenock - about 15 to 20 miles apart in the west of Scotland. Both masterpieces.

    • @manxuberglider8
      @manxuberglider8 4 роки тому +1

      Me too! I was 6 and 8 tho. Teenage sisters, so I was “around” then.

    • @mbgrafix
      @mbgrafix 4 роки тому +2

      @@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!

    • @joeseeking3572
      @joeseeking3572 4 роки тому +3

      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.

    • @Fuzcapp
      @Fuzcapp 4 роки тому

      Yeah - me too.

  • @TheHergeea
    @TheHergeea 3 роки тому +10

    Gerry’s music never ceases to get stale- it’s quite amazing

    • @eileenworth7862
      @eileenworth7862 2 роки тому +1

      You mean it never gets stale, don't you?

  • @troidva
    @troidva 3 роки тому +12

    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.

  • @maribelrios8652
    @maribelrios8652 4 дні тому

    Just one more year and then you'll be happy. That line impressed me when I was a child and still does today. We spend our lives waiting to be happy instead of enjoying the moment. Thanks, Gerry.

  • @andrewcarpenter3991
    @andrewcarpenter3991 Рік тому +1

    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

  • @NickFrom1228
    @NickFrom1228 Рік тому +11

    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.

    • @elmerfudd9677
      @elmerfudd9677 9 місяців тому +1

      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.

  • @leslielutz1874
    @leslielutz1874 4 роки тому +41

    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.

  • @riconui5227
    @riconui5227 Рік тому +3

    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.

  • @andymansgamingchannel3356
    @andymansgamingchannel3356 4 роки тому +1

    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.

  • @Sungodv
    @Sungodv 4 роки тому

    I was 18 when it came out....loved it then and still do....You're right, the guitar solo is phenomenal

  • @Kt33373
    @Kt33373 4 місяці тому +4

    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 ❤️

    • @ktcarl
      @ktcarl Місяць тому

      I'm here too!

  • @greengoog22
    @greengoog22 4 роки тому +111

    Right down the line is my personal favorite!

    • @tchrisou812
      @tchrisou812 4 роки тому +7

      it's been you, wumaan

    • @stevelangenkamp4513
      @stevelangenkamp4513 4 роки тому +2

      Awesome song! Despite the word "through" sounding like "shrew" each time it occurs. (I wonder what's the story behind that?)

    • @samhajudge3422
      @samhajudge3422 4 роки тому +3

      Baker street is a smarter and powerful song. Right down the line it's different but beautiful song too.

    • @ianashby1449
      @ianashby1449 4 роки тому

      Rick and morty

    • @ianashby1449
      @ianashby1449 4 роки тому +1

      Also an awesome song

  • @nolan5881
    @nolan5881 4 роки тому +103

    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 😅

    • @lwaves
      @lwaves 4 роки тому +10

      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.

    • @sleinadb
      @sleinadb 4 роки тому +4

      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.

    • @Sugarsugar-24
      @Sugarsugar-24 4 роки тому +9

      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.

    • @crusheverything4449
      @crusheverything4449 4 роки тому +2

      Sugar Sheila - I have similar memories of that song and that time. Thanks for evoking them!

    • @AnuGunn
      @AnuGunn 4 роки тому

      My 3 year old loves this song.

  • @drwatsonca6945
    @drwatsonca6945 4 роки тому

    Baker Street is one of my favourite songs and Rafferty is great as well. I can listen to him sing for hours.

  • @marcusludwig5
    @marcusludwig5 3 роки тому

    This is . my favorite song when I hear it. Thank you Gerry R. Baker Street

  • @jomai8905
    @jomai8905 6 місяців тому +4

    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.

  • @erikjohnson3255
    @erikjohnson3255 4 роки тому +39

    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.

  • @EricHenning
    @EricHenning 3 роки тому +26

    “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.

    • @martinsorenson1055
      @martinsorenson1055 3 роки тому

      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....

  • @Defmusicman1
    @Defmusicman1 Рік тому +1

    Loved Baker Street. Fell in love with that sax but the blistering guitar solo blew me away!

  • @kahrlenhenryck56
    @kahrlenhenryck56 3 місяці тому +1

    I was in Auckland, New Zealand in '78, running away from a father who didn't care if I lived or died. I went to the ice skating rink in Glen Innes and heard "Baker Street" for the first time. It gave me hope, where I had none. I may be nobody, nothing and nowhere, yet it made me feel alive and I'll always be glad to hear it just one more time.

  • @magnusdude61
    @magnusdude61 3 роки тому +8

    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.

  • @kelleysutherland5391
    @kelleysutherland5391 4 роки тому +33

    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!✌

  • @ronricherson6685
    @ronricherson6685 4 роки тому +47

    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.

    • @jakesnake66
      @jakesnake66 4 роки тому

      It lifted you "to another plane?" What does that mean?

    • @ronricherson6685
      @ronricherson6685 4 роки тому +2

      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.

    • @4Youalone3
      @4Youalone3 3 роки тому

      @@ronricherson6685 Are you a prfessional writer? If not you should be. What an answer!

    • @ronricherson6685
      @ronricherson6685 3 роки тому +1

      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.

    • @RichWhiteUM
      @RichWhiteUM 3 роки тому

      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.

  • @MainEventPoint
    @MainEventPoint 2 роки тому

    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...

  • @stevenduvall2549
    @stevenduvall2549 4 роки тому

    I love Baker Street. Takes me back to my youth and soft rock radio.

  • @drbassface
    @drbassface 3 роки тому +22

    Whatever’s written in your heart is a brilliant Rafferty Recording as well.

    • @davereardon2154
      @davereardon2154 3 роки тому +1

      Yes, one of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching breakup songs ever. It described one of mine perfectly.

    • @kentrichardson9070
      @kentrichardson9070 3 роки тому

      Big love for this one.

    • @glenryan6569
      @glenryan6569 3 роки тому +2

      City to city is a masterpiece

    • @barrieainge4937
      @barrieainge4937 3 роки тому +2

      City to City is a great album, there isn't a bad track on it.

  • @aarrkellz3766
    @aarrkellz3766 4 роки тому +43

    "Right down the line" off that City to City is FIRE

    • @ChadHargis
      @ChadHargis 4 роки тому

      Absolutely! Can’t mention Gerry without Right Down the Line.

    • @utubberize
      @utubberize 4 роки тому

      that TITLE of that song was my tribute to my Mom....it was you woman...right down the line.

  • @diderichlangmannen
    @diderichlangmannen 3 роки тому +18

    "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.

  • @derekdavies1734
    @derekdavies1734 3 місяці тому

    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 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

  • @chaddelk3605
    @chaddelk3605 3 роки тому

    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.

  • @josephglissom3135
    @josephglissom3135 4 роки тому +9

    That sax solo at the end has always given me an unbridled sense of joy!!

  • @ronsmith5573
    @ronsmith5573 4 роки тому +8

    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.

  • @megalopolis2015
    @megalopolis2015 4 роки тому +8

    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.

  • @xuartema4067
    @xuartema4067 Рік тому

    You are so spot on in this video: YES YES YES, Baker Street is THE GREATEST SONG EVER !!!! Period. No question about it.

  • @MarkZiemba-lu8rd
    @MarkZiemba-lu8rd Рік тому

    City to City is part of my collection. Baker Street sends me back to the late 70's and my younger days ,

  • @jasonrackawack9369
    @jasonrackawack9369 4 роки тому +39

    This song always reminds me of coming home from elementary school in the 80s and watching reruns of WKRP in Cincinnati for some reason.

    • @e1ochai
      @e1ochai 4 роки тому +4

      WKRP's Thanksgiving turkey episode is fucking gold.

    • @c2itccase9
      @c2itccase9 4 роки тому +3

      One of the cool things in life...how some things trigger other things.

    • @TheEntilza
      @TheEntilza 3 роки тому +2

      I really love their theme song. Wish they had a full song version. I love Howard Hesseman on that.

    • @johnnyelectron
      @johnnyelectron 3 роки тому +3

      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.

    • @edryba4867
      @edryba4867 3 роки тому +1

      @@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.

  • @luisvelasco316
    @luisvelasco316 3 роки тому +12

    I had this as a ring tone for several years, and it would stop strangers on the street...

  • @pat5882
    @pat5882 4 роки тому +47

    “Get it right next time” his best that not many know.

    • @crusheverything4449
      @crusheverything4449 4 роки тому +1

      That’s not the main thing...

    • @wombleofwimbledon5442
      @wombleofwimbledon5442 4 роки тому +1

      Good approach to Life.

    • @edwardmorehouse1424
      @edwardmorehouse1424 4 роки тому +4

      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.

    • @michaelbaucom4019
      @michaelbaucom4019 4 роки тому +1

      Oh yes, awesome song

    • @FionaEm
      @FionaEm 4 роки тому +1

      I love this song too. It has a subtly addictive feel that builds to a crescendo and makes you want to listen again.

  • @hillbill1958
    @hillbill1958 Місяць тому

    Easily one of the top and most recognizable hits of the entire decade of the 70’s! A perfect song!

  • @JamesAllen-xk8bc
    @JamesAllen-xk8bc 9 місяців тому +1

    Baker Street is one of my favorite songs of all time.

  • @awayfromhome54
    @awayfromhome54 4 роки тому +26

    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.

    • @ogam5
      @ogam5 3 роки тому +2

      Down Two Then Left and Slow Dancer are both HIGHLY underrated Boz albums as well.....

    • @mrAThiker08
      @mrAThiker08 2 роки тому

      thank you mine to

    • @kimmarievan-ever6599
      @kimmarievan-ever6599 Рік тому +1

      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..

  • @jimmy5634
    @jimmy5634 4 роки тому +237

    How about Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat.”
    That is a masterpiece!

    • @marlonhinton2371
      @marlonhinton2371 4 роки тому +28

      Year Of The Cat and Time Passages. Both Great Songs from Al Stewart.

    • @georgeisaac9european387
      @georgeisaac9european387 4 роки тому +9

      Marlon Hinton They are great albums too.

    • @levis6945
      @levis6945 4 роки тому +3

      Hell yea I love that song I still listen to it just about every day..

    • @theDaoistBean
      @theDaoistBean 4 роки тому +12

      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!!!

    • @fredoswego
      @fredoswego 4 роки тому +1

      @@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.

  • @Adipsia1
    @Adipsia1 4 роки тому +9

    'Baker Street' and 'Right Next Time' are absolute classics... whenever I hear them on the radio they take me to a different place. Genius.

  • @AChapstickOrange
    @AChapstickOrange 6 місяців тому +2

    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.

  • @johnmorgan7262
    @johnmorgan7262 3 роки тому +2

    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.

  • @hugolopez1669
    @hugolopez1669 4 роки тому +28

    One of my top favorite 70s songs ever!

  • @joeloschiavo1237
    @joeloschiavo1237 4 роки тому +46

    The tone of the Guitar Solo is arguably one of The greatest Guitar Tones ever ranking up there with VH Brown Sound

    • @tedwojtasik8781
      @tedwojtasik8781 3 роки тому

      Without a doubt. The rock Tone Masters, Jimmy Page, Ted Nugent, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Baxter, David Gilmour, and of course Eddie Hazel.

  • @t-boog2173
    @t-boog2173 4 роки тому +25

    Bakers Street is a songwriting(& arranging) masterpiece. As a passionate songwriter myself, I wish I wrote it.

    • @bradmodd7856
      @bradmodd7856 4 роки тому

      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

  • @41corsair
    @41corsair 11 місяців тому +1

    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

  • @helciomazzuco4422
    @helciomazzuco4422 3 роки тому +1

    It was #1 in Cash Box magazine for two weeks, July 15 and July 22, 1978. Great record, great video!

  • @00gt5speed
    @00gt5speed 4 роки тому +3

    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.

  • @bobboberson2024
    @bobboberson2024 4 роки тому +71

    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.

    • @ProfessorofRock
      @ProfessorofRock  4 роки тому +3

      Thanks for the comment!

    • @408SPLKINGS
      @408SPLKINGS 4 роки тому +5

      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
      @crusheverything4449 4 роки тому +6

      gin ngo - And some, like Milli Vanilli, need good singers.

    • @408SPLKINGS
      @408SPLKINGS 4 роки тому

      @@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

    • @jackiestewart1
      @jackiestewart1 3 роки тому

      Great alternative Mad Men ending. I agree about the song. 👍

  • @tylerwhitney3443
    @tylerwhitney3443 4 роки тому +6

    "Whatever Written in your Heart" is also AMAZING.

  • @billdahl7962
    @billdahl7962 4 роки тому

    Really one of the best songs in history!

  • @IAmValefree
    @IAmValefree 4 роки тому +38

    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.

  • @jonathanmayes1603
    @jonathanmayes1603 2 роки тому +4

    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.

  • @FionaEm
    @FionaEm 4 роки тому +5

    This song is a masterpiece, pure and simple. It's my favourite song of all time. Have never gotten sick of it.

  • @scottdunn2178
    @scottdunn2178 4 роки тому

    I was a 12 year old kid living in Phoenix in 1978, so this song is in my DNA. #1 In My Heart Indeed. 🎸🎷🎤

  • @cdolan13
    @cdolan13 Рік тому

    I love this song! It came out when I was in my Junior year of High School.
    My favorite memory is, I was outside during the summer, of 1978 doing yardwork, which was one of my daily chores, and had trailed my radio out to the yard by extension cord(!) so I could listen to the radio. This song came on and, after the DJ gave a question to answer for a prize: "We all know Baker Street is most famous for Sherlock Holmes living at 221B, but, who was his housekeeper?" I called into the radio station and answered "Mrs. Hudson" and my call was broadcast over the air waves. I can't even remember what I won, but I was on the radio because of this song!
    Good video, Professor! Keep all these artists alive and do not let them become footnotes in history! There was just so much talent in those days!

  • @darylkc
    @darylkc 4 роки тому +3

    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.

  • @redwingblackbird8306
    @redwingblackbird8306 4 роки тому +6

    As a young child, I loved when this song came on the radio. Talking 4 to 6 years old.

  • @chrisbuschendorf3155
    @chrisbuschendorf3155 3 роки тому +3

    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

  • @cyncty666
    @cyncty666 Місяць тому

    I can hardly remember Shadow Dancing but Baker Street is etched in my heart forever. My high school grad year ‘78

  • @ratner111
    @ratner111 Рік тому

    Baker Street is one of my favorite 70's songs

  • @beatlemyn
    @beatlemyn 4 роки тому +4

    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!!!!

  • @thegreymonk4993
    @thegreymonk4993 4 роки тому +7

    He had a very unique sound and wrote a lot of great stuff nobody ever heard.

  • @helge666
    @helge666 4 роки тому +14

    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!

  • @mach5burke604
    @mach5burke604 4 роки тому +1

    This sing has always captivated me. There's a little 'Baker Street' in all of us...regret and optimism...so human!

  • @kevinjordan6242
    @kevinjordan6242 2 роки тому +1

    All I can say is thank you..Thank you. As a 70’s child, Thank You. He, Rafferty made all worthwhile.

  • @nickshields1011
    @nickshields1011 4 роки тому +3

    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.

  • @SinclairMacleod
    @SinclairMacleod 4 роки тому +16

    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.

    • @hugoagogo69
      @hugoagogo69 4 роки тому +1

      A stunningly beautiful song.

    • @casalaiz4413
      @casalaiz4413 3 роки тому

      Love, love that song! I can't believe that it wasn't a big hit for Gerry Rafferty.

    • @ogam5
      @ogam5 3 роки тому

      His early stuff is also JAWDROPPINGLY good.....ua-cam.com/video/KmQbUdxJEVA/v-deo.html

  • @dReAmWiELdEr
    @dReAmWiELdEr 4 роки тому +13

    Probably the most intriguing fact about this track is that the instrumental refrain takes the place of the traditional chorus. I can't think of another song that fits this untraditional formula.

  • @JHatch65
    @JHatch65 4 роки тому +1

    This song is such a mental time machine for me. It brings me back to our summers in New Jersey in the late '70's when I was 14 years old. My family moved there from California after my mom remarried until we moved back to California in 1981 when our new father left for another woman. At the time I was in love with the girl next door (literally) and would sneak out my bedroom window at night to throw pebbles up at her bedroom window until she would look down and talked to me. Eventually she would go downstairs and meet me in her backyard where I would beg for a kiss or two . That summer was filled with roller skating, movies, street hockey, BBQ's, playing ball and hide-and-seek til the sun went down, swim parties and more. Such a sweet, innocent time, filled with both joy and pain. A truly fitting song for that time in my life. Thanks You for the great music!

    • @catherinefitzpatrick9144
      @catherinefitzpatrick9144 4 роки тому

      My/our 14-year old summer was filled with the same stuff you talked about! If you excluded the
      young-love scenes you enjoyed, we were having the identical summer in the Detroit area. (And we do have our own stories about the discovery of ‘boys’ back then, but I’m not telling ‘em here!)

  • @michaelosbornesr2918
    @michaelosbornesr2918 5 місяців тому

    Gerry Rafferty is one my favorites of all time! Baker Street and Days gone down are songs I listen to almost every day.

  • @Windupchronic
    @Windupchronic 4 роки тому +27

    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.

    • @delian1671
      @delian1671 4 роки тому +3

      Heat is on by Glenn Frey too

    • @ck2d
      @ck2d 4 роки тому +1

      Kudos for mentioning The Working Hour.

    • @leeallen7491
      @leeallen7491 4 роки тому +2

      Stay now , Hazel Oconnor that sax solo at the end is one of the sexiest solos i've ever heard

    • @andthebeatgoeson69
      @andthebeatgoeson69 4 роки тому +3

      Candy by Cameo is another song with awesome sax work.

    • @andthebeatgoeson69
      @andthebeatgoeson69 4 роки тому +4

      @@delian1671 you belong to the city is another by Glenn Frey

  • @thevisionary2007
    @thevisionary2007 4 роки тому +15

    I love love love to put on some really good headphones and listen to this song while drinking!

  • @Miketar2424
    @Miketar2424 4 роки тому +9

    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.

  • @buckeyerides7104
    @buckeyerides7104 2 роки тому

    here's my favorite memory of this song. POR and I are just about the same age, so I grew up loving the song. Not long ago, I was in a deep, dark place in m life, struggling with my ptsd, depression, everything falling apart around me. One day, I got on my motorcycle, no real plan on where I was going, just going. With my playlist going in my earbuds, Baker Street came on, right as I was alone on a stretch of 2 lane highway. With his haunting but beautiful song playing, my V-twin in top gear, humming it's own beautiful tone, I felt completely at peace. For that one, single fleeting moment in time, I was transformed into a feeling I had forgotten. A feeling of pure zen, pure relaxation, pure peace and calm. Whenever I get down, I put myself back into that moment, and smile, knowing that for that piece of time, it was just me, the wind and the music.

  • @tinajimenez-spalding6804
    @tinajimenez-spalding6804 3 роки тому

    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!!!

  • @gtv6chuck
    @gtv6chuck 4 роки тому +12

    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.

  • @45rpmSINGLES
    @45rpmSINGLES 4 роки тому +10

    City to City was Gerry’s second solo album .
    His first solo album was Can I Have My Money Back

    • @shyman99
      @shyman99 4 роки тому +6

      Caught this as well, but I've given up correcting the "professor". Last time I corrected an error his response was something like, "I do my research". Research is only as good as the accuracy of resource material. And one thing about the internet is there are a ton of mistakes everywhere. The professor suffers from youth. He was too young in the 80s and not alive in the 60's and 70s's to truly know what's right & what's wrong. I offered to assist him but didn't receive a response. If I had time, I would create a channel. Not enough of us old-timers left to provide the real stories.

    • @stevespatucci6502
      @stevespatucci6502 4 роки тому +2

      shyman99 well sure that happened. Think about the size of the ego that names itself “The Professor”.

    • @jfmtech
      @jfmtech 4 роки тому

      @@stevespatucci6502 You never know who you'll come across in the comments section. Call me GBJ.

    • @makeadifference4all
      @makeadifference4all 3 роки тому +2

      "Can I Have My Money Back?" is a good, folksy, low-fi album.

  • @kenefdz
    @kenefdz 4 роки тому +18

    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.

  • @leebatt7964
    @leebatt7964 4 роки тому +2

    Rafferty’s voice is like sonic valium.

  • @pjj9491
    @pjj9491 4 роки тому +1

    im 70..
    i love music of all genres from mannnnny decades...just love talented people....This is in my top 10