This is one of the most well written and crafted songs I have ever heard in my (some where) around 1000 Years of listening to music as a Song Composer, Musician, and Singer! I'm JEALOUS! Great Job GERRY!!!🎼🎸
The Sax IS the chorus. No words for that. Iconic. ...and that smoldering guitar solo at the end. Great song. "Right Down The Line" is your next Rafferty song.
This song and Gerry had a massive impact back then. Right Down the Line, Night Owl and this get under you skin and erupt as goosebumps for the rest of your life. Thank you, Heidi and Chas. I missed this when I voted, but so glad this won!
Gerry's voice is great and it's great throughout so many songs. His catalog is extensive and it all deserves a listen. Go down this rabbit hole. So worth it.
Most iconic song of 1978, and the soundtrack to some of the best things to occur in my 16th year: first time driving alone with my new license, first car date, first make out session, and first job working as a prep cook. And all the while this song in the background playing on the radio.
The actual Baler Street, north-south in London is where the fictional Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson had their lodging. There is a plaque where Holmes was supposed to have been, yet no actual 221 Baker St. exists. Almost across Baker is where The Beatles had a boutique shop in 1968, Apple. Around the corner is Madame Teusaud's Wax Museum. And Regent's Park up the block, This tune is so groovy and epic!
1978. When we were young lads & lasses in old Hobart town (down here in Tasmania) there was a local cover band that played the pubs & clubs, that could play this song to perfection. The sax player was studying at the local school of music during the day.
I must have heard this tune there times a night out drinking with my friends in the summer of ‘78 and still I’m not tired of hearing it. Vocals are perfect, and of course the sad riff is massive. Great pick, Lee!
Along with Right Down The Line (one of the absolute greatest love songs of all time), one of those song you’ll never forget the words and music for the rest of your life.
I had just got my 1974 Firebird Formula in 1979 used and remember driving around that summer and hearing this song non stop on the FM radio ...brings me right back to lazy summer days in my late teens
Brilliant song and a great choice for L33 reacts. Gerry Rafferty lived a few miles from me in the beautiful village of Hartfield, East Sussex in the Ashdown Forest, which is setting for the Winnie the Pooh stories wrtitten by A A. Milne who also lived in Hartfield at Cotchford Farm until his death in 1956. Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones went on to own Cotchord Farm and drowned in the swimming pool at the property on 03 July 1969. So, as a link to this great track, could you please react to Paint It, Black by The Rolling Stones, which prominently features Brian Jones on the sitar.
Right down the line was another hit that just fit the times. Check it out ‘cause I see others have mentioned it. Keep going Lee! Music keeps us all young and alive.
Thanks for picking this Lee! (I knew you'd like it!) Sorry I got to the party late on thus one but I love your channel! The best to you and your crew always❤
I relatively simple and repetitive song, and yet I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t like it. Not the best song for a review channel, but just awesome on a jukebox, in a bar, with a pool table. I must have heard this song 500 times, and it never gets old.
I was today old when I found out this is the same saxophone player as Careless Whisper by George Michael. His playing was just as iconic 6 years later :-)
Dude… you’ve just listened to one of the biggest hits not to contain a chorus! There’s a verse and a bridge… but the sax supplants any chorus we might have expected there - and perhaps that’s what makes it so iconic for us who had it. I mean this album was huge - everybody had City to City - and the next song off this should be Right Down the Line… another great song, which had a great chorus!
Excellent pick❤ I used to really relate to this song when I was deep in the throws of addiction and alcohol abuse especially the hopelessness, bleak and dark view I had of the world while in it's clutches. Sober now today I still can empathize with its feelings and emotions expressed as they are still valid and remind me of a place i dont want to go back to at any cost today.
The lyrics reflect a multi-year legal battle for Gerry w/ record label preventing him from releasing new solo work. Law offices on Baker Street London. He'd have to take the train from Scotland and spend long days and nights fighting the good fight (and ultimately failed). 'City to City' was his first release w/ new company. Give a solemn listen to 'Whatever's Written in Your Heart' the closing track on city. still gives me the feels after nearly 50 years.
This song hits on all cylinders & was ground breaking at it's time with the sax lead in contemporary music just wasn't done - It had fans who liked all different types of music
Henry Spinetti actually plays the drums on the album, but the video shows Liam Genockey, who played on Gerry Rafferty's next three albums (Night Owl, Snakes and Ladders, Sleepwalking) as well as the posthumous Rest in Blue.
L33, Disco was coming to an end in the late seventies. Donna Summer produced her last great hits in '79 with such memorable gems as, ' On the Radio', Last Dance' and 'Love to Love You'. Although definitely not disco, 'Baker Street' lit up the airwaves almost none stop in '78. I was the summer school administrator for a large public school district in Maryland. The anchor school for the program was a large junior/senior high school where I taught throughout the regular school year. Command Central was a big office with a public address system that could be heard only in the office, or throughout the entire building. The secretaries wanted the radio to play softly while they worked, so we set up the system to do just that for. the two and a half months I was on duty. There were 500 students taking classes that year, and things were generally quiet. One day I was making some adjustment on the control panel of the PA system, and accidentally flipped it over from private mode to public. Those damned saxophones went blaring through every classroom and throughout the hallways until I could get it turned around, which seemed like forever. On their way out of classes that day, both students and teachers seemed to have a comment to throw my way. One particularly agitated English teacher of the spinster variety glared at me and remarked: " Thank you for the concert, Mr. ______, I was giving a final exam today! ", and stalked away.
As I am sure that others will say....you also need to check out Mr Rafferty's "Get It Right Next Time" and the excellent "Stuck In The Middle With You" which he performed with his previous band Stealer's Wheel.
I NEVER tire of this song....ive been jamming to this song for 46 years. The Saxophone 🎷 is so damn tasty in this & then that riff ,Hello...Fan-Freaking-Tastic
my roots, dude… Scotsman Gerry (yes, it’s a soft G) Rafferty. lyrics that touch me to the depths of my soul every time. thanks for this. there are different ways to “forget about everything”. in case anyone’s curious, to get to the Royal Academy of Music in London, get off at the Baker St tube stop.
Quite interesting how there's singing only in the verses and it's the saxophone providing the hook in the choruses 😀 And I'd thought this was older than '79!? I remember hearing a band practicing this song over and over again one Summer afternoon and somewhere in my neighbourhood as a 9-year-old 😊
Listen to this a couple of times to fully comprehend the lyrics. I've come to the conclusion that he was telling the story of his own life. About his life and struggles. An interesting fact about the saxophone player, a session musician brought in after several failed attempts to get the right player. Ravenscroft was paid £27 for the session. The song has earned Rafferty (and now his estate) about £80,000 in royalties each year. R.I.P Gerry.
The story is that the chorus of the song didn't have any words to it, and eventually Rafferty decided to make it an instrumental break instead. He originally demo'd the song with a wah-wah guitar playing the instrumental chorus, but then decided on using a saxophone instead, which of course was played by Raphael Ravenscroft. Many years later, there were rumours that Ravenscroft had created the solo and hadn't been paid proper royalties for it. That led to the demo of the song being included in the re-release of the City To City album, to demonstrate that Rafferty had composed the sax riff, not Ravenscroft.
Gerry Rafferty, Al Stewart, Steely Dan, Cristopher Cross, Little River Band, etc. Music for grown-ups! LOL We used to call it Adult Contempory. The 70's. So diverse.
The guitar solo always puts me in mind of "No Mean City" by Maggie Bell (well worth a listen). Those in the UK would probably recognise it as the theme from Taggart.
I know this song well because I was on a cross-state road trip when it hit the airwaves. My older brother was managing a video arcade, I was a senior in high school and we were traveling around looking at other arcades seeking ideas for improving his. The car only had an AM radio and I must have heard Baker Street played a dozen times in a 24 hour period. Whenever it plays now I am immediately taken back to that day 46 years ago.
Love your reactions. Great songs stand the test of time. Remember being introduced to this song back in 7th grade by my music teacher, I’m 59! Still remember his plaid bell bottom pants too 😂
If you were to teleport back to the summer of 1978, you’d here this song playing everywhere!
I wish I was there, my friend.
this song crossed all boundaries in musical terms, everyone at this time loved it
Gerry is the guy who wrote and sang Stuck in the Middle With You when he was the lead man in Steeler’s Wheel.
This is one of the most well written and crafted songs I have ever heard in my (some where) around 1000 Years of listening to music as a Song Composer, Musician, and Singer! I'm JEALOUS! Great Job GERRY!!!🎼🎸
Baker Street is of course where Sherlock Holmes lived. This is one of my all time favourite songs. Great choice.
Elementary, my dear Watson
The Sax IS the chorus. No words for that. Iconic. ...and that smoldering guitar solo at the end. Great song. "Right Down The Line" is your next Rafferty song.
Yes please!
Hugh Burns guitar solo is epic and perfect for this fantastic song.
I love this song, always did & always will.👍👏👏👏🩵🎉🩵
one of the most iconic saxaphone riffs ever devised.
THE!
That shit hit hard every time it came in lol best part of the song honestly!
@@L33Reacts precisely
Gerry Rafferty - Right Down the Line
Gerry also sang lead vocals on his band Steelers Wheel's hit Stuck In The Middle With You.
"Right down the line", is the other hit from this album. He vocalizes the word "Woman", in the most unique way ever.
One of the greatest pop singles of the late 1970's and one of the very few that even though you heard it constantly, you didn't get sick of it.
This song and Gerry had a massive impact back then. Right Down the Line, Night Owl and this get under you skin and erupt as goosebumps for the rest of your life. Thank you, Heidi and Chas. I missed this when I voted, but so glad this won!
Hi Snoopy! I’m glad you enjoyed it! It’s evocative…
I’ll have to check out Right Down the Line and Night Owl now!
This track was EVERYWHERE in 1978!!!
Such a good video❤❤ you are so good at this 😊
The sax work is great, but the big thing for me has always been that brief screaming guitar solo, cutting through the warm layers of the song.
Hugh Burns tone is superb.
This song is pure magic❤❤❤
Gerry's voice is great and it's great throughout so many songs. His catalog is extensive and it all deserves a listen. Go down this rabbit hole. So worth it.
Most iconic song of 1978, and the soundtrack to some of the best things to occur in my 16th year: first time driving alone with my new license, first car date, first make out session, and first job working as a prep cook. And all the while this song in the background playing on the radio.
The actual Baler Street, north-south in London is where the fictional Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson had their lodging. There is a plaque where Holmes was supposed to have been, yet no actual 221 Baker St. exists. Almost across Baker is where The Beatles had a boutique shop in 1968, Apple. Around the corner is Madame Teusaud's Wax Museum. And Regent's Park up the block, This tune is so groovy and epic!
Wasn't he in Steeler's (or is it Stealer's) Wheel? Stuck in The Middle With You? Thanks Lee, good song.
Yes!! Stuck in the Middle With You is best known for the torture scene in Reservoir Dogs.
Stealers Wheel, yep! Pretty much his band.
Yes he was.
Love this song, but love "Right Down The Line" even better. It's a beautiful love song that he had written for his wife.
Love the sax In this song.
I’m in the minority, but I really like right down the line over Baker Street by him.
Thanks, Heidi And Chas B! :)
Yes ... Right Down The Line is a beautul, happy love song.
@@corawheeler9355 Yacht rock is not generally my thing, but I like Gerry Rafferty's songs (that I've heard)! :)
1978. When we were young lads & lasses in old Hobart town (down here in Tasmania) there was a local cover band that played the pubs & clubs, that could play this song to perfection. The sax player was studying at the local school of music during the day.
I must have heard this tune there times a night out drinking with my friends in the summer of ‘78 and still I’m not tired of hearing it. Vocals are perfect, and of course the sad riff is massive. Great pick, Lee!
Correct Lee. You could be walking down any main city street in the World like New York, London, Paris and this song immediately enters your head.
Brings me back to my childhood. Huge song played on the radio a lot
Along with Right Down The Line (one of the absolute greatest love songs of all time), one of those song you’ll never forget the words and music for the rest of your life.
Great song, yes that sax is iconic as hell. Thanks Heidi and Chas B. Honestly, it never gets old hearing this song.
You're welcome and of course you're correct sir! 😊
You’re welcome Barry. Yes, that sax creates such a feeling…
This was massive back in the day.....played everywhere....Great song.
This is one of my all time favorite songs. I never get tired of hearing it. I could play this over and over. I feel it.
The sax riff is, of course, iconic. But nobody seems to mention the guitar break which, in my view, is stunning too.
SUCH a GREAT SONG!! THANKS, LEE!!! ENJOY!
A bona fide immortal classic. Beautifully arranged and produced; there’s so much going on in there.
1978-my last year at highschool. I loved this song then, and still do now.
It's hard to imagine not having that song in the back of your head. For four decades. But now you have it too. :)
I had just got my 1974 Firebird Formula in 1979 used and remember driving around that summer and hearing this song non stop on the FM radio ...brings me right back to lazy summer days in my late teens
Brilliant song and a great choice for L33 reacts. Gerry Rafferty lived a few miles from me in the beautiful village of Hartfield, East Sussex in the Ashdown Forest, which is setting for the Winnie the Pooh stories wrtitten by A A. Milne who also lived in Hartfield at Cotchford Farm until his death in 1956. Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones went on to own Cotchord Farm and drowned in the swimming pool at the property on 03 July 1969. So, as a link to this great track, could you please react to Paint It, Black by The Rolling Stones, which prominently features Brian Jones on the sitar.
Your community has excellent taste in music. So many iconic tunes. You’re blessed. 💜🇦🇺
If you like the sax you should do You Belong To The City by Glen Frye
Right Down The Line.
This song is magic- any time I hear it my day is instantly improved. The production and arrangement is just gorgeous.
The song that keeps on giving. Vocals, Sax and Guitar. City to city is class all the way through. Well worth a dive Lee...
Right down the line was another hit that just fit the times. Check it out ‘cause I see others have mentioned it. Keep going Lee! Music keeps us all young and alive.
Great Reaction L33. I haven't grown tired of this song. It got heavy airplay on our local AOR station
One of my fav albums. Love this song ❤
Just a fantastic song, I love it! Thanks! ✌️❤️🤟🥁
Thanks for picking this Lee! (I knew you'd like it!) Sorry I got to the party late on thus one but I love your channel! The best to you and your crew always❤
Baker Street came out in 1978. I remember I was in grade school and hearing it on the radio constantly. That wasn’t a bad thing.
One of those songs like "Do It Again" and "Sultans of Swing" that I've heard a million times but am always up for another listen to.
Brilliant artist
Another great Gerry Rafferty song with tasty sax: Get It Right Next Time
Yes! And amazing energy.
Another great product of.....................
SCOTLAND!!!
Good job, Lee, for your concept! ⚡️
Thank you for the listen!
This was a very popular song ... on the radio a lot. Of course, Baker Street was where Tull had their 'Muse' lol
Always on my Playlist both for the sax riff and guitar solo.
another 70s classic
I relatively simple and repetitive song, and yet I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t like it. Not the best song for a review channel, but just awesome on a jukebox, in a bar, with a pool table. I must have heard this song 500 times, and it never gets old.
I was today old when I found out this is the same saxophone player as Careless Whisper by George Michael. His playing was just as iconic 6 years later :-)
This was a super hits! I love Gerry Rafferty. He was a fantastic songwriter.
Yes indeed !
Dude… you’ve just listened to one of the biggest hits not to contain a chorus!
There’s a verse and a bridge… but the sax supplants any chorus we might have expected there - and perhaps that’s what makes it so iconic for us who had it. I mean this album was huge - everybody had City to City - and the next song off this should be Right Down the Line… another great song, which had a great chorus!
Great tune, it made a big splash when it came out.
Home And Dry, Right Down the Line, Days Gone Down, Get It Right Next Time, and The Night Owl were all hits from Gerry. Island has more of the sax.
Excellent pick❤ I used to really relate to this song when I was deep in the throws of addiction and alcohol abuse especially the hopelessness, bleak and dark view I had of the world while in it's clutches. Sober now today I still can empathize with its feelings and emotions expressed as they are still valid and remind me of a place i dont want to go back to at any cost today.
Bought all his stuff he was brilliant
The lyrics reflect a multi-year legal battle for Gerry w/ record label preventing him from releasing new solo work. Law offices on Baker Street London. He'd have to take the train from Scotland and spend long days and nights fighting the good fight (and ultimately failed). 'City to City' was his first release w/ new company. Give a solemn listen to 'Whatever's Written in Your Heart' the closing track on city. still gives me the feels after nearly 50 years.
This song hits on all cylinders & was ground breaking at it's time with the sax lead in contemporary music just wasn't done - It had fans who liked all different types of music
Gerry Gerry Gerry!!! Prolific artist and songwriter and so underrated. Love love love his music!!! RIP
Gerry was previously in a band called The Humblebums and then with Stealers Wheel both worth checking out. Keep Reacting!
Trust in GenX to bring you the best music from the '70s & '80s. It's the soundtrack of our youth and young adulthood.
i'm happy !
I know the sax is the star of this song, but that guitar solo is great.
This city desert
makes you feel so cold
it's got so many people
but it's got no soul...
top notch
Awesome song!
Henry Spinetti actually plays the drums on the album, but the video shows Liam Genockey, who played on Gerry Rafferty's next three albums (Night Owl, Snakes and Ladders, Sleepwalking) as well as the posthumous Rest in Blue.
That guitar solo was one of my favorite sounds coming out of the radio as a child. I’d always be happy when that song was on the dial! ❤
GERRY RAFFERTY - " Right Down The Line " and " Get It Right Next Time " 70s GROOVIN' ROCK CLASSICS you'll also like these 2 🎸🎹💯🔥
"The Ark" by Gerry Rafferty is an obscure, but extremely lush and beautiful number.
One of those great Sax tunes, the whole tune is good enough, but that Sax & the screaming guitar just makes it special.
L33, Disco was coming to an end in the late seventies. Donna Summer produced her last great hits in '79 with such memorable gems as, ' On the Radio', Last Dance' and 'Love to Love You'. Although definitely not disco, 'Baker Street' lit up the airwaves almost none stop in '78. I was the summer school administrator for a large public school district in Maryland. The anchor school for the program was a large junior/senior high school where I taught throughout the regular school year. Command Central was a big office with a public address system that could be heard only in the office, or throughout the entire building. The secretaries wanted the radio to play softly while they worked, so we set up the system to do just that for. the two and a half months I was on duty. There were 500 students taking classes that year, and things were generally quiet. One day I was making some adjustment on the control panel of the PA system, and accidentally flipped it over from private mode to public. Those damned saxophones went blaring through every classroom and throughout the hallways until I could get it turned around, which seemed like forever. On their way out of classes that day, both students and teachers seemed to have a comment to throw my way. One particularly agitated English teacher of the spinster variety glared at me and remarked: " Thank you for the concert, Mr. ______, I was giving a final exam today! ", and stalked away.
Not played this album in donkeys years, I'm going to dig it out right now and give it a spin for old times!!😂🇬🇧🇬🇧
The whole album is pretty good. Give it a listen.
Low Key, "Wake n Bake Masterpiece"
🎸🎵🎷 🤫😉😎👏✌️
As I am sure that others will say....you also need to check out Mr Rafferty's "Get It Right Next Time" and the excellent "Stuck In The Middle With You" which he performed with his previous band Stealer's Wheel.
"Get It Right Next Time" from Gerry’s next album. Highly recommend it for its energy, message, and some more killer sax.
I NEVER tire of this song....ive been jamming to this song for 46 years. The Saxophone 🎷 is so damn tasty in this & then that riff ,Hello...Fan-Freaking-Tastic
my roots, dude… Scotsman Gerry (yes, it’s a soft G) Rafferty. lyrics that touch me to the depths of my soul every time. thanks for this. there are different ways to “forget about everything”. in case anyone’s curious, to get to the Royal Academy of Music in London, get off at the Baker St tube stop.
Quite interesting how there's singing only in the verses and it's the saxophone providing the hook in the choruses 😀
And I'd thought this was older than '79!?
I remember hearing a band practicing this song over and over again one Summer afternoon and somewhere in my neighbourhood as a 9-year-old 😊
Listen to this a couple of times to fully comprehend the lyrics. I've come to the conclusion that he was telling the story of his own life. About his life and struggles.
An interesting fact about the saxophone player, a session musician brought in after several failed attempts to get the right player. Ravenscroft was paid £27 for the session. The song has earned Rafferty (and now his estate) about £80,000 in royalties each year. R.I.P Gerry.
This always takes me back to the seventies!
Baker Street is in the westminister section of London England. this was a great pick!
The story is that the chorus of the song didn't have any words to it, and eventually Rafferty decided to make it an instrumental break instead. He originally demo'd the song with a wah-wah guitar playing the instrumental chorus, but then decided on using a saxophone instead, which of course was played by Raphael Ravenscroft. Many years later, there were rumours that Ravenscroft had created the solo and hadn't been paid proper royalties for it. That led to the demo of the song being included in the re-release of the City To City album, to demonstrate that Rafferty had composed the sax riff, not Ravenscroft.
No drum compression, extended instrumental intro and outro: the 70's!!
Good job on this one and yes you pronounced it right.
Gerry Rafferty, Al Stewart, Steely Dan, Cristopher Cross, Little River Band, etc. Music for grown-ups! LOL We used to call it Adult Contempory. The 70's. So diverse.
He was also the lead singer of Steelers Wheel
The guitar solo always puts me in mind of "No Mean City" by Maggie Bell (well worth a listen). Those in the UK would probably recognise it as the theme from Taggart.
I know this song well because I was on a cross-state road trip when it hit the airwaves. My older brother was managing a video arcade, I was a senior in high school and we were traveling around looking at other arcades seeking ideas for improving his. The car only had an AM radio and I must have heard Baker Street played a dozen times in a 24 hour period. Whenever it plays now I am immediately taken back to that day 46 years ago.
Love your reactions. Great songs stand the test of time. Remember being introduced to this song back in 7th grade by my music teacher, I’m 59! Still remember his plaid bell bottom pants too 😂