Baker Street (song)

"Baker Street" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. Released as a single in 1978, it reached No. 1 in Cash Box and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100,[1] where it held its Billboard position for six weeks, behind Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing". It spent four weeks at No. 1 in Canada,[2] No. 1 in Australia[3] and South Africa, hit No. 3 in the United Kingdom,[4] and the top 10 in the Netherlands. Rafferty received the 1978 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.[5] The arrangement is known for its saxophone riff.[6]

"Baker Street"
Italian single picture sleeve
Single by Gerry Rafferty
from the album City to City
B-side"Big Change in the Weather"
Released3 February 1978 (1978-02-03)
Recorded1977
StudioChipping Norton Recording Studios, Oxfordshire, UK
GenreJazz rock, pop rock, soft rock
Length6:06 (album version)
4:10 (single version)
LabelUnited Artists
Songwriter(s)Gerry Rafferty
Producer(s)Hugh Murphy, Gerry Rafferty
Gerry Rafferty singles chronology
"City to City"
(1977)		 "Baker Street"
(1978)		 "Right Down the Line"
(1978)
Music video
"Baker Street" on YouTube
Audio sample
  • file
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In October 2010, the song was recognised by BMI for surpassing five million performances worldwide.[7] It was awarded Gold Certification on two occasions, on 1 April 1978 and 22 July 2013 by the BPI in the UK.[8]

Origins

Named after Baker Street in London, the song was included on Rafferty's second solo album, City to City (1978), which was his first release after the resolution of legal problems surrounding the break-up of his old band, Stealers Wheel, in 1975. In the intervening three years, Rafferty had been unable to release any material because of disputes about the band's remaining contractual recording obligations.[9]

Rafferty wrote the song during a period when he was trying to extricate himself from his Stealers Wheel contracts; he was regularly travelling between his family home in Paisley and London, where he often stayed at a friend's flat in Baker Street. As Rafferty put it, "everybody was suing each other, so I spent a lot of time on the overnight train from Glasgow to London for meetings with lawyers. I knew a guy who lived in a little flat off Baker Street. We'd sit and chat or play guitar there through the night."[10] Privately, Rafferty also spent a lot of time drinking, which he noted he mentions in the lyrics, "Light in your head and dead on your feet / Well, another crazy day / You'll drink the night away / And forget about everything."

The resolution of Rafferty's legal and financial frustrations accounted for the exhilaration of the song's last verse: "When you wake up it's a new morning/The sun is shining, it's a new morning/You're going, you're going home."[11] Rafferty's daughter Martha has said that the book that inspired the song more than any other was Colin Wilson's The Outsider (1956). Rafferty was reading the book, which explores ideas of alienation and of creativity, borne out of a longing to be connected, at this time of travelling between the two cities.[12]

Saxophone riff

The album City to City (1978), including "Baker Street", was co-produced by Rafferty and Hugh Murphy.[13] In addition to a searing guitar solo, played by Hugh Burns, the song featured a prominent eight-bar saxophone riff played as a break between verses, by Raphael Ravenscroft.[6][14]

Rafferty claimed that he wrote the hook with the original intention that it be sung. Ravenscroft remembered things differently, saying that he was presented with a song that contained "several gaps". "In fact, most of what I played was an old blues riff," stated Ravenscroft. "If you're asking me: 'Did Gerry hand me a piece of music to play?' then no, he didn't."[15] However, the 2011 reissue of City to City included the demo of Baker Street which included the saxophone part played on electric guitar by Rafferty. A very similar sax line, however, was originally played by saxophonist Steve Marcus for a song called "Half a Heart", credited to vibraphonist Gary Burton,[16] that appeared on Marcus' 1968 album Tomorrow Never Knows.[17]

Ravenscroft, a session musician, was in the studio to record a brief soprano saxophone part and suggested that he record the break using the alto saxophone he had in his car.[11] The part led to what became known as "the 'Baker Street' phenomenon", a resurgence in the sales of saxophones and their use in mainstream pop music and television advertising.[14]

In January 2011, radio presenter Simon Lederman revealed that Ravenscroft thought the solo was out of tune. When asked during a live radio interview on BBC Radio London, "What do you think when you hear [the sax solo] now?" Ravenscroft replied, "I'm irritated because it's out of tune; yeah it's flat; by enough of a degree that it irritates me at best", and admitted he was "gutted" when he heard it played back. He added that he had not been able to re-record the take, as he was not involved when the song was mixed.

Urban myths

According to one story, Ravenscroft received no payment for a song that earned Rafferty an income of £80,000 per annum; a cheque for £27 given to Ravenscroft bounced and was framed and hung on his solicitor's wall.[15] However, the bouncing cheque story was denied by Ravenscroft during an interview on BBC Radio 2's Simon Mayo Drivetime show on 9 February 2012.[18]

The saxophone riff was also the subject of another urban legend in the UK, created in the 1980s by British writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie.[6] As one of the spoof facts invented for the regular "Would You Believe It?" section in the NME, Maconie falsely claimed that British radio and television presenter Bob Holness had played the saxophone part on the recording.[6] Later, the claim was widely repeated.[19][20]

Personnel

Appearances in other media
  • In 1987 the song was cited by guitarist Slash as an influence on his guitar solo in "Sweet Child o' Mine".[23]
  • The song is also heard in the closing scene of "Lisa's Sax," the episode of The Simpsons which recounts how Lisa Simpson received her first saxophone. Lisa performs a brief, cruder rendition of the hook before the music segues into Rafferty's recording.[24] The song also appears in multiple other episodes.
  • Canadian rock musician AC Newman cited the song as an inspiration for his 2012 album, Shut Down the Streets.[25]
  • The song's theme was featured in the Season 2 Episode 1 "A Reunion" in Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 as James and June are walking down the street while thinking about the reunion.
  • The song is featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto V, as part of the Los Santos Rock Radio track list.[26]
  • The song's saxophone line is featured numerous times in the Rick and Morty episode "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!" (Season 1, Episode 4).
  • The saxophone line serves as the opening theme to the syndicated US radio program of financial author and motivational speaker Dave Ramsey.
  • The opening bars of the song appear at the start and the end of the TV show New Tricks Season 5 episode 6 (Magic Majestic).
  • In the Family Guy season 10 episode "Grumpy Old Man" (2011), Peter plays the song with her saxophone, in so-called "phone sax" with Lois.[27]
  • The song has been used in a number of films, including: Zodiac, Good Will Hunting, and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.
  • The song was used by Mike, voiced by Seth MacFarlane, during his street performance in the film Sing.
  • In the TV show A.P. Bio, the song is played by Tucker Albrizzi's character in the second episode as a warning signal.
  • The song is part of an audio drop whenever the character of Wesley Crusher is mentioned in The Greatest Generation podcast.
  • The song is played in Narcos Mexico, episode 2, "The Plaza System" during the party in Tijuana.
  • The song introduces the credits at the end of Billions, season 4, episode 3, "Chickentown".
  • On Mindhunter season 1, episode 6, the song is played in the background while Debbie and Ford are getting ready to go dinner at Tench's home.
  • The song features prominently on the soundtrack of the 1978 German sex comedy Summer Night Fever.

Chart performance

"Baker Street" reached No. 3 in the UK and No. 2 for six consecutive weeks in the US, kept out of the number-one spot by Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing".

A common music industry rumor claims that "Baker Street" did manage to overtake "Shadow Dancing" in one of its six weeks at the summit, with Casey Kasem recording his American Top 40 countdown placing it at the top. However, at a dinner with Gibb's managers, then-Billboard chart director Bill Wardlow was told if "Shadowing Dancing" did not remain at #1, Gibb would be pulled from the lineup of an upcoming Billboard concert. Wardlow then called the magazine to leave the song at the top, and Kasem was told to rerecord his countdown.[28]

Weekly singles charts

Covers

Undercover version
"Baker Street"
Single by Undercover
from the album Check Out the Groove
Released14 August 1992
Recorded1992
GenreDance
Length4:04
LabelPWL
Songwriter(s)Gerry Rafferty
Producer(s)Steve Mac
Undercover singles chronology
"Baker Street"
(1992)		 "Never Let Her Slip Away"
(1992)
Music video
"Baker Street" on YouTube

British dance group Undercover covered the song on their 1992 album, Check Out the Groove. This version reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-three hit in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Critical reception

Lennox Herald picked the song as a "stand out" from the album.[50] Music & Media wrote that "Gerry Rafferty's rainy days anthem is now transferred from the comfortable living room to the heat of clubland. The typical saxophone hook is on acid as well."[51] Mark Frith from Smash Hits commented, "This one's quite good actually. Transformed from a hoary old late '70s epic into a PWL rave anthem for the '90s, Baker Street has tootling sax, great vocals and is probably the most unusual record turned into a rave tune ever."[52]

Music video

A music video was made to accompany the song. It is made in black-and-white, and was published on YouTube in April 2013. As of November 2020, the video has got more than 3 million views.[53]

Track listing
  1. "Baker Street" (edit) – 4:04
  2. "Baker Street" (extended mix) – 5:10
  3. "Sha-Bang" (extended mix) – 5:49

Charts and certifications

Foo Fighters version
"Baker Street"
Song by Foo Fighters
Released19 January 1998
Recorded1997
Genre
Length5:39
Label
Songwriter(s)Gerry Rafferty
Producer(s)Simon Askew

The US rock band Foo Fighters covered the song on their 1998 My Hero UK CD single release, on the Australian tour pack (Grey cover) release, on the Limited edition European bonus EP and as one of several bonus tracks added to the remastered tenth anniversary release of their second studio album, The Colour and the Shape, reissued in 2007.[75] The cover does not include the saxophone riff the original is known for, instead being played with electric guitars.[76]

Other versions

The song appears on the album Uncovered by Shawn Colvin and features backing vocals by David Crosby.[77]

Morse/Portnoy/George released this as the lead off single from their 2020 covers album Cov3r to Cov3r on 23 May 2020.[78]

Country singer Waylon Jennings also covered this song on his 1987 LP "Hangin'Tough"

References
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