Tag Archives: Raphael Ravenscroft

♫ Baker Street ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

This is a redux, but with a bit of additional information that I either didn’t have or was too lazy to include the first time I played it!

Baker Street is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty.

According to SongFacts …

The song was the Scottish singer’s first release after the resolution of legal problems surrounding the acrimonious breakup of his band Stealers Wheel in 1975. In the intervening three years, Rafferty had been unable to release any material due to disputes about the band’s remaining contractual recording obligations, and his friend’s Baker Street flat was a convenient place to stay as he tried to extricate himself from his Stealers Wheel contracts. Rafferty explained to Martin Chilton at the Daily Telegraph: “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.”

Raphael Ravenscroft played the sax solo. Rafferty wrote the song with an instrumental break, but didn’t have a specific instrument in mind. Hugh Murphy, who produced the track, suggested a saxophone, so they brought in Ravenscroft to play it. Ravenscroft has played on records by Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Abba, Alvin Lee and many others.

The long-running financial advice radio show/podcast The Dave Ramsey Show uses “Baker Street” as its opening theme. Why? Because the song was popular when Ramsey graduated high school, and it got stuck in his head.

Released as a single in 1978, it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it held that position for six weeks, behind Andy Gibb’s smash Shadow Dancing. Additionally, it hit #1 in Canada, #3 in the United Kingdom, #1 in Australia, #1 in South Africa, and the top 10 in the Netherlands. Rafferty received the 1978 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. But perhaps the best part of the song, in my tone-deaf opinion, is the saxophone riff by Raphael Ravenscroft.

According to one story, Ravenscroft received only £27, and that check bounced, while Rafferty earned £80,000 per annum until his death in 2011. However, the bouncing check story was later denied by Ravenscroft.  

Baker Street
Gerry Rafferty

Winding your way down on Baker Street
Light in your head and dead on your feet
Well, another crazy day
You’ll drink the night away
And forget about everything

This city desert makes you feel so cold
It’s got so many people, but it’s got no soul
And it’s taken you so long
To find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything

You used to think that it was so easy
You used to say that it was so easy
But you’re trying, you’re trying now

Another year and then you’d be happy
Just one more year and then you’d be happy
But you’re crying, you’re crying now

Way down the street there’s a light in his place
He opens the door, he’s got that look on his face
And he asks you where you’ve been
You tell him who you’ve seen
And you talk about anything

He’s got this dream about buying some land
He’s gonna give up the booze and the one-night stands
And then he’ll settle down
In some quiet little town
And forget about everything

But you know he’ll always keep moving
You know he’s never gonna stop moving
‘Cause he’s rolling, he’s the rolling stone
And when you wake up, it’s a new morning
The sun is shining, it’s a new morning
And you’re going, you’re going home

Songwriters: Gerald Rafferty
Baker Street lyrics © BMG Rights Management

♫ Baker Street ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under music

I didn’t intend a redux tonight … there is enough beautiful music in this world that I should be able to come up with a new one every night and never run dry.  However, our friend Annie mentioned this one in a comment on another song this evening, and she included a link, which of course I listened to.  And then, I just had to play the song again tonight!  I do love this one, and hope you do too!  Thank you, Annie, for the reminder!  The video I used last time (December 2018) wouldn’t play for some outside the U.S., so I have switched to a different video … the one Annie sent me … and hopefully it will play for everyone.

I might have skipped the song tonight and just gone to bed, for I haven’t felt well today and was tired.  But a recent conversation with our friend David left me with an earworm that just wouldn’t go away!  It is an old favourite, but one I hadn’t heard or thought about in years.  So, when it got stuck in my head tonight, I was excited at the thought of sharing it with you, my friends, and I hope you enjoy it too!

Baker Street is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. Released as a single in 1978, it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it held that position for six weeks, behind Andy Gibb’s smash Shadow Dancing. Additionally, it hit #1 in Canada, #3 in the United Kingdom, #1 in Australia, #1 in South Africa, and the top 10 in the Netherlands. Rafferty received the 1978 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. But perhaps the best part of the song, in my tone-deaf opinion, is the saxophone riff by Raphael Ravenscroft.

According to one story, Ravenscroft received only £27, and that check bounced, while Rafferty earned £80,000 per annum until his death in 2011. However, the bouncing check story was later denied by Ravenscroft.  

Baker Street
Gerry Rafferty

Winding your way down on Baker Street
Light in your head and dead on your feet
Well, another crazy day
You’ll drink the night away
And forget about everything

This city desert makes you feel so cold
It’s got so many people, but it’s got no soul
And it’s taken you so long
To find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything

You used to think that it was so easy
You used to say that it was so easy
But you’re trying, you’re trying now

Another year and then you’d be happy
Just one more year and then you’d be happy
But you’re crying, you’re crying now

Way down the street there’s a light in his place
He opens the door, he’s got that look on his face
And he asks you where you’ve been
You tell him who you’ve seen
And you talk about anything

He’s got this dream about buying some land
He’s gonna give up the booze and the one-night stands
And then he’ll settle down
In some quiet little town
And forget about everything

But you know he’ll always keep moving
You know he’s never gonna stop moving
‘Cause he’s rolling, he’s the rolling stone
And when you wake up, it’s a new morning
The sun is shining, it’s a new morning
And you’re going, you’re going home

Songwriters: Gerald Rafferty
Baker Street lyrics © BMG Rights Management

♫ Baker Street ♫

Posted on by under music

I might have skipped the song tonight and just gone to bed, for I haven’t felt well today and was tired.  But a recent conversation with our friend David left me with an earworm that just wouldn’t go away!  It is an old favourite, but one I hadn’t heard or thought about in years.  So, when it got stuck in my head tonight, I was excited at the thought of sharing it with you, my friends, and I hope you enjoy it too!

Baker Street is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. Released as a single in 1978, it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it held that position for six weeks, behind Andy Gibb’s smash Shadow Dancing. Additionally, it hit #1 in Canada, #3 in the United Kingdom, #1 in Australia, #1 in South Africa, and the top 10 in the Netherlands. Rafferty received the 1978 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. But perhaps the best part of the song, in my tone-deaf opinion, is the saxophone riff by Raphael Ravenscroft.

According to one story, Ravenscroft received only £27, and that check bounced, while Rafferty earned £80,000 per annum until his death in 2011. However, the bouncing check story was later denied by Ravenscroft.  

Baker Street
Gerry Rafferty

Winding your way down on Baker Street
Light in your head and dead on your feet
Well, another crazy day
You’ll drink the night away
And forget about everything

This city desert makes you feel so cold
It’s got so many people, but it’s got no soul
And it’s taken you so long
To find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything

You used to think that it was so easy
You used to say that it was so easy
But you’re trying, you’re trying now

Another year and then you’d be happy
Just one more year and then you’d be happy
But you’re crying, you’re crying now

Way down the street there’s a light in his place
He opens the door, he’s got that look on his face
And he asks you where you’ve been
You tell him who you’ve seen
And you talk about anything

He’s got this dream about buying some land
He’s gonna give up the booze and the one-night stands
And then he’ll settle down
In some quiet little town
And forget about everything

But you know he’ll always keep moving
You know he’s never gonna stop moving
‘Cause he’s rolling, he’s the rolling stone
And when you wake up, it’s a new morning
The sun is shining, it’s a new morning
And you’re going, you’re going home

Songwriters: Gerald Rafferty
Baker Street lyrics © BMG Rights Management