Baker Street (song)

"Baker Street" was included on Rafferty's second solo album, City to City (1978). It was his first album after the resolution of legal problems surrounding the breakup 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. Rafferty wrote "Baker Street" while trying to extricate himself from his Stealers Wheel contracts. He was regularly travelling between his family home in Paisley, Scotland, and London, where he often stayed at a friend's flat on Baker Street in Marylebone. The resolution of Rafferty's legal and financial frustrations may have accounted for the exhilaration of the song's final verse: Rafferty's daughter Martha suggested in 2012 that he could also have taken inspiration from a book he was reading while travelling, Colin Wilson's The Outsider (1956), which explores ideas of alienation and creativity and a longing to be connected. "Baker Street" was recorded in 1977 at Chipping Norton Studios, Oxfordshire, during the sessions for City to City. It was co-produced by Rafferty and Hugh Murphy. It features a guitar solo played by Hugh Burns. ==Saxophone riff==

(pictured in 2014 with a tenor saxophone) played the alto sax riff, based on a guitar part in Rafferty's demo. "Baker Street" features a prominent eight-bar saxophone riff by the session musician Raphael Ravenscroft, played as a break between verses. Billboard described it as "the most recognizable sax riff in pop music history". It is said to have been responsible for a resurgence in the sales of saxophones and their use in mainstream pop music and television advertising. Rafferty said Ravenscroft had been his second choice to play the part, after Pete Zorn, who was unavailable. Ravenscroft came to the studio to record a soprano saxophone part, and suggested that he use instead his alto saxophone. In 2011, Ravenscroft said listening to the song irritated him because he was out of tune. This was disputed by Rafferty, who said he was irritated that people assumed Ravenscroft had written it. He said: "It was my line. I sang it to him." When interviewed by The Atlantic, Burton suggested Rafferty may have subconsciously plagiarised it, likening it to the lawsuit over the 1970 George Harrison song "My Sweet Lord". In the spoof "Thrills' Believe it or Not" section of the music magazine NME, Maconie falsely claimed that the broadcaster Bob Holness had played the saxophone part. ==Chart performance==

Released as a single in 1978, "Baker Street" reached No. 3 in the UK and No. 2 for six consecutive weeks in the US. It reached number one on the Cash Box Top 100 and number two on the Billboard Hot 100 reached number one in Australia, Another urban myth has claimed that "Baker Street" did overtake "Shadow Dancing" on the Billboard Hot 100 during one of its seven weeks on top in the summer of 1978, with Casey Kasem recording his American Top 40 countdown placing it at No. 1. However, at a dinner with Gibb's managers, then-Billboard chart director Bill Wardlow was allegedly told that if "Shadow Dancing" did not remain at No. 1, Gibb would be pulled from the lineup of an upcoming Billboard-organized concert. Wardlow then supposedly asked the magazine to leave the song at the top, and Kasem was told to re-record his countdown. ==Legacy==

"Baker Street" was cited by guitarist Slash in 1987 as an influence on his guitar solo in "Sweet Child o' Mine". The Canadian rock musician A.C. Newman cited the song as an inspiration for his album Shut Down the Streets (2012). Dave Ramsey has used "Baker Street" as bumper music for his radio show since the show's debut in 1992. ==Personnel==

• Gerry Rafferty – lead vocals, rhythm guitar • Raphael Ravenscroft – alto and soprano saxophone • Nigel Jenkins – rhythm guitar • Tommy Eyre – synthesizer, electric and acoustic piano • Gary Taylor – bass • Henry Spinetti – drums • Glen Le Fleur – congas • Graham Preskett – string arrangements ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==

British dance group Undercover covered the song on their 1992 album Check Out the Groove. This version was released in August 1992 by PWL and produced by Steve Mac. It reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-three hit in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. A music video was produced to promote the single, shot in black-and-white. Critical reception A writer for Lennox Herald named the song a "stand out" from the Undercover album. Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "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." 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." Track listing • "Baker Street" (edit) – 4:04 • "Baker Street" (extended mix) – 5:10 • "Sha-Bang" (extended mix) – 5:49 Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications Release history ==Foo Fighters version==

The American 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. The saxophone part is played on electric guitar. ==References==