Baker Street (song)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Rafferty's daughter Martha has said that the book that inspired "Baker Street" 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."--Sholem Stein |
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"Baker Street" is a ballad by Gerry Rafferty, first released in 1978. It can be interpreted as a meditation on people who are living life "stuck in a rut" with profound disappointment. The heavily produced arrangement is especially famous for its saxophone solo. With its clearly enunciated singing, the lyrics are also memorable. Named after the famous London street of the same name, the song was included on Rafferty's second solo album, City to City, which was Rafferty's first release after the resolution of legal problems surrounding the formal breakup of his old 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. The single for "Baker Street" reached #2 in the USA and #3 in the UK, in addition to reaching #9 in the Netherlands. A readers' poll conducted by Rolling Stone in 2008 placed it among the "100 greatest guitar songs of all time", and established artists covered it in the 1990s and 2000s.
