gerry rafferty interview gerry rafferty interview

[citation needed], Rafferty drew a clear distinction between the artistic integrity of a musician, on the one hand, and the music industry's need to create celebrities and sell products, on the other. I feel as if I can dictate the pace, and thats whats really very good: to dictate your own pace so that you have enough time to write, enough time to record, enough time, really, to give your best. Before, I was never in control. According to Murphy, interviewed by Billboard in 1993, he and Rafferty had to beg the record label, United Artists, to release "Baker Street" as a single: "They actually said it was too good for the public. CIA Director, Noam Chomsky Named in Epstein's Private Calendar: Report "[53] Billy Connolly agrees that Rafferty had different priorities: "I wanted success and fame and I got it, to a degree. Rafferty married his fellow Scot, hairdresser Carla Ventilla, in 1970, and here he pays tribute to how she stuck by him through thick and thin. "Gerry Rafferty: Right Down the Line". Stream the album here: https://lnk.to/GerryR. The 50 Worst Decisions in Music History It's not for me there are too many inherent contradictions. He may be sitting on top of the world as he gives interviews in his. Or why not treat yourself? "[76], The reaction of younger artists suggests Rafferty's music has also inspired a new generation of fans. You can take the boy out of Paisley but you can't take Paisley out the boy! Joel Whitburn, "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (6th Edition)", p. 493. This is a great song.. "[55] As the 1980s progressed, Rafferty's growing drinking problem placed his marriage under impossible strain;[38] his wife divorced him in 1990,[61] although they remained close. His next door neighbour was [Island Records owner] Chris Blackwell. Breaks Down His Killer White House Correspondents Dinner Set Gerry in a very rare interview from a radio scotland programme in 2003.This is a rare insight into the world of one of the past centurys greatest songwriters. [4] His Irish-born father, an alcoholic, was a miner and lorry driver who died when Rafferty was 16. In an interview with BBC Radio 2 in September 2000, Gerry Rafferty himself explained the reasoning behind his decision not to tour. Then, in the most offhand, glory-belying way, Burns dropped in this aside: Strangely enough, another record that I played on, which was a massive hit, certainly in this country and I think in America as well, was called Careless Whisper, that also had a massive opening solo. 16 April 2022 When Baker Street songwriter Gerry Rafferty died of liver failure, on 4 January 2011, at the age of 63, the whole of Scotland mourned the passing of one of the nation's greatest musicians. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time It contains an The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Affiliate programs and Truthfully, I sort of doubt that a British saxophonist would have even of heard Marcuss record, since it was little publicized and truly under the radar, even in the U.S., he wrote, later explaining that he thought the record had sold maybe 1,000 copies. Stealers Wheel was a flop. Well do 4-3-2. They said, What? I said, 4% from the first album, 3% from the next album and 2% from the album after that, I wont disclose how much I earned, but it was a substantial amount of money.. Here is the song sung by Gerry with Joe providing the second lead vocal: Theres a 1 hour BBC4 documentary about him here. Theres no question about that either. [4], Rafferty grew up in a council house in the town's Ferguslie Park, in Underwood Lane, and was educated at St Mirin's Academy. Individuals can subscribe to Rocks Backpages for three, six and twelve months to get unlimited access to the complete Rocks Backpages archive. A subscription gives you access to all the articles and audio interviews in the library. The singer was wary of the media and disliked being asked to analyse his songs, particularly to those outwith his creative circle. "[11] It was a good call: the single reached #3 in the UK and #2 in the US. Rock's Backpages is the world's most comprehensive online database of pop music writing, a unique resource unavailable elsewhere online. Because one: youre boss-eyed and you dont want to let the fans see that, and two you really are not a people person, with all your opinions. Brewer's offices were just across the road. Capitol called me at one point and said, Were going to give him 5 million. What I want is just to develop in terms of my songs and also to work in other areas. And he certainly got that. People werent quite used to that., Of course, theres also something about the saxophone. He joined the folk-pop group the Humblebums (of which Billy Connolly was a member) in 1969. BA1 1UA. That means youre there dead on two oclock, you have a coffee break at exactly five oclock, and then you finish at eight oclock on the dot and you dont go over regardless of what youre doing. Gerry wanted respect. Its Springfields failure to make a glam-rock version song compelling in particular that helps in deciphering the extremely unconventional allure of Baker Street, a song ultimately about depression, transition, and weary aspiration. Gerry Rafferty is one of the more elusive and enigmatic figures on this increasingly strange roundabout. Rafferty was born on 16 April 1947 into a working-class family of Irish Catholic origin in Underwood Lane in Paisley,[1] a son and grandson of coal miners. Breaks Down His Killer White House Correspondents Dinner Set, Bernie Sanders: Many GOP Leaders 'Don't Even Believe in Democracy'. He really cant stand anyone in the music industry, anyone in the music publishing industry, and all he wants to do is write songs for his daughter., So I go back to Gerry," says Brewer, "and say, Youve got to stop doing this were going to run out of record companies!. There are lots and lots of instances where things are very similar. He added that in 30 years of playing, he never encountered anyone who asked for or wanted to specifically copy another piece of music. They never toured America because the band, according to Rafferty, when it existed at all, was a fucking shambles, and they wrangled angrily with their managers. In a 2011 episode of the NBC show 30 Rock, which aired the same year that Rafferty died, Tina Feys character paces the streets faced with the prospects of losing her job as a television writer. The lyric and the melody fuse beautifully and the lyric is complemented by the melody. He is currently working on the official documentary on the life of Chuck Berry. January 4, 2011. [15] Twenty years later, the song was used prominently in the 1992 movie Reservoir Dogs; Rafferty refused to grant permission for its re-release. If your local library has signed up with Rock's Backpages, please enter your card number below: Becoming a subscriber is easy. In fact, I just spoke to a good friend of mine about doing a film in Scotland, a project weve been wanting to do for years. I regard it as a great good fortune that I was able to meet and contribute something to Gerrys music, he told me over the phone from England. Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. "[49] Only a handful of tracks were ever released, however, and the website eventually closed down without any explanation. After listening to the two songs side-by-side, I have to say they are close enough that it seems almost certain that the British saxophone player [Ravenscoft] must have heard Steves record. He added that since Half a Heart came out 10 years before Baker Street, someone must have heard the record. For me, singing and writing is very therapeutic. Barry Recap: A Tragic Death Shakes Up Bill Haders Dark Satire [29] One of the lesser-known songs from that time is "Big Change in the Weather" (the B-side of "Baker Street"). Still, they managed to record a brilliant second album, Ferguslie Park, which was produced, like its predecessor, by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. ZigZag, He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. Burns also nodded to the songs unusual structure, which he compared in its unorthodox nature, to Queens Bohemian Rhapsody., Its not just opening, verse, chorus, he said. After being taken off life support, Rafferty rallied for a short time, and doctors thought that he might recover. He just blew what he was told by the person who did write it, Gerry Rafferty."[22]. So I took the 75., It worked. The "80,000" figure has been widely repeated in newspaper articles ever since. It was a pretty scary kind of feeling. [42] On a Wing and a Prayer (1992) reunited him with his Stealers Wheel partner Egan on several tracks. "[78], In January 2013, BBC Radio 2 re-broadcast their 2012 programme "Bring It All Home Gerry Rafferty Remembered", which had been recorded live at Celtic Connections in Glasgow and was presented by Ricky Ross. Gerry Rafferty signed up with Brewer and his production company funded the making of new album, City To City. Thompson's usually spontaneous, no-frills attitude toward recording was at odds with Rafferty's approach. Jerry Gilbert, And yet when it comes to writing tasteful pop songs - songs that you remember long after they've dropped out of the Top Twenty or whatever - he's just about the best and consequently the most underrated in Britain. The man behind the saxophone was Raphael Ravenscroft, who in addition to having the best-ever name for a session saxophonist, claims to have authored the riff. Gerry Rafferty signed up with Brewer and his production company funded the making of new album, City To City. Enter your email address in the field below and we'll send you a password to read all free articles on RBP. Its fellow honorees that yearCome Together, Candle in the Wind, and Build Me Up Buttercupdeliver some sense of the songs real reach. A heavy drinker for much of his life, Rafferty died from liver failure in January 2011 at the age of 63. Hows that for capitalism?. In his interview with Colin Irwin, Rafferty disputed this and said that Ravenscroft had been his second choice to play the saxophone solo, after Pete Zorn, who was unavailable: "The only confusion at the time that I didnt enjoy too much was the fact that a lot of people believed that the line was written by Raphael Ravenscroft, the sax player, but it was my line. His career high came in the 1970s and included the anthemic Baker Street and Stuck in the Middle . He regularly appears on Classic Rocks podcast, The 20 Million Club (opens in new tab), and was the writer/researcher on 2017s Mick Ronson documentary Beside Bowie (opens in new tab). Obituary, Gerry Rafferty. When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, And whatll happen is, youll lose your audience. [3][4] Rafferty loathed the 1992 dance music cover version of "Baker Street" by Undercover, describing it as "dreadful, totally banalit's a sad sign of the times". Listening to it now as I write this. I'm older and my audience is older. The third single from the album, "Home and Dry", reached No. And for . [3] Rafferty learned both Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy. He told me that he and Marcus had been best friends at a time and wanted to know what the connection to Steve Marcus was, since Ravenscroft is listed as the saxophonist on Baker Street. When I replied that Raffertys song sounded suspiciously familiar to Marcuss song Half a Heart, he didnt buy it on principle. According to his account, Baker Street had several gaps in it when he was hired to play, and he filled them. Rafferty grew up in a council house on the town's Glenburn estate and attended St. Mirin's Academy. [Rafferty's] approach seemed claustrophobic. Rafferty recorded his first solo album, Can I Have My Money Back?, with Hugh Murphy, a staff producer working for the label. Curiously though, the composition of Half a Heart is credited to Gary Burton, a vibraphonist and composer, who went to Berklee College of Music with Marcus in the early 1960s and lived down the block from him when the two moved from Boston to New York to start their music careers. "Thats how they regulated the charts. Baker Street has been covered by a wildly diverse set of outfits, most virtuously by Waylon Jennings and the London Symphony Orchestra, most sentimentally by Lisa Simpson, and most blandly by the Foo Fighters and Rick Springfield. [68] Fuschini claims she cared for the singer during 2009 and tried to help him overcome his alcoholism, and that he proposed to her at the Ritz Hotel in Paris on Christmas Eve that year. Many of them collaborated with Rafferty (who plays rhythm guitar and rudimentary keyboards) on an excellent but little-noted 1971 solo album, Can I Have My Money Back? Back in 1968, 10 years before Baker Street was recorded, Steve Marcus, a tenor sax player who toured with the jazz great Buddy Rich, released Tomorrow Never Knows, the first and only record under his own name. 2 on the American Billboard charts behind Andy Gibbs Shadow Dancing.).