Summary
Baker Street is Gerry Rafferty's glorious and instantly recognisable hit.
It’s arguably the most popular track from his widely respected musical legacy. (Gerry sadly died aged just 63 in 2011) His daughter Martha Rafferty recalls hearing him develop the melody in the attic of their Glasgow home. His inspiration for the lyrics came from a book by Colin Wilson about the sense of disconnection from the world that artists often feel.
Featuring:
* Musician and founder member of Stealer's Wheel, Rab Noakes. * Singer-songwriter, Betsy Cook * Poet, Ian McMillan * Busker, Gavin Randle * Guitarist, Hugh Burns
Music featured:
An acoustic version of Baker Street is played especially for Soul Music by the Hugh Burns.
The original demo of Baker Street, on which Gerry Rafferty plays the famous sax solo on guitar.
Series exploring famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal.
Producer: Karen Gregor (whose first decision when starting work on this programme was to NOT mention the urban myth about Bob Holness and the saxophone riff!)
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to a download of soul music from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:05.7 | My earliest memories of hearing the melody forming for Baker Street |
| 0:10.8 | go right back to when we lived in Edward Street in Glasgow. |
| 0:16.5 | My name's Martha Rafferty and I'm Jerry Rafferty's daughter. |
| 0:22.3 | He had a little home studio in the attic of our house. |
| 0:27.5 | The sound would be travelling through this little push-up door down into the rooms below |
| 0:34.3 | and I remember hearing him playing it on guitar. |
| 0:41.0 | He would find a little part of the melody first |
| 0:44.7 | and he would keep playing that over and over |
| 0:46.1 | until he found the next part and then after that |
| 0:48.1 | he would usually sit down and write the lyrics |
| 0:50.2 | which were always the difficult bit. |
| 0:55.7 | He was still struggling to make a living from songwriting. |
| 0:59.7 | So he lived in a, you know, on the street, loads of kids running around. |
| 1:03.1 | I was seven, so I don't remember that much, part of them. |
| 1:07.2 | It was a happy time. |
| 1:10.1 | I remember all the kids from not up and down the street coming to knock at the door to have a play. |
| 1:15.3 | One particular boy from across the road was called Sean, and he was very small. |
| 1:19.0 | I always had a runny nose, and he would come to the door and ask if Martha could come out to play. |
| 1:22.9 | My dad would answer the door and say, |
| 1:25.0 | Hello, Sean. He said, are you a happy boy or a sad boy today? |
| 1:29.2 | And Sean would always go, happy. |
... |
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