Saturday, September 3, 2011

The Late Gerry Rafferty

Today has been a sad and embarrassing day for me. I have just discovered that one of my

lifelong musical heroes, Scots musician Gerry Rafferty passed away in January 20011.

Rafferty began his career with fellow Scotsman Billy Connolly in a folk duo called “The Humblebums,” who reached moderate success within Scotland. Rafferty and Connolly parted ways amicably as Connolly began to forge what would be a world-conquering career as a comedian, actor and, later, documentary maker.


Rafferty formed the band “Stealers Wheel,” whose single ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ which became a worldwide hit upon release in 1972. It would re-emerge in the Quentin Tarantino movie “Reservoir Dogs.” Some time after this, Rafferty began a solo career with his album “City To City” and the single of the same name becoming one of his better-known musical efforts.

His biggest hit, however, was the haunting “Baker Street.” To my mind, as a musician, the song is nothing short of perfect. The lyrics, instrumentation and vocal delivery is timeless. The song is a great example of Rafffertys ability to create outstanding melodies which, in turn, lend themselves to great instrumentation.


Unfortunately, Rafferty had a big skeleton in his closet, namely alcohol. Coming from “The Humblebums” to the worldwide recognition of “Stealers Wheel,” then “Baker Street” & “City To City” gave Rafferty no time to ‘escape’ the demands of the big-time, unlike many of his musical acquaintances.

In an interview with Billy Connolly shortly after Raffertys death, Connolly broke down and spoke of a meeting that he had with Rafferty some ten years earlier and was astounded that he downed 10-12 large brandies during the meeting. Knowing that one should only ask or tell a possible problem drinker about their concern only once, Connolly did so. Rafferty brushed of the remark so Connolly left the subject at that.

I believe that Rafferty had more music in him but the drink proved too strong.

He died peacefully at home with his daughter by his bedside.


2 comments:

  1. Great blog. Very insightful and concise. I wasn't aware that Rafferty was an alcoholic for most of his life & yet he could produce the quality of music that he did.

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  2. thanks Bob, for making me aware of the passing of Gerry Raffferty, a great musician and Scots soul brother. took advantage of your youtube link to listen to his classic, "Bakers Street". was delighted to be reminded of what a brilliant singer/songwriter Gerry was; and, what a wonderful band he had, with their memorable and tasty licks.

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