He has a hardness in his eyes while his songs are sensitive and true. I first heard his Baker Street album during my folk festival days, with its' soaring sax and hard-hitting lyrics. Then he had a huge hit on both sides of the Atlantic with "Stuck in the Middle With You."
He always refused to play the big Label game and refers to this in this hit song with the lyrics - 'Clowns to the Left of me, Jokers to the right...' . He never toured in the US , even while this song had No 1 Radio airplay. In a sense Rafferty was full of those Scottish contradictions with his strengths and weaknesses. He was from Paisley and sadly died early this year from alcohol related illness. His funeral was held at St Mirin's Cathedral in Paisley and attended by the first minister Alex Salmon. http://www.gerryrafferty.com/
ArtWorks Scotland - Gerry Rafferty: Right Down the Line - BBC 2 Scotland Documentary aired August 2011
Gerry Rafferty was a Scottish singer songwriter best known for his solo hits Baker Street ", "Right Down the line", "Days Gone Down", "Night Owl", "Get it Right Next Time." And with the band Stealers Wheel "Stuck in the Middle with You."
His mother taught him both Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy; later, he was influenced by the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan. He joined the folk-pop band The Humblebums in 1969, but left in 1971 and recorded his first solo album "Can I have my Money Back". Rafferty and Joe Egan formed the group Stealers Wheel in 1972, producing several hits, most notably "Stuck in the Middle with You". In 1978, he recorded his second solo album, City to City, which includes "Baker Street ", his most popular song. Rafferty died of liver failure due to a in January this year. Newspapers printed lengthy obituaries for the singer. Many younger artists speak of how his music has influenced them.
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