RIP Gerry Rafferty

daveake · 04 Jan 2011, 21:41

A great songwriter and musician, struggled with alcohol and illness, died today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011...y-dies-aged-63

R.I.P.

Couch Potato · 04 Jan 2011, 21:55

Bloody hell, what is it with January every year seems the same, new year comes and famous people seem to drop like flies.

I will never forget hearing Jerry singing with Billy Connelly in the Humblebums, My dad had a record of them and used to frequent folk clubs in the 60s/early 70s with his fiddle playing cousin, and had one of their records, I never knew it was the same guy until a few years ago

Baker street has to be one of the most famous sax songs, if not the most famous ever.

RIP Jerry

A Slice Of English · 04 Jan 2011, 21:58

Yeesh, he had some iconic hits. Such a shame.

**The Flying Mouse** · 04 Jan 2011, 22:54

Baker St - Never has the sax sounded so cool.

RIP

daveake · 04 Jan 2011, 23:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Flying Mouse

Baker St - Never has the sax sounded so cool.

RIP

Played by Raphael Ravenscroft. I think I remember him being interviewed about it, saying that he was brought in just for that solo and got paid 5 shillings and tuppence or something.

**The Flying Mouse** · 04 Jan 2011, 23:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveake

Played by Raphael Ravenscroft. I think I remember him being interviewed about it, saying that he was brought in just for that solo and got paid 5 shillings and tuppence or something.

The urban legend going round years ago is that it was played by Bob whatshisname from Blockbusters*

Oh, I forgot to put this is other rock n roll heroes.It's going there now

*For the youngsters, when I say the bloke from Blockbusters, i'm not talking about the manager of a video rental shop

daveake · 04 Jan 2011, 23:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Flying Mouse

The urban legend going round years ago is that it was played by Bob whatshisname from Blockbusters*

:

I heard that one

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Flying Mouse

Oh, I forgot to put this is other rock n roll heroes.It's going there now

Yeah, sorry, I only ever start threads in "Off Topic"

**The Flying Mouse** · 04 Jan 2011, 23:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveake

Yeah, sorry, I only ever start threads in "Off Topic"

If only Wario would do the same

Evil One · 04 Jan 2011, 23:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Flying Mouse

If only Wario would do the same

Then there would be twice as many 'if you could eEat an animals poo, whot colur would it mak y0ur hair' poll threads. Not a good plan

**The Flying Mouse** · 04 Jan 2011, 23:44

Good point.

daveake · 05 Jan 2011, 00:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holy One

Then there would be twice as many 'if you could eEat an animals poo, whot colur would it mak y0ur hair' poll threads. Not a good plan

Yep. And if he gets it wrong he'll get it wrong next time.

Dave

(bringing the thread vaguely back on topic

)

AndrewG · 05 Jan 2011, 09:37

I was sad to hear about this last night. Obviously I had heard "Stuck in the middle" many times growin' up, partly because of the popularity it gained from "Reservoir Dogs". It wasn't until about 10 years ago I listened to Gerry's music properly. A French dude who had a dodgy old Volkswagen convertible over in Glasgow I was chatting to whilst at uni happened to be playing his "Baker Street" compilation disc in his car when the top was down (not exactly something you'd do often in Glasgow) and I just had to go out buy the CD myself. I went down to the local record shop, Fopp and bought the CD for £3.99 which in those days was ridiculously cheap (now it seems a more normal price for a CD

).

I was in awe of "Days gone Down". I love the original version but I always wondered what an acoustic version would sound like (partly because of the piano/vocal only intro). So anyway last night I was playing this through a few times as a mark of respect to my fellow Scotsman. I put it up on YouTube, hope it's ok for me posting this here:

YouTube Video

Love the lyrics "You still got that light in your eye", "The first time I set eyes on you and I listened to you sing / We didn't have to speak cause the words said everything"....

RIP Gerry...

L96 · 05 Jan 2011, 13:01

Quote:

... he died at home peacefully with his daughter Martha...

Doubly sad.

Couch Potato · 05 Jan 2011, 19:56

I did not know he was the singer with Stealers Wheel as well!!

04 Jan 2011, 21:41	#1
daveake 200% is the new 110% Join Date: 13.03.2005 Location: Newbury Posts: 2,983	RIP Gerry Rafferty A great songwriter and musician, struggled with alcohol and illness, died today. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011...y-dies-aged-63 R.I.P.

04 Jan 2011, 21:55	#2
Couch Potato DrumBum Join Date: 27.09.2006 Posts: 342	Bloody hell, what is it with January every year seems the same, new year comes and famous people seem to drop like flies. I will never forget hearing Jerry singing with Billy Connelly in the Humblebums, My dad had a record of them and used to frequent folk clubs in the 60s/early 70s with his fiddle playing cousin, and had one of their records, I never knew it was the same guy until a few years ago Baker street has to be one of the most famous sax songs, if not the most famous ever. RIP Jerry

04 Jan 2011, 21:58	#3
A Slice Of English Guest Join Date: 10.11.2003 Posts: 1,258	Yeesh, he had some iconic hits. Such a shame.

04 Jan 2011, 22:54	#4
The Flying Mouse Armed ba$tard and Jo's other half. Join Date: 06.08.2002 Location: In the middle of nowhere near the end of the line. Posts: 16,104	Baker St - Never has the sax sounded so cool. RIP

04 Jan 2011, 23:44	#10
The Flying Mouse Armed ba$tard and Jo's other half. Join Date: 06.08.2002 Location: In the middle of nowhere near the end of the line. Posts: 16,104	Good point.

05 Jan 2011, 19:56	#14
Couch Potato DrumBum Join Date: 27.09.2006 Posts: 342	I did not know he was the singer with Stealers Wheel as well!!