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RIP Gerry Rafferty

#4
Sorry to hear this. Rafferty & I were contemporaries in the Paisley music scene - same age. I first came across him when he was front for The Maverix and they & my band (The Original Corvettes - search for them on Youtube) appeared in the local Renfrewshire heats of the Daily Record MacBeat Competition (Scotland's answer to The Beatles!!!) in Paisley Town Hall in, I think, 1964 where they won the heat & we didn't(!).

He undoubtably felt the influence of his environment especially in Stealer's Wheel album 'Ferguslie Park' (where I taught for several years).

My last info was from a mutual friend who told me that his health was 'wrecked', but I hadn't realised it was that far gone.

RIP Gerry.

G.
 
#5
"Baker Street" was a favorite of a number of girls I went to high school with, and probably got me as much tail as any other song of that era, a few Zep tunes possibly excepted.
Thanks, Gerry, and Rest in Peace.
 
#10
duff beer said:
RIP Gerry.

"Stuck in the Middle" has a great bass line. Every bass player should learn it.
Click to expand...

I just heard that yesterday and was digging the bass, it is the most active instrument in the song. A unique production from Gerry. I couldn't help but notice Cheryl Crows' homage in
her 'All I Want To Do.."
Don't get me started on 'Baker Street'. What a freak of a hit?!
 
#11
Yes, R.I.P. Gerry. Your music is one of the reasons that my wife and I say, often against the grain of popular opinion, that the '70's had the best music. His music was more than those 2 great hits.
I am stunned that there isn't a "protective buble" of friends/ loved ones to prevent another life taken by alcohol or drugs. Network news stated that his death was alcohol related. Thanks for the great music, Jerry...zon6c-f.
 
#12
DOUBLE CRAP!

I played "Stuck In The Middle" with my older bro a couple of years ago. What a great bass line. "Baker Street" It came out when I was about 12. I was struggling with life, and the mood of that song so fit the place I was in. It shares a spot with Supertramp's "Logical Song" as true representations of the emotions of my youth.

Good-bye Gerry Rafferty - RIP.

PS. I'm much more cheerful and happy now.
 
#15
A long time ago I was in a duo which had a two week gig in a small mining town 132 miles of mud-rutted road north of Thompson Manitoba.

After playing the first night in this alien environment I returned to my hotel room feeling deeply isolated, lonely, and depressed to the point of seeing that onset of tunnel vision which accompanies suicidal thoughts.

My on-the-road sanity survival kit included a small table top-sized AM/FM radio which proved useless because there were no broadcast stations in range.

In desperation for some contact with the urban world, I got out a couple of those 20' orange-coloured outdoor extension cords, strung them together 'round the room as high as I could, and then plugged in the radio hoping I'd have an antennae that could pull in a station.

It worked, for as soon as the radio powered up this is what faded in to a room-filling crescendo:



Shortly after this tune was finished the signal receded to a snowy static. No further music was heard that night.

Thank you Gerry Rafferty. May you rest in peace.

Thanks to you, I did.
 

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