Stealers Wheel, the band formed in 1972 by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan from Paisley, Scotland, had several hits in the early to mid Seventies, in particular “Stuck In The Middle With You” and “Everyone’s Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine”.
“Star” also reached the Top Thirty in both the US and the UK in 1974.
Meanwhile, Gerry Rafferty is more well known in his own right, with songs such as “Baker Street”.
From the first album, “Stealers Wheel” in 1972, “Stuck In The Middle With You” is probably the most familiar of the band’s songs:
Also from the first album was “Late Again”…
…”Another Meaning”…
…and “I Get By”:
The 1973 single “Everyone’s Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine” got quite a bit of airplay, at least enough that I remember it :-):
Also from 1973, “You Put Something Better Inside Me” (gets a bit boring towards the end I find):
“Star”, a 1974 single, doesn’t sound that familiar to me, but pleasant nonetheless:
And just because live is always nice:
Hope you enjoyed it more than some of those in the video seemed to…
In 1978 Gerry Rafferty wrote or at least released his hit song “Baker Street”, on his album “City To City” and as a single.
Some time later, can’t remember if it was at the end of that year or on another visit to the UK a few years later when I was living in Germany, I cruised down Baker Street on a National Express bus entering London from the north.
And about five and a half years ago, shortly after moving to South West Scotland with my family, on a visit to London we walked along Baker Street just before the shops shut looking for an artists supply shop to get something for my daughter.
I remember that by that time my feet hurt and I did not enjoy the experience.
In fact, on both occasions I was wondering what was so special about Baker Street to motivate Gerry Rafferty to write a song about it.
I have in the back of my mind that it had something to do with Sherlock Holmes, but now I have just read that the song relates to the author’s days as a busker on the London Underground.
Well, actually, watching the video below, turns out I was right about a Sherlock Holmes connection after all – can’t say I remember seeing the Sherlock Holmes Museum though, maybe it wasn’t there yet.
This video of “Baker Street” is an HD stereo version that shows shots of the street, the museum and the Baker Street tube station:
“Baker Street” is particularly famous for its saxophone solo, and apparently this had an influence on the use of the saxophone in other music at the time, and even on the sale of saxophones! (Reminds me of the “Saxophone Song” on Kate Bush’s “The Kick Inside” album.)
Here’s another one from the same album, “Right Down The Line”:
Gerry Rafferty earlier teamed up with Joe Egan to form Stealers Wheel, producing the well known track (well, to me at least…) “Stuck In The Middle With You”. I’ll save that for another time.
Meanwhile I might watch the “Baker Street” video again and see if I can spot any more clues…
Paul
P.S. Meanwhile Gerry Rafferty died in the first half of 2011. R.I.P. Gerry…
I think it must have been about 1976 or 1977 when I bought an album by a Canadian band called Klaatu with, among others, the track “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft” (which was covered by The Carpenters soon after it came out).
It was rumoured that this was actually the Beatles in disguise, so to speak.
Parts of the record certainly sounded like the Beatles, but you couldn’t be sure.
Well, now you can. It wasn’t.
The debut album “Klaatu” was actually called “3:47 EST” in Canada, but was changed by the US record label, so I guess I got the US version.
The name Klaatu was taken from an extraterrestial (i.e. outer space person) played by Michael Rennie in the film “The Day The Earth Stood Still”. (I think Michael Rennie is also referred to by Richard O’Brien in the song “Science Fiction/Double Feature”, the title track of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.)
Whatever, the music makes pleasant listening, Beatles-like or not.
So without further ado, here are some tracks from that first album (there were more).
“Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft”:
“Sub Rosa Subway”:
“Doctor Marvello”:
“California Jam”:
“True Life Hero” (sounds a bit like Juke Box Hero”, doesn’t it…):
New Zealander Max Merritt of Max Merritt and The Meteors has been in the music business a long time, but “Slipping Away”, released in 1976, is the only song I spontaneously connect with him.
“Woh oh oh you’re slipping away from me…and it’s breaking me in two, watching you, slipping away”
This is the promotional video when “Slipping Away” first came out in 1976:
And a quarter of a century later, “Slipping Away” live in Australia in 2001:
And now for something completely different… In 1972 Vicky Leandros had a European hit with “Après Toi” (After You), and I went on my first overseas trip from New Zealand, to the French Pacific colony of New Caledonia.
All the time we were in Nouméa, its capital, we heard the song “Après Toi” again and again, and it came to be the theme song of our two week visit – and always reminds me of that time.
Of course I bought the single (see above), although unlike New Zealand singles it had a huge hole in the middle, so I had to find an adapter to be able to play it!
The reason the song was so big in Europe was she had just won the Eurovision song contest with it, on behalf of Luxembourg.
This is “Après Toi”, in French:
And here are the French lyrics:
Tu t’en vas, l’amour a pour toi le sourire d’une autre,
Je voudrais, mais ne peux t’en vouloir
Désormais, tu vas m’oublier
Ce n’est pas de ta faute, et pourtant tu dois savoir
Qu’après toi, je ne pourrai plus vivre,
Non plus vivre qu’en souvenir de toi
Après toi, j’aurai les yeux humides,
Les mains vides, le coeur sans joie
Avec toi, j’avais appris a rire,
Et mes rires ne viennent que par toi
Après toi, je ne serai que l’ombre
De ton ombre, après toi
Même un jour, si je fais ma vie
Si je tiens la promesse qui unit deux êtres pour toujours
Àpres toi, je pourrai peut-être donner de ma tendresse
Mais plus rien de mon amour
Après toi, je ne pourrai plus vivre,
Non plus vivre qu’en souvenir de toi
Après toi, j’aurai les yeux humides,
Les mains vides, le coeur sans joie
Avec toi, j’avais appris a rire,
Et mes rires ne viennent que par toi
Après toi, je ne serai que l’ombre
De ton ombre, après toi
Vicky Leandros is actually Greek, and having spent much of her early life in Germany with her musician father (Leandros is actually his first name), Vicky Leandros sings in numerous languages and apparently she sang “Après Toi” in seven languages.
The English version, which reached No. 2 in the UK, is called “Come What May”:
Think I prefer the French version… for the words and the memories…
Paul
P.S. Vicky Leandros earlier came 4th at Eurovision in 1967 with “L’amour est bleu”, also known as “Love is blue”, which became very popular in the late Sixties in the version by French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat.
