My Seventies Music

Tag: Living In Germany

  • The Sex Pistols – “Anarchy In The UK”, “God Save The Queen”, “Pretty Vacant” And “Holidays In The Sun”

    Cover of The Sex Pistols album "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols"

    The late Seventies were the years of punk rock, and although not the first punk rock band, The Sex Pistols were the epitome of the movement, with songs like “Anarchy In The UK”, “God Save The Queen”, “Pretty Vacant” and “Holidays In The Sun”.

    I didn’t actually get a (taped) copy of their only album, “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols” (1977), until a few years later, when I lived in Germany.

    Or maybe I did get it before leaving New Zealand, I just remember playing it in the car of a band I wrote some stuff with in Germany, shortly after I met them in December 1980. The bass player and singer of the ZZ Top/Lynrd Skynyrd type band didn’t like The Beatles, so I played him The Sex Pistols…

    This is the studio version of “Anarchy In The UK”:

    “God Save The Queen”, also the studio version:

    Sex Pistols classic “Pretty Vacant”:

    “Holidays In The Sun”:

    Having experienced the Berlin Wall on numerous occasions while living in Germany – from both sides – the lines in this song about it took on particular significance for me at least in the 1980s.

    Now the Wall is gone and so are The Sex Pistols, though the Berlin Wall actually lasted longer…

    Nevertheless, the “cultural” legacy of The Sex Pistols lingered on well after the actual demise of the band.

    Whatever one may think of their music, they were a catalyst for many great acts that followed.

    Paul

  • Gerry Rafferty – “Baker Street” and “Right Down The Line”

    Cover of "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty 1978
    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…

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