Stoic Music 8

I heard this song on the radio every so often when I first fell in love with music, at around the age of 12 or 13. I never heard the title or artist, and there was, of course, no internet to look it up. If I asked my friends, they'd say "yeah, that song with the cool sax solo? No idea who sang it."

It was only years later that I identified it, and it hasn't left my playlist since. The story has it that the song is in some sense autobiographical, and that Gerry Rafferty was describing his struggle to live in London to make it in music.

But don't dig too deep, because you will find that Rafferty's life story is like a Greek tragedy. For me, that just makes the meaning all the more poignant. I'm weird that way.

But here was a man that understood. I thank him for it.

Written in 2013. 

Gerry Rafferty, "Baker Street", from City to City (1978)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo6aKnRnBxM

Winding your way down on Baker Street
Light in your head and dead on your feet
Well, another crazy day
You'll drink the night away
And forget about everything

This city desert makes you feel so cold
It's got so many people, but it's got no soul
And it's taken you so long
To find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything

You used to think that it was so easy
You used to say that it was so easy
But you're trying, you're trying now

Another year and then you'd be happy
Just one more year and then you'd be happy
But you're crying, you're crying now

Way down the street there's a light in his place
He opens the door, he's got that look on his face
And he asks you where you've been
You tell him who you've seen
And you talk about anything

He's got this dream about buying some land
He's gonna give up the booze and the one-night stands
And then he'll settle down
In some quiet little town
And forget about everything

But you know he'll always keep moving
You know he's never gonna stop moving
'Cause he's rolling, he's the rolling stone

And when you wake up, it's a new morning
The sun is shining, it's a new morning
And you're going, you're going home