FRUSTRATION'S FRUIT

See Also: POP & ROCK; PUBS

Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan formed the band Stealer's Wheel. Their biggest hit was Stuck In The Middle With You (1972). The song's two best-known lines, Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right / Here I am, stuck in the middle with you , were written by Rafferty about an occasion that had occurred in the Club dell Aretusa nightclub on The King's Road. He and his bandmates had found that the record producers and the label executives who were present were talking about the group amongst themselves while completely ignoring the fact its members were with them.

The band broke up in 1975. Almost all of the lyrics on the album City To City (1978) were derived from experiences he had had while make subsequent visits to London in order to try to sort out the resulting contractual matters. The record company to which the group had been signed viewed Rafferty as being contractually obligated to issue records as Stealer's Wheel. It used the law to prevent him from releasing any material. This situation caused the artist considerable frustration. Rab Noakes had been in the band during its early days. Rafferty took to meeting him in The Globe so that they could compare their complaints about the music industry. The pair sought to retain their perspective by distorting it with some whisky. Their conversations prompted Rafferty to write the song Baker Street (1977).

Rafferty wrote the melody for what became the sax break intending that it would have a lyric. However, the words did not come to him and he concluded that the section should be instrumental. A number of instruments were tried. With time, he decided that he wanted something that was associated with loneliness in a big city. The producer Hugh Ned Murphy (1946-1998) suggested that they use a soprano sax. Rafferty agreed. Two potential session players were available. Rafferty chose Raphael Ravenscroft because Raphael sounded similar to Rafferty.

When Baker Street was finally released it proved to be an international hit that furnished the musician with a substantial income for the rest of his life.

Location: The Globe, 43-47 Marylebone Road, NW1 5JY. ( Baker Street fitted the song far better than Marylebone Road would have.) (red, brown)

Club dell Aretusa, 107 The King's Road, SW3 4PA (blue, red)

Bob Holness

Bob Holness (1928-2012) was a genial and thoughtful television presenter and radio broadcaster. The longest-running of the TV shows that he fronted was Blockbusters. It aired from 1983 to 1993 in a tea-time slot. It was a general knowledge quiz in which the sixteen-to-eighteen-year-old contestants had to try to make their way across a board. Each of its spaces sported a letter that began the word that was the answer to the question that Mr Holness would pose. This format led to a degree of subversion from some of the youths. Can I have a P, please, Bob? and I d like to have U! were oft used ways of cheeking him.

During the late 1980s the journalist Stuart Maconie compiled a series entitled Would You Believe It? for the New Musical Express weekly music paper. In one edition he included the fact that Holness had played the saxophone solo on Baker Street. The information promptly established itself as an urban legend. The presenter took it in good grace and started to coin his own retrospective additions to his career. These included his having been the person who had put Elvis Presley off his stride in the laughing version of Are You Lonesome Tonight?

Location: Southbank Tower, 55 Upper Ground, SE1 9EY. The New Musical Express was based in King's Reach Tower.

See Also: DANCE The Laban Centre, Bullseye Bowen ; FOLK TRADITIONS Urban Legends

David Backhouse 2024