Baker Street

Gerry Rafferty's song "Baker Street" introduces us to an everyman anti-hero. "And then you'll settle down, in a quiet little town and forget about everything." But not all is well and settled. "He'll always keep movin', you know he'll always keep moving, cause he's rollin', he's the rollin' stone." Despite the pedestrian-level encounter with one of ours, the saxophone lifts us and our hero higher, it transcends the bounds of these confines, and therein lies the genius of the song. A fabulous, exciting and relevant song even now...

One of the best songs ever written, period. Baker Street is a sweeping gesture, attempting and succeeding in bringing the banal, "I'm gonna give up the booze and the one night stands," in line with a sweeping sax line that transcends all. Will he "settle down, in a quite little town and forget about everything?" One doubts it, but there is salvation in music nonetheless, and a though "he's rollin', he's the rollin' stone" we have to give credit where effort is made. There is hope for our wounded hero. Gerry Rafferty has written an beautiful, haunting song.