SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2011
My recording of Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street
I had always liked Baker Street since Gerry Rafferty released it in 1978. And I had always had it in my mind to someday learn and cover the song. Finally, after hearing the song on the radio last December, I decided that now is the time to do something with the song. My first concern was how to capture the impact of the sax solo in the original version. Having no sax player around, I decided to use a harmonic dual guitar solo. Then I had the idea of using my Fender Twin reverb amp - the old tube sound - and running it directly into the recorder patched from the speaker output. Then I set the volume and tone settings on the amp to 10 and the reverb on 5 and the controls on the guitar (Fender Strat) all the way up and I used the second position on the 5 way switch. I thought the resulting sound was very rich and very powerful - just what I wanted. Then I asked Dave Cochran to record a lead guitar track with his Strat in the same manner I had recorded my Strat solo. The result there was incredible! Before that, I had recorded two acoustic guitar rhythm tracks, a bass guitar part, and a keyboard scenario of strings, flute and even the drums. When it came to the vocals, I sang the lead vocal and then asked Dianna Zupan to record the backup vocals. She always lends an earthy, haunting quality to a song. We've done many recordings together, but this time her performance was exceptional. After many hours of mixing, I'm now ready to release the recording through CDBaby next week as a digital download . I hope you enjoy it as much as I did in creating it. It was a wonderful project.

Baker Street lyrics

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

Way down the street there's a light in his place
[ From : http://www.elyrics.net/read/g/gerry-rafferty-lyrics/baker-street-lyrics.html ]
He opens the door, he's got that look on his face
And he asks you "where have you been?"
You tell him who you've seen
and you talk about anything

He's got this dream about buyin' 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 movin'
You know he's never gonna stop movin'
Cause he's rollin', he's a rollin' stone
And when you wake up it's a new morning
The sun is shining, it's a new morning
But you're going, you're going home

Bill Madison
Singer/Songwriter
Guitarist

My musical career spans more than 40 years; from the folk music venues of Boston, New York City and Montreal during the 1960’s, to the ski resorts and honky tonks of Northern New England from the 1970’s to the 1990’s.

In 1973, I released my first album called Sunday Mornin” Hayride. That album has been re-released by Riverman Records and Yoga Records and was voted in the top ten retro re-issues for 2009 by the Acid Archives.

In 1974, I formed Them Fargo Brothers which became New England’s Premier Country Rock Band and I toured with the band until 1990.

I am currently writing and recording in my studio and marketing my CD’s through my web site and have downloads available across the web. I am also a featured artist on IMRadio.com

Please visit – www.billmadisonmusic.com

http://www.Billmadisonmusic.com
http://billmadison.wix.com/all-she-wanted-promo/home

Written by Gerry Rafferty
Produced and Recorded by Bill Madison
Mixed by Bill Madison
All instruments by Bill Madison, except for:
Dave Cochran - Lead Guitar
Dianna Zupan - Backup vocal
Baker Street is featured on my All She Wanted CD
I also released Baker Street as a download on iTunes
Mastered at Discmakers