Tyler: Peter, I was browsing through the discount bins on the floor at a record store called Earworm, in Milford, OH, when I happened upon Gerry Rafferty’s City To City. This was some years ago. There was a deal of some kind—buying two cheap LPs made more sense than one alone. I had an album already in hand when I found CTC, and it gave me pause. I of course knew “Baker Street,” and in that moment decided I loved it enough to take a chance.
I couldn’t tell you today what album I paired with City To City. No matter. When I heard the first few moments of the Rafferty record’s lead track, “The Ark,” a switch flipped, and I thought, well well. We got a different kind of dude here.
Peter: Wow! I just assumed it was a record from your childhood. Maybe something your parents played.
That’s a much better origin story for tonight’s chat.
Tyler: It’s one of my all-time favorite bargain-bin finds. Among the others are Stand! and Harvest.
Peter: I got Document on CD in the bargain bin. It was maybe the third CD I owned. Along with Ten and Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits.
Tyler: Not a bad starting three right there.
Peter: That Simon & Garfunkel record is part of my DNA at this point.
But, I digress!
Back to Gerry!
Tyler: The man himself.
Peter: I was not familiar with this record prior to this.
I thought Gerry was going to be totally new to me as well.
Tyler: You thought wrong!
Peter: He sings two very famous songs! One is on this record!
Tyler: To be fair, “Stuck In The Middle” is Stealers Wheel. You’re forgiven!
And, honestly, despite a general knowledge that he was the Wheel member who sang “Stuck,” I barely knew the name Gerry Rafferty before rediscovering “Baker Street” a few months before finding City To City.
Peter: I could not have come up with the title of that song, but everybody knows that sax part.
Tyler: For many years I knew it as the song incongruously—intentionally so—played as Will Hunting and his pals beat the hell out of some rude toughs.
Peter: I’ve never seen that.
Tyler: Good Will Hunting?
Peter: Yeah.
Tyler: Mercy. It’s terrific. No bullshit.
Peter: I’ve heard that.
Let’s get to it! You mentioned “The Ark.” It’s our opener. I like this tune.
Tyler: It’s warm and inviting.
Such great harmonies. Such deft instrumentation. It got me quick.
Peter: Yeah, it’s pretty. What would you say is the genre here?
Tyler: I’ve tried for years to answer that question. Exquisite yacht rock?
Peter: Yeah, it’s hard to pin down. There are tracks on here that are pretty soft rock-y, but this one almost has a touch of Pink Floyd?
Tyler: I can hear that—the atmospheric sound, the cryptic lyrics.
Peter: The lead guitar line sounds a little Gilmouresque to me.
On a different note, is this vaguely religious?
Tyler: It’s got a spiritual bent to it, definitely. “And we’ll meet out on the water, where all strangers are known.”
Peter: Right? “See the dark night has come down on us/The world is livin’ in its dream/But now we know that we can wake up from this sleep.”
Tyler: It’s hopeful? Perhaps? The dark night has come down, though.
Peter: Up for interpretation, I suppose. I was thinking of Bob turning to Jesus around that time.
Anyway, it’s a good one. Strong opener.
Tyler: Are you ready for some mean and lean saxophone?
It’s time for the big hit. “Baker Street.”
Peter: I’m not normally into sax on rock records, but this sounds like it always existed. You can’t question it. It belongs.
The guy who played the sax part on it later claimed he wrote it but the demo Gerry recorded had that exact part played on guitar, so if anyone tries to tell you that Raphael Ravenscroft wrote that riff you can spit in their face for me.
Tyler: “Raphael Ravenscroft” sounds like a Harry Potter villain.
Peter: A right Hufflewump if you ask me.
Tyler: Oh dear. What have I done.
Peter: Hufflewump? Is that a HP thing?
Tyler: Quidditch! There’s quidditch!
I haven’t read any of those books or seen any of the movies.
Peter: I haven’t either. We’re a rare breed, Tyler. Not many of us left.
Tyler: Let us unite. We’ll meet out on the water.
For some reason, perhaps due to that usage in Good Will Hunting, I always pictured “Baker Street” as taking place on the East Coast of the States, despite the song’s title and clear setting in London. Silly me, but this misinterpretation does speak to the universality of the lyrics.
We know that guy, with his dreams about buyin’ some land and giving up the booze, the one night stands. We know too how it feels to think “another year and then you’ll be happy.”
Peter: Yeah, it’s deeper than the sax riff.
Tyler: Coming up next we’ve got a straight-up love song, “Right Down The Line.”
Peter: It’s kind of a classic seventies trope, the ode to a good woman.
I think the hippies starting getting married in the seventies and wanted to tell each other how great it was (before divorcing in the eighties). John Lennon had a really hard time not writing tons of these from ’75 to ’79.
“Right Down The Line” is a fine tune. I don’t mean to disparage it. It’s just a certain type of seventies love song, that’s all. Nothing wrong with it.
Tyler: I love its vulnerability.
Peter: I don’t mean to be so cynical about it. I’m always questioning the sincerity of the songwriter.
Tyler: Oh, I don’t think you sound cynical. We’re here to speak the hard truths!
Peter: It does remind me of a bunch of songs John wrote for Yoko, and I kind of hate those songs.
Tyler: “Woman,” for instance? I don’t like that song one bit.
Peter: The worst!
It’s better than…
“Attica State?”
Tyler: Any of those. Better than anything off of Some Time In NYC.
Peter: It’s true!
Tyler: Better than all of those songs combined: “Right Down The Line.”
Peter: Well, it’s a pretty low bar.
But, yes, agreed.
Tyler: Onward, then, to the title track!
“City To City.”
Peter: This one has not aged well. It sounds like something from a ’70s variety show with a big choreographed dance number.
Tyler: Hater! You’re full of hate!
I like the tiny country flourishes, the way Gerry extends words at the ends of verses, the general sunniness of it all. He’s heading home! He’s so happy!
Peter: It’s funny though, because the last song was an ode to his lady friend and now he can’t be bothered to spend the night!
Tyler: He’s got business, I say. Business, to conduct!
Peter: He’s giving her the business, that’s for sure.
Tyler: You just boosted our readership in the Catskills.
Peter: We need to have a rimshot emoji or somesuch.
I don’t like the outro. It’s too cheery!
I am a hater.
Tyler: The “I’m goin’ home” burbles aren’t my favorite. But, yes. You burble, with hatred.
Incidentally, our next song here, “Stealin’ Time,” is probably my least favorite on the album. It is a big ol’ cloud of cheese-puff dust.
Peter: Oh good, I didn’t want to be alone on this one.
It’s a weak spot. For sure.
Tyler: It ain’t the best. It’s pretty yachty.
Peter: “Stealin’ time, I’ve been stealin’ time/But I don’t feel guilty, ’cause the time was mine.”
Tyler: Not Gerry’s most exotic poetry, no.
Peter: The next one, “Mattie’s Rag,” is better.
Tyler: I love “Mattie’s Rag.” It’s a sweet, smiling ode to his daughter, and it sounds like nothing else on the album. So fun!
Peter: It is fun. Sometimes Gerry sounds like Paul McCartney. This is one of those times.
He writes like Paul, I mean.
Tyler: Gerry’s first solo album, pre-Stealers, has some especially Paul moments. His early, early recordings with Billy Connolly as The Humblebums, too.
Peter: That’d be fun to hear.
Tyler: That first solo album, called Can I Have My Money Back?, includes a melancholy track called “Mary Skeffington.” The song title alone is absolutely McCartney.
Peter: It’s true!
Tyler: Now, then, a nigh-centerpiece of a ballad, piano and harmonies alone. “Whatever’s Written In Your Heart.”
Catch me at the wrong moment and I’m just gutted by this one. A heartbreaker.
Peter: I think his performance really sells this one. I feel like it could’ve gone wrong in lesser hands.
Tyler: He doesn’t oversing. There’s real tenderness.
Peter: He doesn’t oversing. That’s a good point. His singing is a real asset. Some of these songs could be cheesy as hell.
Tyler: Harmonies on harmonies, too. Gently phenomenal.
Then, we next have “Home And Dry.”
A very pleasant track, much in the vein of “City To City.” Faster-paced travel-pop.
Peter: It’s got that disco-esque bass line.
You could dance to it!
Tyler: The Rafferty Bop!
Peter: It reminds me of a Paul song.
“Coming Up?”
Tyler: With a little splash of “Cafe On The Left Bank,” perhaps?
Peter: Yeah, maybe a mix of Paul songs.
Tyler: I have a feeling we’re going to disagree about the next one.
It’s time for “Island,” son!
Peter: I can see why you’d think that, but I actually don’t mind this one.
Tyler: It’s so adorable. It’s like a straight-faced precursor to “Escape (The Pina Colada Song).”
Peter: His singing really grounds it. This is one that could have been super cheesy.
Tyler: I love the hell out of it. Unabashedly. “Island” for President!
Peter: It’s not the sort of thing I’d normally be into, but I really don’t mind it at all. It’s very pleasant.
Tyler: Sax and all. I’m glad we found common ground here.
Peter: The sax is good on this.
Tyler: Finally, we wrap things up with…well, more business. Gerry’s in town, away from his lady. Loneliness ensues.
“Waiting For The Day.”
Peter: He shoulda put a ring on it!
Tyler: She’s home with Mattie!
Peter: He’s a regular “Easy Earl.”
Tyler: “Easy Earl?” Is that another Minnesotism?
Peter: I was guessing at an Englishism.
“Good Time Neville?”
It’s a big closer. Big arrangement.
That “Water of life…” bit sort of saves it for me.
Tyler: Bit of a mystical break. “Water of life” and such.
Peter: Jinx!
Lots of lead guitar on this one.
Tyler: It’s a good one. Far from my favorite here. But I like it.
Peter: Again, a different vocalist could really ruin this. He does a good job with it.
Tyler: He leaves the dynamic stuff to the soloists.
Peter: Yeah, they bring the bombast.
Tyler: Well, Peter, we’ve come to the end of City To City. You survived.
Peter: I can see why you’re so taken with it. It has considerable charms.
I even liked the sax!
Writers' Loom 