From 2003 a filmed Interview & Tribute to Gerry Rafferty

From the STV programme ARTERY filmed in 2003 & with contributions from Billy Connolly & Barbra Dickson along with Gerry's friend & album cover artist John Byrne amongst many others.

You can take the boy out of Paisley... but you can't take Paisley out the boy!

Reclusive rock star Gerry Rafferty tells all about life growing up in his home town.

Gerry Rafferty is remembering his Saturday mornings spent at the ABC Minors, in The Regal cinema. We're walking down the stairs in Paisley Museum and suddenly the reclusive singer-songwriter - who's sold millions of albums in his time - gives an a cappella rendition of the ABC Minors song.

Gerry, now 53, remembers it well. It goes like this: 'We are the boys and girls well known as, Minors of the ABC, And every Saturday all line up, to see the films we like and shout aloud with glee, We love to laugh and have a sing-song, just a happy crowd are we, We're all pals together, we're Minors of the ABC'

Aye, you can take the boy out of Paisley but you can't take Paisley out the boy.

Gerry Rafferty is back in his home town for the opening of the exhibition of the work of his long-time friend, artist and playwright John 'Patrick' Byrne. The two of them go back a long way. John Byrne - who signs his paintings 'Patrick' - was a school mate of Gerry's older brother. The pair soon became soul mates as each of them pursued their own artistic endeavours. Gerry as one of the best songwriters the country's ever produced and Patrick as a renowned playwright and artist.

Patrick has painted the covers for several Stealers Wheel and Gerry Rafferty solo albums. He even decorated one of Gerry's expensive Martin acoustic guitars with a painting.

To most people these days, Gerry Rafferty is the man who brought us the chart-topping song, Baker Street and probably the most famous sax intro in the history of pop music.

Then there's Stuck in the Middle With You - a hit when Gerry and another buddie, Joe Egan formed Stealers Wheel. The song was given a further lease of life when it appeared on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs movie.

However, to those who have enjoyed a generation of his music - from his partnership with Billy Connolly, in The Humblebums, to Stealers Wheel and his later, hugely successful, solo career - there's more to Gerry Rafferty than a couple of big-time hits. But back to Gerry's meandering down Memory Lane. He has a quiet smile to himself as memories of his childhood in Paisley come flooding back.

"We used to go to the ABC Minors every Saturday morning at the Regal cinema - the films they put on for us were great then. "I also remember coming here to the Museum and touching the big stuffed elephant and the lion." The elephant's long gone but the lion still stands proud inside the Greek-styled building on the High Street.

Gerry Rafferty was born on April 16, 1947 to a Scottish mother and an Irish father. Gerry - who now lives in London - recalls: "I was born and brought up at 13 Underwood Lane, The tenement's no longer there, they've built new flats where it stood. "My mum is 93 this year and she still lives in Paisley. When I come up to see her I sometimes take a look down that way. "I've been back to Underwood Lane and it felt very nostalgic seeing it again. I have very happy memories as a kid.

"I remember we used to go up to Oakshaw where all the rich people stayed stealing apples off their trees. "I loved going to the baths in Storie Street and then getting a bag of chips on the way home. "My favourite chip shop was Cardosi's at the top of Well Street. That was before they moved to the big fancy cafe in Causeyside Street." When Gerry was ten years of age the family moved to Garry Drive, in Foxbar. "A great thing was going up the Braes and passing the Bonnie Wee Well - I just loved that," he said.

Gerry went to St Mary's Primary and later St Mirin's Academy and openly admits his early years in Paisley influenced his songwriting and particularly his early lyrics. Gerry says: "Where you come from and where you spent your formative years has an effect and influence on you." Evidence of this can be seen in many of his songs - particularly on his pre-Stealers Wheel solo album, Can I Have My Money Back and later albums with his Stealers Wheel partner-in-song Joe Egan.

The idea for the title track, Can I Have My Money Back, came from an incident involving Gerry as a youngster. He explains: "I used to go the the cinema in a place we called The Bug Hut. It was The Alex Cinema, in Neilston Road opposite the former Royal Alexandra Infirmary. "It cost either two or three old pennies to get in and the film would sometimes break down or the picture would be jumping about the screen. "When this happened everybody would be shouting and we would stamp our feet. That's where the idea for Can I Have My Money Back came from and the song was written 12 years after the event."

Another song on that album was written about his mother. It's called Mary Skeffington - his mum's maiden name. He even used the melody of her favourite hymn, Sweet Sacrament Divine, as the intro passage.

Gerry's flirting with religious music didn't just end there. He recalls: "When Billy Connolly and I were playing together and we were coming home in the back of a taxi after having a few pints, we used to sing hymns. "I had some wonderful times with Billy."

A Stealers Wheel song, Steamboat Row was about his father. Explains Gerry: "When I was a kid and my dad had a few pints he would reminisce about when he lived in a row of miners' cottages down by Inkerman, in Paisley. They were known as Steamboat Row."

Another song born from his memories as a youngster, in Paisley is Syncopatin' Sandy. "I was about 13 or 14 and we used to pass the old Paisley Theatre in Smithhills Street on our way back from school. "I saw this big poster advertising a pianist called Syncopatin' Sandy. He was one of these guys from the music hall and Vaudeville tradition. "He must have been in his early 70s and was a marathon pianist who would play non-stop for hours and hours and people would come in and watch him. "I went in to see him and it was one of the most surreal things I have ever seen in my life. "He played for about one-and-a-half days non-stop and people would feed him whisky. He would be playing the piano with one hand and drinking the whisky out of a paper cup in the other hand. "That was a big memory for me."

Later in life Gerry lived in a tenement flat in New Street. Another of his songs chronicled this period of his life. It was called New Street Blues. Like most musicians before signing their first record deal Gerry, had a variety of jobs and they surface in some form or other in the lyrics of his songs. Says Gerry: "I left school when I was 15 and worked in a social security office, in Partick.

"Then I worked in Timpson's shoe shop, in Paisley High Street. "But there was never anything else for me but music. I never intended making a career out of any of the jobs I did. I wasn't much of a shoe salesman, anyway.

The second Stealers Wheel album is called Ferguslie Park - named after the sprawling Paisley housing scheme which had a terrible reputation in the 70s. Gerry explains: "We called the album Ferguslie Park to get as far away as possible from all the bullshit of the music industry in London. "It reminded us of our roots. We were clinging ferociously to our roots. Our identity and our songs were formed in this town."

But when it comes to nostalgia, Gerry's definitely on a roll. The topic this time is, what were his favourite pubs in Paisley? He reveals: "I loved the Bull Inn with all its wee rooms and the wicker chairs. I used to take Billy Connolly in there. "These were the days when Jean Stevenson owned The Bull with the cat sitting on the shelf above the till. "We also drank in Lang's, in Moss Street and the lounge of the Club Bar, just across the road." Big grin on his face, Gerry says: "Here's a good one. The day Joe Egan got himself locked in the toilet of the Club Bar and they had to get a joiner in to let him out." He explains: "We were drinking Blue Lagoons at lunchtime in the lounge bar and Joe wandered off. "He was away a hell of a long time and I wondered where he was. "When I went into the toilet I could hear him shouting for help. He couldn't open the door and they had to get a joiner in to get him out." This episode is probably best summed up in the Rafferty song title - All the Best People Do It.

You can take the boy out of Paisley... but you can't take Paisley out the boy!

Reclusive rock star Gerry Rafferty tells all about life growing up in his home town.

It was in the unlikeliest of places that Gerry Rafferty got a break and was launched on the road to fame and fortune.

The Orange Halls in Castle Street,Paisley weren't ringing to the sounds of a flute band. Instead, the people were there to hear Billy Connolly and Tam Harvey perform as folk duo, The Humblebums. The pair of them picked their way through a set of tunes and Connolly-inspired ditties on banjo and guitar. In the audience was a young would-be songster, Gerry Rafferty.

After the gig, Gerry invited The Big Yin to a party back at his New Street flat. The popular story goes that Gerry tells Billy: "I write songs as well." And Connolly thinks: "Aye, very good, son. Heard it. But since there's a carry-out on the go, I'm your man for a party." But when Billy Connolly heard Gerry's own songs he decided to ask him to join The Humblebums.

For the first time, Gerry Rafferty tells how he came to meet Billy Connolly and how the Big Yin was so impressed by his songs he asked him to join his band. "Billy Connolly and I were first introduced by Paisley folk singer, Danny Kyle. 'Sadly, Danny has passed away now, but I had known him since I was about 18. I knew that Danny was involved in the folk scene and we were having a few pints in the Tweedsmuir bar, in Silk Street. "Danny was telling me about this guy called Billy Connolly who played in a duo called The Humblebums and he was coming in to meet him. "And sure enough, in came the bold Billy.

"At the time, the pub had a resident pianist and he got people up to sing. Joe Egan was also there and we got up to sing an Everly Brothers number. "Then Billy got up and sang one of his songs, Saltcoats at the Fair - he brought the place down. It was brilliant.

"A few nights later The Humblebums were playing a gig at the Orange Halls, in Castle Street and Danny suggested it would be a good idea if I went along to see them. "After the gig, I invited Billy to my flat because we were having a wee party and we were having a great laugh. "

Knocked out
"I sang a lot of my own songs that night and Billy was really knocked out by them. I think he wanted me to join The Humblebums there and then, but he wanted to talk it over with Tam Harvey.

"Billy and I met a few nights later in the Scotia Bar, in Glasgow - where all the folk music people tended to hang out - and it was that night he asked me to join The Humblebums." Gerry continues: "This was a great move for me. I was developing my songwriting and at the time the folk scene was thriving. It gave me the chance to get my songs heard by people who were willing to sit and listen." Six months after Gerry joined The Humblebums, Tam Harvey left the band. But Gerry Rafferty was going from strength to strength and signed his first record deal with Transatlantic as part of the band.

But as time went on, Billy Connolly was spending more and more of his act on stage building up a comedy routine instead of singing and playing guitar. Gerry, of course, was winning more and more fans with his finely crafted lyrics and melodies. Two albums later The Humblebums were no more. Gerry takes up the story: "The split was absolutely amicable - it was time for the parting of the ways. We were doing our own thing and it was the right thing to do. "I still keep in touch with Billy. These were magical, wonderful times. It allowed my songwriting to develop and The Humblebums gave me a band to perform my songs."

Gerry was contracted to record one more album for Transatlantic - and what a cracker it turned out to be. For many people, the Can I Have My Money Back album ranks alongside the City to City record - Baker Street et al - or any of the Stealers Wheel releases as a superb example Gerry Rafferty's songwriting ability.

But in the beginning, Gerry Rafferty strummed his first chords as a member of the Paisley beat groups The Sensors and The Mavericks. He played places like The Templar Halls, in Old Sneddon Street, Paisley and the St Peter's social club, in Glenburn That's where Gerry and Joe Egan first played and sang together as members of these beat groups. Both had been pupils at St Mary's Primary and St Mirin's Academy, in Paisley but only had vague recollections of seeing each other in the playground.

Vocal fusion
The odd foray to the London-based record companies yielded a single, called Benjamin Day - co-written by Gerry and now world-famous artist and playwright, John 'Patrick' Byrne. Fame and fortune were still distant dreams and Gerry left the beat groups behind when his songwriting began leaning towards the folk scene.

But the Gerry Rafferty / Joe Egan singing and songwriting partnership was rekindled when they formed Stealers Wheel in the early Seventies - the post-Humblebums era. The vocal fusion of their two voices in harmony brought an ever-increasing army of fans. Gerry says: "Joe and I struck up the most amazing relationship. There really was something special between us. The blend of our voices was astonishing." Success both critically and financially was just round the corner with hits like Stuck in the Middle With You and Star topping the charts in both the UK, Europe and America.

But neither of them took to the music industry lifestyle in London town and Gerry amazingly left the band - albeit to return later - as their success was being guaranteed. Gerry explains: "There was a huge amount of pressure on us to do things we didn't particularly want to do.

World-wide hit
"I had qualms about our management company. They wanted us to tour the USA - I didn't, so I left the band. "Eventually though, Joe and I had a talk and I came back to Stealers Wheel." Another album, Ferguslie Park also brought critical and sales acclaim. But months filled with tension and legal problems between the band and management company meant there was only to be one more Stealers Wheel album - Right or Wrong.

Since then Gerry Rafferty has had a huge world-wide hit with his song, Baker Street, from his City to City solo album. And further acclaim with albums like Night Owl, Snakes and Ladders and Shipyard Town. He's still recording albums and there's a new one - called Another World - due out in the next few months. It's a long way from the Orange Halls, in Castle Street...

The deteriorating health of another popular British musician had been subject to even more speculation ahead of his passing at a Bournemouth hospital on the same day. Scottish singer/songwriter Gerry Rafferty was encouraged to listen to and learn Irish folk songs by his mother; his father was a deaf alcoholic who died when the singer was a teenager. Inspired by The Beatles and Bob Dylan, Rafferty began composing with co-writer Joe Egan at school, and continued while he earned a modest living first at a butcher’s shop and then a shoe shop. The pair formed the shortlived Fifth Column (who released the 1966 single ‘Benjamin Day’) and The Maverix before Rafferty’s stint with later comedy-giant Billy Connolly in the folk/jug band The Humblebums. This spawned a couple of recordings with folk label Transatlantic, who, on the duo’s split, also issued Rafferty’s largely ignored debut solo album Can I Have My Money Back? (1971). It was on reuniting with Egan, though, that Rafferty found his first brush with fame under the group name Stealers Wheel. This band surely would have become even bigger had they not been beset with constant line-up alterations and endless litigation. Regardless, Stealers Wheel scored one major international hit with the industry-taunting ‘Stuck In the Middle With You’ (1973, UK/US Top Ten - later used to memorable effect in the Quentin Tarantino movie, Reservoir Dogs) and a lesser one with the equally sardonic ‘Star’ (1974, UK/US Top Forty). Another big problem for the band was Rafferty’s apparent diffidence, which resulted in some problematic television appearances and his subsequent replacement on tour by Mott The Hoople’s Luther Grosvenor during the band’s 1973 peak.
With Stealers Wheel wilting as fast as they’d blossomed, Rafferty was, in 1975, forced to take time out before his next move - legal issues preventing him from recording for three years. His 1978 return was, however, dramatic and sublime.
Rafferty’s career was effectively cemented by the global hit ‘Baker Street’ (1978, UK/US Top Three), which was another song that reflected his growing disenchantment with the industry. In one of pop music’s great ironies, this ubiquitous track passed five million radio plays in 2010, apparently having netted the reluctant star over $100,000 a year in royalties since its release. (By contrast, the record’s iconic alto sax solo was performed by fellow Scotsman Raphael Ravenscroft, who received nothing for his work bar a cheque for £27 - which bounced.) ‘Baker Street’’s parent album City To City (1978) then went platinum, removing the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack from US number one on its way to six-million worldwide sales and securing for Rafferty two further Top Forty singles. In its wake, the follow-up Night Owl (1979) was certified gold on both sides of the Atlantic, birthing a spate of further transatlantic hits in the title cut (1979, UK Top Five), ‘Days Gone Down’ (1979, US Top Twenty) and ‘Get It Right Next Time’ (1979, UK/US Top Forty).
Despite such a fine run, Rafferty never once played in the United States; this continued disinterest in touring subsequent albums caused the artist to slip gradually from the public eye, even though he continued to record into the nineties. Rumour has it that Rafferty had such immense issues with self-esteem that he turned down invitations to play with Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney. Perhaps in an effort to offset these problems, the singer - like his father before him - took to the bottle throughout adulthood, which, in 1990, cost him his twenty-year marriage and was to cause severe problems to the singer further down the line. While Rafferty’s former wife Carla and daughter, Martha, remained a source of support to him, many started distancing themselves from a man who’d become a liability in public. There were apparently ‘uncharacteristic’ tales of wrecked hotel rooms and drunken flights, but what separated these from the usual stories of rock excess were that, in almost every case, Rafferty was alone at the time.
‘It has been through some of my darkest moments that I have written my best songs.’ Gerry Rafferty
When stories emerged in 2008 pertaining to unnatural public behaviour (one report alleged of his urinating in a hotel foyer) and finally his brief disappearance, concerns began to emerge regarding Rafferty’s long-term prospects. The peripatetic musician had, in fact, been wary of telling the media where he was living in the first place. Rafferty’s condition appeared to improve after the announcement of his engagement to Italian fashion designer Enzina Fuschini. Rafferty’s new partner also admitted that she’d had no idea of her partner’s fame until some time into their relationship.
However, in the time-honoured manner of alcoholism, the problem returned and Rafferty was admitted to a hospital in Bournemouth, England during November 2010. After appearing to rally - and despite doctors even suggesting that he might overcome his addiction - Rafferty died quietly from liver failure two months later. His memorial service was attended by many with whom he’d worked and whose lives he’d touched over the decades: the service itself was brief and unceremonious. This was doubtless the way Gerry Rafferty would have wanted it.