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[miko2]

Today's Song: Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty

One of my all-time favorite songs, and the one that made me a fan of Gerry Rafferty. Some of his other hits are well known too, but his biggest hits ever were this one, and Stuck In the Middle With You from when he was in the group Stealer's Wheel. Both are brilliant songs.

One of the marks of a great song, I suppose, is how often people cover it. Naturally there have been a few covers of Baker Street. I was kind of surprised to see that the Foo Fighters had covered it... and that it was from their cd The Colour and the Shape. Funny, I have that song, you'd think I'd remember hearing their version of it? Ah, but it turns out they've don a 2007 re-release of this cd with 8 new tracks added. I like the Foo Fighters, but I don't plan on buying this cd again just for some extra tracks, so I downloaded Baker Street and took a pass on the other bonus songs.

Waylon Jennings has covered this song. From the iTunes sample I wouldn't reccomend his version. Rick Springfield has covered it. A lot of other people I don't know have covered it -- Livingstone Taylor, N.Y.City Beats, Three Sides Now, Tischmusik, Carnival in Coal, Jon Faddis, Nathan Parker, Red Sauce -- well, and I'm sure even more people that aren't on iTunes. I can't imagine that any of them are quite as good as the original though.

This is one of the best pop/rock songs ever, in my humble opinion. It also contains one of the most memorable sax lines in rock history.

Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty
Baker Street - Foo Fighters

Baker Street - Jars of Clay