Baker Street And Other B.S.

Last year, an Indianapolis-area radio station was playing the songs on its playlist in alphabetical order. When i heard the song Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty, I fell into a small funk.

Baker Street was a bland and sappy pop song that came out during the summer of 1977. It was not a happy time for me. I had just started working for a poorly run newspaper in a small town in central Indiana. (Someday I may write about it. But not today)

I also was living with relatives. Neither they nor I enjoyed the situation.

So the first time i heard Baker Street, I thought: Is this the best music to play on the radio? It just can't be.

So there was bad music atop a bad situation at work and life. At the time, I slipped into the blues.

And regarding the blues, there was terrible version of the blues song Black Betty played by a band named Ramjam. It was on its album Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Ram.

As it's said in Yiddish: Oy gevalt!

If I had known about punk rock, I would've listened to it instead. But that type of music wasn't played over the radio back then and there.

But back to last year. After Baker Street was played, the next song was The Ballad of John and Yoko, which is one of my most favorite songs by the Beatles.

When I heard it, I felt a lot happier.