Posted On: Thursday - July 11th 2019 4:38PM MST
In Topics: Music Bible/Religion
Of course, any Peak Stupidity reader should know that Jerry with a "J" is Jerry Garcia of The Dead. We are big fans of this other Gerry, with a "G", also, the late Gerry Rafferty, featured on the site before here, here, and here. Gerry Rafferty arguably (argue in the comments!) has the smoothest male voice in pop music. In the studio, he was also known to add layers and layers of backing vocals, in his voice, on top, making a sublime sound.
Both of the songs here reference religion, the 1st as the theme, and the 2nd just in the one verse about the Knights of Columbus.
To make up for the slight disparagement of the Millennials in the last post and give equal time to disparagement of the Boomers, we note in the second of these two songs that, even in the late '70's the Boomer way of trashing all things traditional can be seen in the lyrics. Now, the lyrics don't make or break a great song anyway, as we have maintained since, like, forever. Still, the dissing of the Boy Scouts and the Knights of Columbus (a Catholic service club) are not really necessary in the story of the narrator's (Gerry, I guess) finding his way in life through the rock and roll. That's in the 2nd song, and the 1st one is purely anti-religious. I'm guessing Gerry Rafferty was a lapsed Catholic.
Here is Benediction from Stealer's Wheel, one of Mr. Rafferty's bands, in which he shared vocals with Joe Egan. It's from their 1975 album Right or Wrong:
This next one is from the excellent Snakes and Ladders album from 1980 after Mr. Rafferty had made the big-time with the single Baker Street off of City to City. It's I Was a Boy Scout:
Notice the artwork on the cover of both of these albums by John Patrick Byrne, Gerry's artist friend, to whom Gerry dedicated the song Patrick.
Comments:
Moderator
Friday - July 12th 2019 6:01PM MST
PS: Yep, BC, that's off the "City to City" album too. That album has 10 great songs on it - all of them.
BernCar
Friday - July 12th 2019 11:40AM MST
PS: "Right Down the Line" was a favorite.