Music today started with that odd thing, the third album by a band that people only remember for one hit, Stuck In The Middle With You by Stealers Wheel, which was on their first album released in 1972. So, when I play a record like this (Right Or Wrong – 1975), I wonder if anybody in the world is also playing it. Impossible to know but as band member Gerry Rafferty was well-known for his solo hit Baker Street, I suppose some people might have gone back to investigate his previous band especially after the band hit appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. Rafferty was always a good songwriter and although he and partner in the band Joe Egan were boyhood friends in Paisley, Scotland, the band was fraught with tension. Rafferty left after the first album so they toured without him, engaging Luther Grosvenor as lead singer. If you watch the video for Stuck In The Middle With You, you may notice that Rafferty, the lead singer and person who wrote the lyrics, isn’t in it. Joe Egan and the musicians appeared without him and as it was their first hit Rafferty wasn’t as yet well-known enough for it to be a problem in its promotion. He was only persuaded to return to the band because of its success. The second album Ferguslie Park (1973) also had a hit, mostly forgotten, written by Joe Egan and called Star. By the time the third album Right Or Wrong was released the band had already broken up. The music nerds out there will know that before Stealers Wheel, Rafferty was in a band with Billy Connolly called The Humblebums. Make sure you watch the clip from Conan where Connolly reminisces about those days. Rafferty, a famous drinker, died of liver failure in 2011.

Music Of The Daze

The musical musings in this post are an excerpt from my daily blog, TO WHERE I AM NOW, featured on my main website. See more pictures and read the full post here.