Gerry Rafferty – the Scottish singer/songwriter of such 70s soft-rock staples “Baker Street” and “Right Down The Line” died of liver failure today – apparently after years of battling alcoholism. He was 61.

“Baker Street”, with its masterful, glistening saxophone intro and refrain, was a monster single – reaching #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1978 and still plays Adult Contemporary radio today. “Right Down The Line” reached #12 – both are from Rafferty’s #1 CITY TO CITY LP, which knocked the soundtrack to SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER off the top of Billboard’s Top 200, where it was securely perched for months.

The single version of “Baker Street” (shortened by 2+ minutes)

(2015 update): the original vid posted here was deleted from YouTube, so I had to update this post with a newer video):

“Right Down The Line”:

Rafferty was also a  founding member of Steelers Wheel, whose classic “Stuck In The Middle” was immortalized during a torture scene in Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 cult classic RESERVOIR DOGS.

The original video:

The graphic RESERVOIR DOGS scene: