One song “completely destroyed” Sting and made him want to have a number one
The North-South divide is more prominent in England than many would think. Proud Northerners often lament the trip down South to find better work in the affluent capital Like so many others, moving to London from North Shields was a seismic moment in the life of Sting.
As a performer, the only move for an aspiring young artist was to take the bull by the horns and head to the big city. He’d already gained experience performing in his local area, but in 1977, the time had come for Gordon Sumner to spread his wings and attempt to make his dreams come true in the capital.
Shortly after relocating to London, Sumner formed The Police, and they successfully became one of the biggest bands in the world. However, there was a period of hardship upon moving to the Big Smoke, where he was living in a bedsit in Bayswater and playing to empty rooms with his band.
As much as this was a time of immense uncertainty, it was a formative experience which turned him into the man he is today. It is so often the case that hardship tends ot harden the artist into a steelier performer, or engage a thirst within them that they never knew was there. Sting was exactly the same. But it wasn’t just the troubles he faced, but the brighter moments that broke through the dark clouds.
As the musician didn’t have much money to spare, he relied upon his radio for entertainment, and it usually delivered the goods. While the number of stations available dwarfs in comparison with the musical choices consumers have at their fingertips in the modern world, it was enough for Sting. Most importantly, the radio allowed him to discover songs that improved his life.
One particular song that burst into his life while in the bedsit was Gerry Rafferty’s ‘Baker Street’, famed for its iconic saxophone solo. During an interview on BBC Radio 2 for the segment Tracks Of My Years, The Police frontman detailed his affinity with the track and explained how it spurred him onto greatness.
“Again, this was a time I was living in a bedsit in Bayswater,” he recalled. “I used to have the radio on a lot, and there were two hits that year, one, ‘Wuthering Heights’, and the other one was Gerry Rafferty’s ‘Baker Street’. That saxophone solo in the beginning completely destroyed me. It made me wish that I was in the charts too because these were number one records”.
Sting continued: “[I thought] ‘What it must be like to have a number one record?’ It was only a few months later that we had a song in the charts, so I must have been dreaming really hard. But I just remember that wonderful song. It captures so much of that time for me.”
The saxophone on ‘Baker Street’ was played by Raphael Ravenscroft, who was never paid for his contribution to the track. Despite receiving a cheque for £27, it bounced when he tried to bank it. Therefore, he chose to hang it on the wall of his solicitor.
However, while many would have been angry at the lack of payment for producing such a famous piece of music, Ravenscroft was relieved. “If I had received pots of money, I wouldn’t have known what to do. It might have destroyed me,” the late musician once quipped.
Ravenscroft’s only gripe with ‘Baker Street was his performance, noting in a radio interview in 2011: “I’m irritated because it’s out of tune. Yeah, it’s flat. By enough of a degree that it irritates me at best.”
Listen to ‘Baker Street’ below.
