Bringing Saxy Back to the Front

In praise of the saxophone in rock 'n roll

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https://earworm.substack.com/p/bringing-saxy-back

Photo by Peter Burdon on Unsplash

I’ll get my earworm out of the way first.

It’s the song a vast majority of you would think of if I were to ask you to name a rock and roll song that features saxophone. Not just for iconic solo purposes (for example, the Clarence Clemons solo in Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run” doesn’t count) — but where the saxophone is playing the main melody. The part usually taken by guitar or piano.

Name a rock and roll song that features saxophone.

It’s debatable whether more people learned of Gerry Rafferty’s 1978 song “Baker Street” by being old enough to have heard it on the radio, or from watching The Simpsons. Specifically the episode where Lisa Simpson plays the song's famous sax line to her comatose father Homer in hopes of waking him up.

I would argue that The Simpsons brought “Baker Street” to a whole new generation, thus cementing its place in the upper echelon in the pantheon of recorded music.

It’s also one of the most earworm-contagious songs of all time. Can you hear this sax line just once and move on with your life? No, it’s literally impossible. This song is like that lay’s commercial with the tag line: “Bet you can’t eat just one!”

But, I would argue, even though that saxophone melody is next to impossible to eradicate from your brain, it’s less tortuous than other earworms due to the greatness of the song. Sure, it will eventually drive you mad if you don’t take steps to fight back, but that’s what I’m here for.

5 Surefire Techniques To Beat the Earworm Blues

According to Wikipedia (and Rafferty), “Baker Street”’s iconic melody was intended to be sung, and was demoed on electric guitar. Saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft suggested that he play the line on an alto saxophone when a guitarist failed to arrive at the studio. The distinctive wailing, bluesy sound of the sax riff on 'Baker Street' was a result of the tuning of the alto being slightly flat, and Ravenscroft later considered this to have been a mistake. He said, in an interview in 2011, that listening to 'Baker Street' irritated him because he was out of tune.

Direct evidence that the animated series Family Guy stole liberally from The Simpsons, Wiki adds that:

“the saxophone riff was featured in the Family Guy Season 10 episode "Grumpy Old Man", in which Peter talks about him and Lois having "phone sax", a cutaway shows them playing songs on the saxophone via the phone. Peter plays the riff from "Baker Street" while Lois plays "You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon.”

I haven’t seen this clip and out of respect for Matt Groening I’ll not include of clip of it here.:)

I will include the above clip though!

If you think only old fogeys and Simpsons fans appreciate Gerry Rafferty’s ode to a street he lived on in London during the mid 1970s, here’s proof to the contrary. Watch as several generations of Rafferty and saxophone lovers play the famous song in front of an adoring packed audience.

Also, keeping “Baker Street” from fading into the rear-view mirror is the Yacht Rock channel on SiriusXM. As an avid fan of the genre, I will admit to having listened to that satellite station for a few hundred hours (until I finally got rid of SiriusXM). “Baker Street” was certainly in high rotation, but I wouldn’t say it was the most played song on the channel.

That honor likely goes to England Dan & John Ford Coley’s “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight,” or Christopher Cross’ “Sailing.” Though Toto’s “Africa” was a close 3rd.

I wrote about another Yacht Rock classic a few years ago after watching the unforgettably creepy video for Benny Mardones’ brilliantly histrionic ballad “Into The Night.” This song is a super contagious earworm, so be warned….

There’s no saxophone in this song, but I would be remiss if I didn’t share this video for your viewing pleasure.

But getting back to saxophones….

In the genres of Jazz and Soul/R&B, there are hundreds of examples of the saxophone being used as a main melody instrument. That’s far too wide a topic for a single Substack post. So I’m limiting it to rock.

And there are tons of songs with saxophone solos in rock, but less where the sax is the main melodic force.

It seemed that during the 1980s this began to change. A couple of songs that come to mind that feature sax in a non-solo role are:

and then of course who can forget this one:

I should mention that a saxophone solo will usually appear in addition to the melody line, as it would be a waste to include a catchy sax line and not partner it with a solo. So solos are more than okay in my book.

Also there are lots of bands with horn sections, where a sax will be part of the section — I’m thinking of bands like Chicago, Tower of Power, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and even Oingo Boingo. I’m not counting these bands for this category. Nor am I counting trumpet, trombone or flute. Sorry for you Jethro Tull fans who wanted to chime in about your love for Ian Anderson.

Ska and Rock Steady music, though perhaps leaning toward the Soul/R&B genres, do qualify in my loosey-goosey, arbitrary rules. Ska in particular leaned heavily on saxophone for melody, as expressed in one of my all-time favorite songs by Madness.

There are certainly a ton of other rock songs that feature saxophone as a main melodic instrument. I could list several more tunes, but I want to know what you think.

What songs have I left out? What other great songs deserve a mention?

Add your picks and stories in the comments! I know I’m missing some great ones. Thanks for reading!