1978 Hit With Iconic Sax Solo Ranked Best Soft Rock Song That Actually Rocks
In 1978, something magical happened. Rocks fans were gifted with a soft-rock hit that also actually rocks. A unicorn of the subgenre, Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" is a full-bodied mix of melancholic melody, polished instrumentation, and the greatest saxophone solo of all time that solidifies the track as one of the most recognizable classic rock hits of the era.
Written and sung by Rafferty, with the sax riff performed by Raphael Ravenscroft, "Baker Street" won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Song and soared to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for six weeks, knocking the all-conquering Saturday Night Fever soundtrack off the charts. The track also helped its classic album, City to City, sell nearly 6 million copies. Not to mention, thePaul McCartney sent the Scottish singer-songwriter a telegram praising his "incredible song."
Though labeled under the "soft rock" genre, the track's driving energy and Ravenscroft's killer sax riff deliver a steady groove that when combined with layered instrumentation creates one of the best examples of a soft rock-class rock crossover.
"Even before Foo Fighters covered ‘Baker Street,' I knew this song rocked," American Songwriter, which ranks the song the best "soft rock song from the 1970s that also rocks hard." "You might think a soft rock jam that opens with a sax riff isn't capable of rocking, but you'd be wrong. Scottish singer Gerry Rafferty brings the verses down to a contemplative vibe, setting you up for when the sax inevitably returns. To be clear, I'm writing this without irony. Just crank it, and you'll see what I'm talking about here."
Often described as a doomed artist, Rafferty was riddled with legal troubles when he wrote "Baker Street." A former member of the band Stealers Wheel, he was wading through a ton of lawsuits at the time and channeled all of that tension into his acclaimed hit. Though a private and very anti-rock star, "Baker Street" immortalized Rafferty, cementing him as "the poet of urban disillusionment."
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"He was very guarded," the former head of press at United Artists and Rafferty's manager, Michael Grey, said, via Louder. "He was very sure of his own talent and equally suspicious of how it would be exploited."
"He was a titan, a giant," Barbara Dickson, who contributed backup vocals on Rafferty's City to City album, said. "He could have been as famous as any songwriter in the world, but chose not to be. One thing I do know is that James Taylor wrote Gerry a fan letter about another song on City To City, ‘Whatever's Written in Your Heart.' I rest my case."
"Baker Street" was given new life when Dave Grohl got ahold of it in the '90s. The band released it as a B-side to their hit single "My Hero" on their 2007 10th anniversary reissue of their record, The Colour and the Shape. They, of course, replaced the smooth sax with pounding percussion, keeping with the Seattle rock sound Grohl made legendary with Nirvana, but still it was well received, called a "deeply satisfying cover" by Slate.
No doubt the rendition by the Foo Fighters rocks, but Rafferty's beautiful jazzy rock rendition wins out with us. Rafferty passed away in 2011 at the age of 63. Ravenscroft died three years later at 60. But their legacy of creating the best soft rock song that actually rocks lives on.
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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 5:47 PM.