In the intervening three years, Rafferty had been unable to release any material because of disputes about the band's remaining contractual recording obligations.

He was regularly travelling between his family home in Paisley, Scotland, and London, where he often stayed at a friend's flat on Baker Street in Marylebone.

Rafferty's daughter Martha suggested in 2012 that he could also have taken inspiration from a book he was reading while travelling, Colin Wilson's The Outsider (1956), which explores ideas of alienation and creativity and a longing to be connected.

[9] "Baker Street" features a prominent eight-bar saxophone riff by the session musician Raphael Ravenscroft, played as a break between verses.

[15][9] In the liner notes, Rafferty's collaborator Rab Noakes wrote: "Let's hope [the demo] will, at last, silence all who keep on asserting that the saxophone player came up with the melody line.

"[15] A similar saxophone melody appears on the 1968 Steve Marcus track "Half a Heart", credited to the vibraphonist Gary Burton.

[9] When interviewed by The Atlantic, Burton suggested Rafferty may have subconsciously plagiarised it, likening it to the lawsuit over the 1970 George Harrison song "My Sweet Lord".

[9] The saxophone riff is the subject of an urban legend created in the 1980s by the British writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie.

section in the music magazine NME, Maconie falsely claimed that the broadcaster Bob Holness had played the saxophone part.

Wardlow then supposedly asked the magazine to leave the song at the top, and Kasem was told to re-record his countdown.

"Baker Street" was cited by guitarist Slash in 1987 as an influence on his guitar solo in "Sweet Child o' Mine".

[55] The song is featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto V as part of Los Santos Rock Radio.

2 on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-three hit in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

[60] Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Gerry Rafferty's rainy days anthem is now transferred from the comfortable living room to the heat of clubland.