Get It Right Next Time Night Owl Right Down The Line Gerry Rafferty

Get It Right Next Time Album: Night Owl (1978)
Night Owl Album: Night Owl (1978)
Right Down The Line Album: City To City (1978)
by Gerry Rafferty

"Night Owl" is the title track to Gerry Rafferty's third solo album, the follow-up to his best-seller, City To City. At the time, Rafferty had left his native Scotland and relocated to England.

Night Owl was released as a single backed by "Why Won't You Talk to Me?" Like the rest of the album, it was written by Rafferty and produced by Hugh Murphy on the United Artists label. The album was recorded at Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Chipping Norton, England.

The Los Angeles Times called the songs of Night Owl "concise, wry tales of love and ambition, inventively arranged and sung in a dry whine that carries just the right amount of detachment."

The Lyricon solo was played by Raphael Ravenscroft, the guy who performed the famous sax solo on "Baker Street." The Lyricon is a breath-controlled analog synthesizer invented by Bill Bernardi and Roger Noble of Computone Inc. in Massachusetts in the early 1970s. It was the first electronic wind instrument to be constructed.

Gerry Rafferty enjoyed some success with his group Stealers Wheel, particularly the single "Stuck In The Middle With You." However, after the band disbanded, legal issues meant Rafferty could not release any material for three years. Once the disputes were resolved, he released his smash hit "Baker Street." "Right Down The Line" is the follow up.

Rafferty married his fellow Scot, hairdresser Carla Ventilla, in 1970, and here he pays tribute to how she stuck by him through thick and thin. He praises Carla for helping him through all the bad times and tells her every day he loves her more and more.

Rafferty had always been partial to a drink or two, which he alludes to in his 1979 single "Night Owl." But a growing alcohol problem placed his marriage under an intolerable strain, and Carla divorced him in 1990, though they remained close.
"Right Down The Line" peaked at #12 on the Hot 100 and also spent four non-consecutive weeks on top of the adult contemporary chart. In Canada, the song reached number five on both the pop singles and adult contemporary charts.

Bonnie Raitt covered Right Down The Line for her 2012 Slipstream album, adding a faux-reggae groove. Released as a single, it reached #17 on the US Adult album alternative chart.

Right Down The Line plays in the first episode of the second season of the American teen drama TV series Euphoria.