Snakes and Ladders (Gerry Rafferty album)


Snakes and Ladders is the fourth album by Gerry Rafferty. It was released in 1980, following the success of his previous two albums, City to City and Night Owl. The album charted at No. 15 in the UK but only reached No. 61 in the US, while singles achieved number 54 UK, and number 67UK / number 54 US. The album was released on CD in 1998 but deleted soon after that, and it got reissued on CD in August 2012 as a two-CD set with "Sleepwalking."
Some of the songs are available on compilation albums. Four of the songs, "The Garden of England", "I Was a Boy Scout", "Welcome to Hollywood" and "Bring It All Home" were recorded at Beatles producer George Martin's AIR studio in Montserrat. All the songs were original Rafferty compositions, though one – "Johnny's Song" – was a remake of a song which had been previously released by his former band Stealers Wheel, and another – "Didn't I" – was a remake of a song from Rafferty's 1971 album Can I Have My Money Back?.
"The Garden of England" ends with an extract from William Whitelaw's "short, sharp shock" speech that he delivered in 1979.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Gerry Rafferty
  1. "The Royal Mile" – 3:48
  2. "I Was a Boy Scout" – 4:15
  3. "Welcome to Hollywood" – 5:17
  4. "Wastin' Away" – 3:29
  5. "Look at the Moon" – 2:18
  6. "Bring It All Home" – 4:40
  7. "The Garden of England" – 4:08
  8. "Johnny's Song" – 3:25
  9. "Didn't I" – 4:14
  10. "Syncopatin Sandy" – 4:24
  11. "Café Le Cabotin" – 4:51
  12. "Don't Close the Door" – 3:45

Charts

Album
Chart Position
Australia 31
Germany34
Netherlands17
United Kingdom15
United States61

Personnel

Production