I was fortunate to spend some time in the company of Gerry Rafferty. To interview the Scottish music legend was a rare experience … and a highly rewarding one. The singer was wary of the media and disliked being asked to analyse his songs, particularly to those outwith his creative circle.

So to hear him talk about his career with such passion, and be given even a brief insight into his craft was fascinating.

We met at Gleneagles in 2000 when he was promoting his ninth studio album, Another World. As we chatted, seated on the hotel’s manicured lawns, Rafferty’s humour came to the fore. None more so than when the conversation inevitably turned to Quentin Tarantino’s classic 1992 movie, Reservoir Dogs.

The US director had sought Rafferty’s permission to use his song, Stuck In The Middle With You, co-written with Joe Egan, in his film debut. He felt the track, a hit for their group Stealers Wheel in 1973, would be perfect for a pivotal scene.

“Tarantino was a new name to me, so I wanted to know in what context was he planning to use the song,” Rafferty told me. “I asked if they could send me a script or some details of the plot line.”

He duly received the information from the film company by return post. The envelope lay unopened at his home for several weeks. Tarantino wanted the song for the notorious scene where psychopathic hoodlum Mr Blonde, played by Michael Madsen, slices off the ear of a policeman he’d taken hostage … while singing and dancing to it being played on his favourite radio show, K-Billy’s Super Sounds Of The Seventies.

“One night I finally got round to reading it. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I nearly fell out the bed,” said the Paisley-born singer, laughing at the sheer absurdity of it all. I don’t really like violent movies. But when I saw the finished thing it made a bit more sense. It was a very powerful scene in what turned out to be a great movie.”

Rafferty’s eventual enthusiasm for the project does not surprise Hugh Burns.

The Scots guitarist got to see first hand just how committed he was about his work. He played on several of Rafferty’s records, most notably City To City, the album that established him as a major music force on both sides of the Atlantic. It was recorded at Chipping Norton Studios, with producer Hugh Murphy, on a reported meagre budget of £18,000.

“I came late to the album. Gerry had been working on it for some time. The tracks were already laid,” recalled Hugh.

“My job was to add something to them. He would often try two or three different guitarists or keyboard players. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the first guy or he hadn’t played right.

“Gerry was just always looking for something else to see where the music would go. It was a bit like somebody taking shots with a camera and using two different models. He was into that level of detail.So he cherry picked different musicians for different tracks.”

Burns’ diverse music credits include Roy Orbison, Neil Sedaka, Jack Bruce, Billy Joel, Teresa Brewer and Mike Oldfield.

He played the guitar solos on Careless Whisper by Wham! plus Faith and Jesus To A Child by George Michael, and has worked on the soundtracks of movies such as Moulin Rouge, Twelve Monkeys and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. He quickly realised Rafferty and Murphy were creating something very special.

“Gerry was an excellent musician – he played lovely acoustic guitar and also had a great feel. A lot of people don’t talk about that,” he said.

“He had a fantastic relationship with Hugh Murphy who took care of all the technical stuff. It was a pleasure to play for them and always a thrill to be invited into the control room to hear what you’d laid down.”

And the stakes could not have been higher. The first track Rafferty asked him to play on was Baker Street, the hit single which became his signature song.

“The recording was quite advanced. There were bits and pieces of vocals and a few guitar parts already on it. And quite frankly, all of them were excellent,” he revealed.

“One of the first things Gerry said was: ‘I’ve got this idea” … and he sang me what became the famous saxophone intro. The music was in his head. He was just articulating it through his voice.

“He then said: ‘How would you feel about playing that at the front?’ I tried it a few different ways and he was very complimentary.”

But later, Murphy suggested they try the eight-bar riff on saxophone and fellow session player Raf Ravenscroft was drafted in.

“I had played with Raf many times. He had a fantastic feel,” said Hugh.

“He played the intro incredibly well. If I’d been the producer I’d have put the saxophone at the start of the song too.”

In later years, Ravenscroft became involved in a dispute with Rafferty over the origins of the music.

“He was ill advised to challenge that. It was a silly thing to do,” Hugh said.

“Gerry produced an early demo on which he’d played the riff from start to finish on guitar.”

But Burns still got to make his mark on Rafferty’s most famous composition. He played the “seagull wail” guitar solo at the climax of the track.

“Baker Street is quite a long song and seems to have everything before the space for the guitar solo appears,” revealed Hugh.

“Gerry said: ‘I’m looking for something else here’.

“As good as his ear was, he was also great at describing certain things.

“Sometimes he’d say: ‘I like what you’re playing but the attitude is not right’. Then he’d tell me: ‘Imagine you’re playing at Barrowland on a Saturday night and everybody is drunk. Just enjoy yourself and have a flier at it’.

“I took three takes on the solo. It was very spontaneous. You’ve got this incredible track and you just want to burn it out at the end. You’re not trying to be clever or play a lot of notes … just attempting to capture the mood of everything he’s said.

“On a good day – and I’ve had a couple of them – you just do things. You don’t think too much about it. My solos on Careless Whisper or Jesus To A Child could not be more different to Baker Street. But on each, I really captured the mood of the song.”

Burns played on seven tracks including Right Down The Line – the other big hit single – City To City, Stealin’ Time and Waiting For The Day.

Among the top musicians playing on the album were Paul Jones, Barbara Dickson, Rab Noakes and Andy Fairweather Low.

“The album has got a lot of depth to it and a lot of different textures,” said Hugh.

“Gerry’s recordings were much more complex than most of the other pop stuff being made at that time. In some ways, it’s not even fair to call it pop. There was a real authenticity and naturalness about his music. That’s why his songs have lasted so long and not gone out of fashion.”

City To City was released on January 20, 1978. It peaked at No. 6 in the UK and No. 2 in America. But the success of Baker Street and Right Down The Line helped steer it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 six months later.

It displaced the multi-million selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

“I loved the songs on City To City. They were on another level … no question about it,” said Hugh.

“I got to know him pretty well but not in a social sense. We didn’t hang out together. Our relationship was all based on the music. His writing on that album really was wonderful. It was an honour to play for Gerry Rafferty, no doubt about it. And I have no hesitation in saying so. It was a joy to be invited to be on those songs. I’d describe it as like somebody who was a mechanic getting to work on a Rolls Royce. You were playing on great songs with a very special artiste.”

THE Billy Sloan Show is on BBC Radio Scotland every Saturday at 10pm.

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