''On a Wing & a Prayer'' is the seventh studio album by

Gerry Rafferty Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947– 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in th ...

. The album includes three tracks co-written with Rafferty’s brother Jim, also a singer-songwriter, who had been signed to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

in the 1970s. The music was heavily influenced by Rafferty's divorce from his wife Carla Ventilla in 1990. They were married for 20 years.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Gerry Rafferty; except where indicated. #"Time's Caught Up on You" - 4:21 #"I See Red" (Jim Rafferty) - 4:05 #"It's Easy to Talk" - 4:29 #"I Could Be Wrong" - 3:59 #"Don't Speak of My Heart" (Gerry Rafferty, Jim Rafferty) - 5:55 #" Get Out of My Life Woman" (

Allen Toussaint Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descri ...

) - 4:11 #"Don't Give Up on Me" - 4:59 #"Hang On" - 4:00 #"Love and Affection" - 6:25 #"Does He Know What He's Taken On" - 4:56 #"The Light of Love" (Gerry Rafferty, Jim Rafferty) - 4:57 #"Life Goes On" - 5:22

Personnel

* Gerry Rafferty – lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar (1, 3, 4, 6, 7), high-string guitar (5) * Paweł Rosak – keyboards, bass programming (1, 2, 4, 6, 12), drum programming, percussion programming (1-4, 8, 10), brass programming (6, 10) * Hugh Burns – electric guitars (1, 5, 8, 11), guitars (2, 6, 12), lead guitar (4, 9), rhythm guitar (4), electric rhythm guitar (10) *

B.J. Cole Brian John Cole is an English pedal steel guitarist, who has long been active as a session and solo musician. Coming to prominence in the early 1970s with the band Cochise, Cole has played in many styles, ranging from mainstream pop and rock t ...

–

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

(1, 3) *

Bryn Haworth Bryn Haworth (born 29 July 1948) is a British Christian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pioneer of Jesus music in mainstream rock. Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, UK, he has released some twenty-two albums and several singles since the 1970s ...

–

bottleneck guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

(3, 7, 8, 10),

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

(7) *

Jerry Donahue Jerry Donahue (born September 24, 1946, Manhattan, New York City) is an American guitarist and producer primarily known for his work in the British folk rock scene as a member of Fotheringay and Fairport Convention as well as being a member of ...

– electric guitar (10) *

Mo Foster Mo Foster (born Michael Ralph Foster, 22 December 1944) is an English multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, solo artist, author, and public speaker. Through a career spanning over half a century, Foster has toured, recorded, and perf ...

– bass guitar (3, 5, 7-12),

fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

(6) * Arran Ahmun –

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

tom drum A tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, though floor toms can go as la ...

(1, 4, 11),

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

s (1),

talking drum The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitc ...

(1), shaker (1, 7),

cowbell A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...

(1, 2),

agogô An agogô ( Yoruba: ''agogo'', meaning bell) is a single or a multiple bell now used throughout the world but with origins in traditional Yoruba and Edo music and also in the samba '' baterias'' (percussion ensembles). The agogô may be the old ...

s (1),

finger cymbals Zills or zils (from Turkish 'cymbals'), also called finger cymbals, are small metallic cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances. They are called () in Egypt. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells. In Western music, several pa ...

(1),

castanets Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a simil ...

(2), brushes (7) *

Mel Collins Melvyn Desmond Collins (born 5 September 1947, Isle of Man) is a British saxophonist, flautist and session musician. Collins has played in several progressive rock groups, having been a member of King Crimson on two occasions (the first from ...

– baritone saxophone (1, 8, 10, 12), soprano saxophone (2) *

Andrew Pryce Jackman Andrew Pryce Jackman (13 July 1946 – 16 August 2003) was an English keyboardist, arranger and composer who worked with many leading figures in British popular music. His most successful project was as the arranger and conductor of the ''Classi ...

– string arrangements (5, 9, 11, 12), bassoon arrangements (5), horn and oboe arrangements (9), brass and

cor anglais The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

arrangements (11) *

Gavyn Wright Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London Session Orchestra and Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He is best known for his orchestral arrangements on pop productions (including Elton John, Simply Red, Bush, Mecano, Oasis, ...

– string leader (5, 9, 11, 12) *

Liane Carroll Liane Carroll (born 9 February 1964, London) is an English vocalist, pianist and keyboardist. Jazz critic Dave Gelly of ''The Observer'' has described her as "one of the most stylistically flexible pianists around, with a marvellous, slightl ...

– backing vocals (1-5, 7) * Joe Egan – backing vocals (1-5, 7, 8, 10) * Melanie Harrold – backing vocals (1-5, 7) * Julian Littman – backing vocals (1-5, 7, 8, 10) *

Nicky Moore Nicholas Charles Moore (21 June 1947 – 3 August 2022) was an English blues, rock and heavy metal singer, who was best known as a member of the British band Samson. He replaced Bruce Dickinson who left the band to join Iron Maiden in 1982. ...

– backing vocals (1-5, 7, 8, 10) * Jim Rafferty – backing vocals (4, 7)

Production

* Gerry Rafferty – producer * Hugh Murphy – producer, recording, engineer * Barry Hammond – engineer * Doug Cook – assistant engineer * Mike Ross-Trevor – string recording * Dan Priest – mixing * Jim Rafferty – sleeve design, artwork * Chris McHugo – cover photography * SRS Typesetting – typography {{Authority control Gerry Rafferty albums 1992 albums Polydor Records albums