Song 165 - Maggie May by Rod Stewart

Arise Sir Rod! With the 90th Queen's birthday honours list being announced yesterday, the news that Rod Stewart had been knighted for services to music made me really happy; and for me Maggie May is the iconic hit that I always think of when I think about Rob, as well as one of my oldest friends, who has always been one of the biggest Rod Stewart's fans that could possible be.

Written in 1971 by Stewart and Martin Quittenton, Maggie May was originally the B side to the single Reason to Believe  until many radio stations in the USA started to play the B side instead of the intended single. Promoters weren't fools and they reversed the single; allowing Maggie May to be released  as a single in October; where it reached number 1 in the charts of both the UK and the US. A feet that has only been achieved by a number of bands including The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel. The song would remain at the top of the UK chart for six weeks and was voted as one of 500 Greatest songs of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2004.

In an interview with Q magazine, Stewart confirmed that the song was written about his first encounter with a woman at a jazz festival in 1961, and the lyrics reflects the conflicting emotions of a 16 year old boy's feeling towards his older lover. Interestingly enough the name Maggie May comes from an old Liverpool Folk song about a prostitute who robbed a sailor at the docks, the folk song is known right around the world and The Beatles did their own version of it on their last studio album Let it be in 1970. (Honestly, I don't plan all these Beatles references.)

Maggie May comes from Rod Stewart's third solo Album Every Picture Tells a Story, also release in 1971. The album gained critic success when it was first released and had stayed one of the most important albums of his career. Featuring a mixture of rock, blues, country, solo and pop, the album took the number 1 slot in both the UK and the US. As well as the single Maggie May, Rod also included covers of That all right (Mamma) (The first single that Elvis released) and Tomorrow is a long time (Bob Dylan) and shows the range of Rod's voice.

With a career that dates back to 1961, it is perhaps no surprise that he has been knighted for his services to music. I recently caught up with my friend, the Rod Stewart fan, who had just purchased a vintage record player and is currently building up a record collection of vintage Rod Stewart's album, and we muse at the success of this music legend, and his ability to develop his style of music to fit the age of his voice, and having sold over 100 million records worldwide, whatever his formula is, it is obviously working.

When I heard the news of the knighthood, I thought back a moment of madness, we had as  children, when my friend asked our local record store if she could have the promotional material they had used to for the new Rod Stewart album and after they agreed taken it back to her bedroom so she could proudly hang it from her celling (I think it was a cupboard spanner). We all thought she was a bit bonkers with her loyalty to Rod Stewart back then, but I think now, she had an appreciation for a music icon that we stupidly didn't get. I should have realised sooner that there was something in her choice of music especially as, for her, Rod supports the wrong Scottish football team.

Enjoy Saturday's choice of music:
Maggie May by Sir Rod Stewart

Written by Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton
Released: October 1971
Album: Every Picture tells a Story