Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DLXIX--Rod Stewart: Maggie May

 I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now...I'm (only six days?) late again....

My introduction to this week's tune is probably the fact that I was born.  It's one of rock's most iconic songs, and beyond a shadow of a doubt the signature song of this week's artist.  And it's probably somewhere on just about every list of the greatest rock songs ever, and most deservedly so....

Though I really love (early) Rod Stewart, I probably wouldn't put him in my top ten favorite artists ever, but oddly enough, no one is even close when it comes to appearances here on Friday Night Jukebox.  Thus far, Stewart has had three posts on singles of his (Vol. III--going back a a long way! Vol. XXXVI, and Vol. CCCLIV), one post on my album of the year writings (amazingly enough, this week's tune is from that very album--Vol. CCXXXII), three posts as the lead singer of the Faces (Vol. CCXXVI, Vol. CDVII, and Vol. DXXXVI), and one as the lead vocalist on a Jeff Beck single (Vol. CCCXXXI).  Which means this is the ninth time his work has been featured here, which is really saying something (to steal a song title).  And somehow, through all of those, I managed to never post a link to Stewart's discography, which I'll rectify here.  Stewart released his last studio album in 2024 and was on tour this year at the ripe old age of eighty until illness forced him to cancel dates.

"Maggie May" was released in 1971 on the definitive--and one of my five favorite albums of all time--Rod Stewart album, Every Picture Tells a Story.  The single hit #1 (with a bullet in America!) in both the U.S. and the U.K., while reaching the top five in nine other countries, somehow hitting only #11 in Germany (what the fuck, Germany?  It hit number 8 in fucking Zimbabwe for Christ's sake....).  It's listed at #130 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time, and at #182 on Billboard's

list of their All-Time charts.

Fun Fact:  "Maggie May" was originally released as the B-side of "Reason to Believe."  Radio stations quickly picked up on the brilliance of the B-side and turned it into a hit.  Good call radio stations!

This week's tune is kind of a cheat, as I wrote about it when I wrote about Every Picture Tells a Story:

"Maggie May":  The song that made Stewart a star--and rightfully so.  A #1 hit here and in the U.K., it's smart pop for the masses as Stewart spins the tale of a young man in love with an older woman who's making a fool of him, but he just can't leave her even though he knows he should.  Great drumming again from Waller, great guitar from Wood, stunning mandolin work from Lindsay Jackson, and an impassioned performance from Stewart.  Little known fact:  there's an instrumental intro to the song called "Henry" that in some versions is treated as an intro and in others as a separate (though at 32 seconds, very short) song.  Favorite line:  "I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school/Or steal my Daddy's cue and make a living out of playing pool/ Or find myself a rock and roll band that needs a helpin' hand..."

Not much I can add to that, other than that the song is actually autobiographical)--I just felt the song was so good that it deserved its very own post.  I have a hunch there's a couple of other songs featured on album posts that will get this very same treatment someday....

Lyric Sheet:  [Blogger's Note:  Going to use a different line than the one above because it's my prerogative, to steal another song title....] "Maggie, I wished I'd never seen your face/I'll get on back home one of these days/[Another Blogger's Note:  One of the truly great "ooh-oohs of all-time] Ooh, ooh..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXXXII--Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells a Story (Album)

It's my birthday week (hit the big six oh this year) so we have our yearly installment of "It's My Birthday So I'll Review an Album If I Want To..."

This year Rod Stewart's album Every Picture Tells a Story is the feature LP.  As these album posts tend to run a wee bit long, we'll dispense with the obligatory stolen from Wikipedia bio, and just note a few facts about the album.  In addition to having one of the truly great album titles and being one of my five favorites LP's of all-time, Every Picture Tells a Story was a number one hit for Stewart both in his native U.K. and here in the U.S. of A.  It finished a surprisingly weak #172 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time (I wondered at the time if its relatively low rank--in Rolling Stone's ten year anniversary issue the album showed up on more of their critics' best of lists than just about any other music of their first ten years save the Velvet Underground's "Heroin"--was because in the late 70's Rod the Mod decided he'd rather make money than art), but is generally considered one of the best albums of the 1970's.  Finally, as Stewart was still singing with the Faces at the time, it includes a heaping helping of their musicianship (especially Ronnie Wood on guitar and Ian McLagan on keyboards/piano).

And away we go...

"Every Picture Tells a Story":  Thanks to Micky Waller's explosive drumming this one is literally a detonation of an opening.  The story of the young Stewart traveling around Europe and trying to find himself (and coming to understand that he'd already found himself at home) is easily the best song Stewart ever did and easily one of the ten best rock and roll songs of all-time.  A masterpiece on the insecurities and the beauty of youth.  Favorite line:  "I couldn't quote you no Dickens, Shelley, or Keats/'Cause it's all been said before/Make the best out of the bad just laugh it off/You didn't have to come here anyway..."

"Seems Like a Long Time":  Stewart and a piano (with some fine backing vocals from Madeleine Bell and friends) in this introspective turn on how slowly time churns as we wait for deliverance from both the personal and the worldly.  Gospelesque at times and really showcases what a magnificent voice Stewart has been blessed with.  Favorite line:  "War time is only the other side of peace time/But if you've ever seen how wars are won/You know what it's like to wish peace time would come..."

"That's All Right"/"Amazing Grace":  Song 1:  In which Stewart gets to show off this blues chops in an old blues standard by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, and the band gets to show off its chops in several different incarnations (another shout out for Waller).  Mostly just a lot of fun.  Song 2:  All I'll say is that when I was in the grips of depression in the nineties, I awoke one morning to this song on the alarm radio and though I'm not a religious man, it gave me a moment's peace at a time when such moments were few and far between.  Song 1 Favorite line:  "I'll be leaving here tomorrow/Leaving here for sure/You ain't gotta be bothered with me/Hangin' round your door..."  Song 2 Favorite line:  No need--you already know the words.

"Tomorrow Is a Long Time":  Stewart covers an unreleased Dylan tune (Dylan would record it himself some years later for his Greatest Hits II) that sure sounds like it should have come from his Nashville Skyline sessions.  Much like "Seems Like a Long Time" this one tells us the waiting is the hardest part (seems I've heard that before...).  A ballad with lots of strings, a quiet portrait of a man recalling the beauty of his missing lover and his pain of being without her.  Favorite line:  "I can't see my reflection in the mirror/I can't speak the sounds that show no pain/I can't hear the echoes of my footsteps/Or remember the sound of my own name..."

"Maggie May":  The song that made Stewart a star--and rightfully so.  A #1 hit here and in the U.K., it's smart pop for the masses as Stewart spins the tale of a young man in love with an older woman who's making a fool of him, but he just can't leave her even though he knows he should.  Great drumming again from Waller, great guitar from Wood, stunning mandolin work from Lindsay Jackson, and an impassioned performance from Stewart.  Little known fact:  there's an instrumental intro to the song called "Henry" that in some versions is treated as an intro and in others as a separate (though at 32 seconds, very short) song.  Favorite line:  "I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school/Or steal my Daddy's cue and make a living out of playing pool/ Or find myself a rock and roll band that needs a helpin' hand..."

"Mandolin Wind":  Considered by some (though not me) to be the best song on the album, Stewart weaves the tale of a prairie couple surviving the full force of nature and of the man's love for his wife for standing by him through thick and thin.  Amazingly enough, the song contains some mandolin playing (though who it was remains something of a mystery), and some more nice guitar work from Wood.  An understated vocal performance from Stewart and a compelling narrative.  A great song.  Favorite line:  "When the rain came I thought you'd leave/'Cause I knew how much you loved the sun/But you chose to stay, stay and keep me warm/Through the darkest nights, I've ever known..."

"(I Know) I'm Losing You":  For all intents and purposes, this is a Faces song as the entire band is featured and each gets to showcase their particular instrument...and does so brilliantly.  This is the song that probably took me the longest to appreciate, but it is sheer genius.  It's a cover of a 1966 hit by the Temptations about a man who knows he's losing his lover to another man and he's angry, sad, beaten, and the Faces lay it all on the line in this ominous ode.  When the band begins to hum the tune it never ceases to amaze me how perfect--and audacious--it is.  A band at its peak.  Favorite line:  "When I look into your eyes a reflection of a face I see/Oh Lord I'm losing you/I'm hurt, downhearted, and worried girl/'Cause that face doesn't belong to me..."

"Reason to Believe":  Stewart closes the album with a folk tune written by Tim Hardin.  I've never been able to figure out if the protagonist is singing to a lying lover or to God (maybe one and the same?) but it's a beautiful ballad and unsurprisingly, Stewart's vocals nail it (including a brief a cappella turn).  The song should be featured in hymnals spanning the globe--a heavenly ending to an otherworldly album.  Favorite line:  "If I listened long enough to you/I'd find a way to believe that it's all true/Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried/Still I look to find a reason to believe..."

As Youtube has fucked up album videos (to put it mildly), I'll leave you with an album cover and a link to Spotify:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XXXVI--Traditional: Amazing Grace

An amazing woman died this week.

She never held an elected office.  She never made a movie, starred in a TV show, or wrote a book.  She wasn't a cultural or political icon and she'll never appear in a Who's Who of any sort.  She would have been mortified if anyone tried making her day to day life into a reality show.  And she never won any awards--though her kids would have voted her Mom of the Year on numerous occasions if such an award existed.   But she survived a horrendous auto accident that shattered her leg and wrist, alcoholism (almost thirty years sober at her death), tobacco, and breast cancer--and she would have told you that quitting smoking was the hardest of the four.  She watched her husband lose two jobs to mills closing in a slowly dying steel industry, and uprooted her life twice to move across country and state to state to keep the life they knew together going.  She later watched him die far too young from lung cancer, and witnessed a daughter losing a son to another horrendous auto accident.  Along the way she raised three pretty decent kids, helped nurture eleven incredible grandchildren, and enjoyed four great-grandchildren of whom even bigger things are hoped.  Somewhere along the way she found time to make sandwiches weekly for bag lunches for the homeless, baby-sat kids for people looking for work during the Great Recession, lead rosary prayer groups, and kept the cleanest house in recorded human history.

She lived to be eighty-years-old, and most importantly, she was my Mom.

She told me once that "Amazing Grace" was her and my father's favorite hymn to sing when they were at mass, and that's why it's this week's featured tune on Jukebox.  After I failed miserably at writing the Great American Novel, I ended up in dire financial straits, and I lived with my Mom for a year while I tried to get back on my feet monetarily.  One night while my Mom was cooking dinner I was practicing my guitar, and I picked out "Amazing Grace."  She came from the kitchen to watch me play in her family room momentarily, then went back to making dinner, all the while humming along as I continued to play "Amazing Grace."  That's the type of thing you recall when someone you've  loved since the moment you were born passes away.

The lyrics to "Amazing Grace" were written by John Newton, and the melody, near as I can tell, is from some ancient piece of some sort that I didn't really much care enough about to learn of.  I chose the song because my Mom liked it.  I chose the version by Rod Stewart  from Every Picture Tells a Story because I love the instrumental guitar intro and very few people on this planet sing as beautifully as Rod Stewart did back in the day.

"How sweet the sound," very much indeed.

Thanks for everything, Mom.

Enjoy:

Peace,,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. III--Rod Stewart: "Handbags and Gladrags"

It may be hard for some to believe in light of Rod Stewart's eighties pop crap and his crooner persona since the early 2000s, that up until the late seventies Stewart was on a plane with the Rolling Stones, the Who, Bob Dylan, and any number of other rock icons from the sixities and seventies.  You would be hard pressed to find a top 100 rock albums of all time that didn't include (and rightfully so) his seminal work, Every Picture Tells a Story, or a top 500 singles of all time that doesn't include "Maggie May."

And yet, this week's single is one of Stewart's lesser known songs (though it found popularity later as the theme for the BBC's The Office and a semi-hit for The Stereophonics), "Handbags and Gladrags."

While the song strongly showcases Stewart's signature blue-eyed soul vocals (see also Van Morrison or Darryl Hall), the most amazing thing about the song is how it turns convention on its ear--rock 'n' roll is proudly rebellious, but this song is ostensibly about a father telling his school skipping daughter about the fleeting whims of youth--and it works.  Just a beautiful song....

Enjoy:

Peace,

emaycee