Rod Stewart » Tracks » Maggie May

Rod Stewart – Maggie May (5:13)

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About This Track

“Maggie May” is a song written by singer Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton and recorded by Stewart in 1971 for his album Every Picture Tells a Story.
“Maggie May” expresses the ambivalence and contradictory emotions of a young man involved in a relationship with an older woman, and was written from Stewart’s own experience. In the January, 2007 issue of Q magazine, Stewart recalled: “Maggie May was more or less a true story, about the first woman I had sex with, at the Beaulieu Jazz Festival.”

It was initially released in the United Kingdom as the B-side of the single “Reason to Believe,” but DJs became fonder of the B-side and, after two weeks on the charts, the song was reclassified, with “Maggie May” becoming the A-side. However, the single continued to be pressed with “Maggie May” as the B-side.

In October 1971, the song went to number one in the UK and simultaneously topped the charts in the United States. Every Picture Tells a Story achieved the same status at the same time, a feat achieved by only a handful of performers, notably The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and Beyoncé.

The song was Stewart’s first substantial hit as a solo performer and launched his solo career. It remains one of his best-known songs. A famous live performance of the song on Top of the Pops saw The Faces joined onstage by DJ John Peel, who pretended to play the mandolin (the mandolin player on the recording was Ray Jackson of Lindisfarne). Stewart himself was amused by the song’s success, saying, “I still can’t see how the single is such a big hit. It has no melody. Plenty of character and nice chords, but no melody.
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  • Stephen777777

    ENGLAND-ENGLAND-ENGLAND

    11 days ago

  • MIKEH3875

    This song right here was the very first song i ever remember hearing and liking as a young kid growing up in the late 70's on through the 80's.Every time we would move when i was little from Tennessee to Texas and vice versa i always heard this one song every time when we went on road trips.I think its probably the first song i ever liked growing up.

    25 days ago

  • foisonlee

    Switched from spotify to last.fm now!

    last month

  • Marjo47

    still a good one

    last month

  • tcc67

    back in fort McMurray again

    last month

  • eisohs

    Saw Rod in Vegas last Friday. It was great, he was great. Still can really put on a fantastic show.

    last month

  • sirthorty

    he´s a genius!

    last month

  • thebeatch

    loved this from the first time i heard it, in lords of dogtown.

    last month

  • PULPMANRAV

    YEAH!!!

    last month

  • fredietal

    Great

    March 2012

  • BikerWriter

    This is from back when he was good. (1LightComing@blogspot.com)

    March 2012

  • NorthernExile

    Great track and so many memories of that long sunny summer. One of the songs I sang loudly to myself whilst tractor driving in big wide empty fields of Yorkshire. Love the mandolin.

    February 2012

  • Miss-Kei

    This reminds of my mother. :D

    February 2012

  • Pekinpah

    Great Rod!

    February 2012

  • lauraftima

    ¡SIEMPRE VIGENTE ROD!!! MUY BUENO!!!

    February 2012

  • mannequinchaos

    <3 I love this :333

    February 2012

  • escarabat94

    (:-))

    January 2012

  • susan-j-

    wow! memories of my youth..

    January 2012

  • ravenclaw94

    This is a lovely tune.

    January 2012

  • danc6433

    "This song was played so much over the radio that now when I hear it, I want to veer my car off the road and into a 12 foot styro foam cup. Well, I don't want to get hurt. " LOL, true! But there are probably 2-3 songs I could listen to over and over, and just never get sick of them. This is one. Struck a nerve, I guess.

    January 2012
See all 593 shouts

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