Rod Stewart – “Maggie May” Live

I’ll Get On Back Home One Of These Days!

“Maggie May” was written by Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton. It was released in 1971 for his third album “Every Picture Tells a Story.” There’s no mention of the name in the song since the title was from a Liverpool folk song. It almost got left out of the album because it had no melody. This was ranked 131st in “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list by the Rolling Stone magazine.

“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.

The recording was over after only two takes in JUST one session. That’s amazing, right? During that time, there were no cymbals available which was why they had to overdub it. The record company didn’t really believe the track was going to be a huge hit so they placed it on the B-side.

In October 1971 Stewart became the first artist in history to hold all four #1 positions in the British and American singles and albums charts. While “Maggie May” topped the singles tally in both territories, “Every Picture Tells A Story” achieved the same feat on the album charts.

This song just stole my heart away!