What was Rod Stewart's biggest selling hit?

1. “Maggie May” This is the single that heralded Stewart's arrival as one of the decade's most distinctive voices when it topped the Hot 100 and the U.K. pop charts.

azcentral.com - 20 best Rod Stewart songs, from 'Maggie May' to 'Hot Legs'

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Ed Masley

The Republic | azcentral.com

Here’s a look back at Rod Stewart's greatest songs — not one of which, it should be noted, is found on an album of standards. These songs capture Stewart in his misspent youth, when he took one of rock and roll’s most soulful voices and applied to classics as timeless as Tim Hardin’s “Reason to Believe” and “Maggie May.” He also made plenty of awe-inspiring records as a member of the Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. And those Python Lee Jackson recordings with Stewart on vocals are great. But this list doesn’t get into the group stuff, just the solo years.

20. “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)”

You may not think of country when you think of Stewart, but maybe you should. It clearly suits him better than Sinatra songs. This honky-tonk weeper, written by Glenn Sutton, was a Top 10 country hit for Jerry Lee Lewis in 1968. And Stewart had a No. 4 hit in the U.K. with his version, featured on 1972’s “Never a Dull Moment.” His delivery really nails the pathos of these beer-drenched lyrics as a man resigns himself to staying in the bar to drink his life and happiness away until it drives his woman to desert him.

19. “Twistin’ the Night Away”

It’s not the only Sam Cooke song he’s tackled, but it is the one that feels the most like a Rod Stewart song. He even re-recorded this one in the ’80s for the soundtrack to a film called “Innerspace.” But the raucous recording on 1972’s “Never a Dull Moment” is the way to go. It sounds like Stewart and assorted Faces breaking curfew in a rock club in the best way possible. The lead guitar is even looser than the vocal (also in the best way possible). It peaked at No. 59 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

18. “Gasoline Alley”

A homesick young man dreams of going back to “where I started from,” which in this case is Gasoline Alley. “When the weather’s better and the rails unfreeze and the wind don’t whistle ’round my knees,” he sings, “I’ll put on my wedding suit and catch the evening train/I’ll be home before the milk’s upon the door.” Written by Stewart and the Faces’ Ronnie Wood, the title track of 1970’s “Gasoline Alley,” Stewart’s second album, is a rustic country-rocker with plenty of mandolin.

17. “You’re In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)”

Stewart wrote this acoustic-guitar ballad himself, and it’s one of his best. And the vulnerability of the vocals helps, whether sighing his way through the scene-setting “I didn’t know what day it was when you walked into the room/I said ‘hello’ unnoticed/You said ‘goodbye’ too soon” or pledging his devotion in ways that could only have occurred to Stewart. When “a big-bosomed lady with the Dutch accent” tried to change his point of view? “Her ad lib lines were well-rehearsed, but my heart cried out for you.”

16. “The First Cut is the Deepest”

Stewart’s soulful rasp sounds right at home on this wistful acoustic-guitar-driven ballad by Cat Stevens, telling a new girl his heart’s still too broken to give her all his love but “if you want, I’ll try to love again” with a bittersweet shrug. He’s wounded but willing, backed by subtle orchestration with obvious echos of the Motown years. Included on 1976’s “A Night on the Town,” it topped the U.K. charts and peaked at No. 21 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

15. “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”

A lot of people hate this song, despite it being one of Stewart’s most successful singles ever, having spent four weeks at No. 1 on its way to becoming the singer’s first platinum single. But as a relic of the days when rock-and-rollers from the Rolling Stones to Paul McCartney felt the need to meet this disco situation on the dance floor, it’s actually help up surprisingly well. The bass groove does exactly what it has to do, the sax break is brilliant, and Stewart’s playful delivery is just what the lyrics require. You can’t just sing a line as ludicrous as “If you want my body and you think I’m sexy/Come on sugar let me know.” You need to sell it. And he does. There’s also something to be said for having rhymed the line “They catch a cab to his high-rise apartment” with “At last he can tell her exactly what his heart meant.” Stewart co-wrote “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” with drummer Carmine Appice — which may explain the groove — and Duane Hitchings.

14. “Blondes (Have More Fun)”

A tipsy swagger through the reckless rock and roll abandon of the Faces years, his final single of the ’70s, co-written with Jim Cregan, was the title track to the album that gave the world “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy,” Stewart’s disco smash. So, that’s a little weird. But he’s clearly committed himself to capturing the carefree essence of his raucous youth here, gleefully announcing, “I wanna girl that’s semi intelligent/Gimme a blonde that’s six-feet-two, boy” and ending the song with a series of dog-like yelps. It should be noted that Stewart was a famed peroxide blonde at that point, so he kind of gets a pass on the stereotypes he’s celebrating here. We do the same for Kanye West and Jay-Z.

13. “I’d Rather Go Blind”

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A classic soul song first recorded by the legendary Etta James in 1967, “I’d Rather Go Blind” was one of many emotional highlights of 1972’s “Never a Dull Moment.” It’s brilliantly phrased for maximum impact, from the way he sets the scene with “Something told me it was over when I saw you and him talking” to the repetition in “I would rather, I would rather go blind, girl.” And the arrangement features all the perfect signifers of the golden age of soul, from the Memphis horns to the melancholy organ fills by Ian McLagan of the Faces.

12. “Angel”

The Jimi Hendrix original will always be the way to go, but Stewart definitely made this song his own — and took it to the pop charts in the process, hitting No. 40 on the Billboard’s Hot 100. Featured on 1972’s essential “Never a Dull Moment,” Stewart’s version is grittier, more soulful, with less echo and more glockenspiel. And the phrasing is brilliant throughout, from the way he sings “about the sweet love between the moon and the deep blue sea” to “She said she’s goin’ now, come back tomorrow.”

11. “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)”

This was Stewart’s second song to top the Hot 100, five years after “Maggie May.” And it’s a slicker effort, that’s for damn sure, from the guitar sound to the cheesy sax break. But the melody is classic Stewart, and his rasp was working overtime on the seduction line, the perfect instrument to put across such quintessential Stewart come-ons as “loosen up your pretty French gown” and “Upstairs, before the night’s too old.” A highlight of 1976’s “A Night on the Town,” it spent eight weeks at No. 1 here in the States. MORE MUSIC: Get the Things to Do app | Latest concert announcements | Best Phoenix concerts this week

10. “The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)”

Stewart wrote this one himself — a heartfelt ballad paying tribute to a gay man killed in New York. Factor in the year of its release, 1976, and Stewart’s matter-of-fact acceptance of a man he says “was gay, I guess/nothin’ more or nothin’ less” amounts to something of a bold, progressive statement. The ending may not be as poignant as it could have been if Georgie’s murder had resulted from a hate crime rather than a random act of violence in a mugging-gone-awry. But it brings chills regardless. And the singer’s heart has rarely been more in the right place. In 1995, Stewart told Mojo, “That was a true story about a gay friend of the Faces. He was especially close to me and Mac. But he was knifed or shot, I can’t remember which.” A highlight of 1976’s “A Night on the Town,” it peaked at No. 30 on the Hot 100.

9. “You Wear It Well”

The highest-charting U.S. single from 1972’s “Never a Dull Moment,” this bittersweet mid-tempo rocker peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 while topping the U.K. pop charts. Written by Stewart and “Maggie May” co-writer Martin Quittenton, it pretty much picks up where “Maggie May” left off, stylistically speaking — a lot of acoustic instruments applied to what would now be called Americana. Lyrically, it finds the narrator reflecting fondly on a former flame in verses as evocative as “Remember them basement parties/Your brothers karate/The all day rock and roll shows/Them homesick blues and radical views/Haven’t left a mark on you.”

8. “(I Know) I’m Losing You”

Written by Norman Whitfield, Edward Holland Jr. and Cornelius Grant, this song was an R&B chart-topper for Motown legends the Temptations, who released their version in November 1966. Stewart’s version was recorded in 1971 with the Faces and Ray Jackson, managing to rock a good deal harder while also seeming somewhat funkier. Stewart’s performance is flawless, making the most of one of rock and roll’s most underutilized falsetto. Included on the “Every Picture Tells a Story” album, it peaked at No. 24 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

7. “Dirty Old Town”

The final track on Stewart’s first solo release, 1969’s “An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down,” “Dirty Old Town” is a folk ballad written by Ewan MacColl about the effect the industrial revolution had on the town in the title. Stewart’s delivery nails the melancholy essence of MacColl’s lyrics, as does the bare-bones arrangement, starting with just an acoustic guitar and adding understated drums and soulful organ on its way to a bluesy harmonica solo with Stewart wailing vocal ad libs over top. This gospel-flavored roots-rock epic from the album of the same name would be higher on the list if it weren’t for the culturally insensitive lyrics, calling Shangai Lil (which rhymes with “never used the pill”) a “slit-eyed lady” more than once. If you can look beyond that (and the wholesale objectification of women, as was standard practice at the time in rock and roll), you’ll find a really well-constructed song, written by Stewart and the Faces’ Ronnie Wood, who rose to greater fame — here in the States, especially —when he became a Rolling Stone. It may be Stewart’s finest hour as a rocker, and those gospel-flavored vocals on the coda, repeating the title, are a brilliant touch.

5. “Hot Legs”

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A spirited shot of old-school rock and roll, this one features some brilliant Chuck Berry-inspired guitar work that wouldn’t have sounded even slightly out of place on something by the New York Dolls. In fact, it’s easy to imagine Johnny Thunders wondering if that was him when it came on the radio. And it came on the radio often, hitting No. 28 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The best of several classic singles on 1977’s “Footloose & Fancy Free,” it charted even higher in the U.K., hitting No. 5.

4. “(Find a) Reason to Believe”

You can’t go wrong with a singer as gifted as a young Rob Stewart applying to a melody as beautiful as this. But even by the lofty vocal standard of those early Stewart records, his delivery here can’t help but call attention to itself. That aching rasp with which he underscores the pathos of Tim Hardin’s lyrics (“If I listen 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”). And that the fact the organ is mixed ridiculously high just makes it that much better. Among the better tracks on “Every Picture Tells a Story,” this one peaked at No. 62 on Billboard’s Hot 100 before the B-side overtook it on the charts. Of course, you’ll have that when you make a B-side out of “Maggie May.”

3. “I Don’t Want to Talk About It”

This is Stewart’s most heartbreaking vocal, setting the tone with a vulnerable near-whispered rasp of “I can tell by your eyes that you probably been cryin’ forever” and somehow sounding even sadder on the chorus hook of “I don’t want to talk about it/How you broke my heart.” The undisputed highlight of 1975’s “Atlantic Crossing,” written by Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten, it topped the U.K. pop charts two years later before its long-delayed Atlantic crossing in 1979 to peak at No. 46 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

2. “Handbags and Gladrags”

This one was one was written Manfred Mann vocalist Mike d’Abo and first recorded by Chris Farlowe. Stewart’s version was featured on 1969’s “An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down” with d’Abo arranging and playing piano. The orchestration is gorgeous, especially the French horn part. And Stewart really rises to the challenge of scolding a young girl for not fully appreciating “the handbags and the gladrags that your grandad had to sweat so you could buy” without coming across as too preachy. Re-released three years later, it peaked at No. 42.

1. “Maggie May”

This is the single that heralded Stewart’s arrival as one of the decade’s most distinctive voices when it topped the Hot 100 and the U.K. pop charts. Co-written by Stewart and Quittenton, it spent five weeks at No. 1 here in the States. In an interview with Q magazine in 2007, Stewart said, “‘Maggie May’ was more or less a true story, about the first woman I had sex with, at the Beaulieu Jazz Festival.” Her name was changed, though, to protect the not-so-innocent, taking the name of a British folk song (as featured on the Beatles’ album “Let It Be”) about a sailor-robbing prostitute. In that same interview, Stewart said the single nearly got left off the album “Every Picture Tells a Story” because “the label said it didn’t have a melody.” That’s foolish. The melody is undeniable, from “Wake up Maggie, I think I’ve got something to say to you” to “You led me away from home just to save you from being alone,” as is the mandolin riff at the end. A true rock and roll classic.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-4495.Twitter.com/EdMasley.

azcentral.com - 20 best Rod Stewart songs, from 'Maggie May' to 'Hot Legs'

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