THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

34-Rod Stewart-Maggie May.

1971-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 5.03. After carefully studying the lyrics, I suggest that Maggie May was a ‘cougar.’

Sir Roderick David Stewart (see also best songs 965-565-206-179 and 70) was born on January 10th, 1945, in Highgate, London, England. He has been active in the music business since 1961 as either a member of several bands, or as a solo artist, and with worldwide record sales in excess of 120 million, he is one of the best selling artists of all time. His discography includes 32 solo studio Albums released between 1969-2021, and 147 singles issued between 1964-2021. In the UK, 47 of his singles have made the top 40, with six of those songs reaching Number 1, while in America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart he has had 33 top 40 hits, with four of those making Number 1, including the 1993 song ‘All for Love’ with Bryan Adams and Sting.

‘Maggie May’ was co-written by Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton, and produced by Stewart, and first appeared on Rod Stewart’s third solo studio Album ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ from May 1971. Both the single and the Album topped the UK and U.S charts simultaneously, making this the first time it had happened in chart history. There were three singles released from the Album, with the first being a cover of the 1965 Tim Hardin (1941-1980) song ‘Reason to Believe,’ with ‘Maggie May,’ which wasn’t considered to be a commercial single issued as the ‘B’ side. In the UK ‘Reason to Believe’ climbed to Number 19 in the chart, but in America it didn’t find success until radio disc jockeys flipped the disc and started playing ‘Maggie May,’ forcing Stewart’s record label ‘Mercury’ to have a re-think, and re-issue ‘Maggie May’ as the ‘A’ side.

At the very start of ‘Maggie May’ there is 32 seconds of music played on a mandolin, this was written by Martin Quittenton, (1945-2015) and was added to ‘Maggie May’ in order that Quitenton would receive extra royalties, the piece is called ‘Henry.’ Quittenton would go on to co-write two more hits with Stewart,’You Wear it Well,’ (1972-Number 1) and ‘Farewell’ (1974-Number 7) (see also best songs 965.) Another contributor to ‘Maggie May’ is Ray Jackson who at that time was a member of the English Folk/Rock group ‘Lindisfarne,’ who was brought in by Stewart to play the mandolin parts. Jackson claims that he wrote parts of ‘Maggie May’ for which he was only paid the statuary £15 session fee. To add insult to injury, on the liner notes of ‘Every Picture Tells a Story,’ Jackson isn’t credited, instead it says, ‘The mandolin was played by the mandolin player in Lindisfarne. The name slips my mind.’

Rod Stewart has given details of the event that inspired him to write ‘Maggie May.’ ‘At 16, I went to the ‘Beaulieu Jazz Festival’ in the New Forest. I’d snuck in with some mates via an overflow sewage pipe, and there on a secluded patch of grass, I lost my not remotely prized virginity with an older (and larger) woman who’d come on to me very strongly in the beer tent. How much older, I can’t tell you, but old enough to be highly disappointed by the brevity of the experience.’

Rod Stewart chose the title ‘Maggie May’ having known about the traditional Liverpool Folk song called ‘Maggie Mae,’ which dates back to around 1757. The original ‘Maggie Mae’ was a prostitute who robbed a sailor who was returning home.

‘Wake up, Maggie I think I got something to say to you. It’s late September and I really should be back at school. I know I keep you amused, but I feel I’m being used. Oh, Maggie, I couldn’t have tried any more.’