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@johnlennon Wanted to Re-Record These Two @thebeatles Songs

Several of Lennon’s final interviews dive into specific songs in the Beatles repertoire, which offered fans and critics an invaluable peek into Lennon’s personal relationship with the Fab Four. During one such conversation with Rolling Stone in 1970, Lennon revealed the two songs he would have wanted to re-record.

“I don’t like the recording [of “Help!”] that much,” Lennon admitted. “We did it too fast trying to be commercial. I like “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” We wrote that together. It’s a beautiful melody. I might do “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Help” again because I like them, and I can sing them. I like “Across the Universe,” too. It’s one of the best lyrics I’ve written. In fact, it could be the best.”

John Lennon might have cited the fact that he could sing them well as the reason why he would re-record “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Help!,” but the emotional connection he had to each track certainly helped seal the deal.

The Fab Four classic was also a stunning example of Lennon and Paul McCartney’s songwriting partnership in its prime.

Lennon was always particularly fond of “Help” for its emotional authenticity. “When “Help!” came out, I was actually crying out for help,” Lennon told interviewer David Sheff the year he died (via BeatlesBible). “Most people think it’s just a fast rock ‘n’ roll song. I didn’t realize it at the time; I just wrote the song because I was commissioned to write it for the movie. It was my fat Elvis period.”

In his 1970 Rolling Stone interview, Lennon explained, “I meant it. It’s real. The lyric is as good now as it was then. It’s no different, and it makes me feel secure to know that I was aware of myself then. It was just me singing “help,” and I meant it.”

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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@officialthewho’s 60th anniversary to be celebrated by special Royal Mail stamps set

The Royal Mail is marking the 60th anniversary of The Who’s formation by issuing 12 special stamps “saluting 60 years of rock rebellion.”

Eight of the 12 stamps feature some of the band’s most iconic album covers, from 1965’s My Generation through to 2019’s WHO, while the remaining four stamps feature iconic promo shots of the band and live images. 

The full list of featured albums is “My Generation” (1965), “Tommy”(1969), “Who’s Next” (1971), “Quadrophenia” (1973), “Who Are You”(1978), “Face Dances” (1981), “Endless Wire” (2006) and “WHO” (2019).

Acknowledging the honour, guitarist Pete Townshend says: “Stamp! Stamp! Stamp! It’s what I’ve done on stage all my life, sometimes in the air. At last, my stamping, and that of my buddy Roger, has been honoured properly, and will help letters, parcels and birthday cards travel through time and space, just as we have.”

Vocalist Roger Daltrey adds, “The artwork on the album sleeves was almost as important to the success of the record as the music. It’s great to be reminded of them.”

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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@lucinda_williams releases epic cover of @thebeatles classic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

Lucinda Williams has launched the next volume of her Lu’s Jukebox series of albums. “Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road” will arrive on December 6 via Highway 20 Records, and is preceded by her version of George Harrison’s classic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

Williams kicked off the Lu’s Jukebox series in October 2020, originally as a series of themed live performances to benefit struggling independent venues impacted by covid-19 and lockdown.

It’s since turned into a series of physical releases, with the previous six volumes covering the music of Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, as well as celebrating Muscle Shoals, 60s country and Christmas music.

“Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road” was recorded at the legendary studio in North London where The Beatles recorded the bulk of their material, and includes covers of universal classics like “Let It Be,” “With A Little Help From My Friends” and “The Long and Winding Road” alongside less heralded songs such as “Don’t Let Me Down,” “Yer Blues” and “I’ve Got A Feeling.”

Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road tracklist
Don’t Let Me Down
I’m Looking Through You
Can’t Buy Me Love
Rain
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Let It Be
Yer Blues
I’ve Got A Feeling
Something
With A Little Help From My Friends
The Long and Winding Road

Check out Lucinda Williams performing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” below:

https://bit.ly/3U0neYF

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@steelydan_official Used a Lead Vocalist Not Named Donald Fagen on Their Debut Album

Does the name David Palmer ring a bell?

That name will ring a bell for deep-dive classic rock fans, for sure. David Palmer was the guy who acted as a kind of co-lead vocalist on the Steely Dan debut album “Can’t Buy a Thrill” in 1972. And that was pretty much the extent of his tenure in this legendary outfit.

When they recorded “Can’t Buy a Thrill,” their debut album from 1972, it was with a mostly stable group of musicians, save for the occasional session ace adding a piece here or there. And one of the members of the core group was David Palmer, who was recruited to be something akin to a supporting lead singer for the band in conjunction with Fagen.

Conflicting reports are offered as to why Palmer was hired in the first place. It’s not that he wasn’t a good singer in his own right. But it was clear that Fagen was capable of doing the job, as he would prove throughout the majority of the Steely Dan catalog. Even on that first album, he was the one who sang lead on “Do It Again,” which was the album’s breakout hit.

Fagen has always downplayed his vocal talents, so it’s likely he didn’t object too much to Palmer’s presence, even if it wasn’t his idea. In any case, Palmer also sang lead on a couple of tracks on “Can’t Buy a Thrill,” provided backing vocals on a few more, and did most of the singing during the band’s early live performances. His big spotlight came on the track “Dirty Work,” a mournful number about the odd man out in a love triangle.

When it came time for Steely Dan to record their second album “Countdown to Ecstasy,” Palmer was no longer in the picture as a main member of the band, instead contributing just a few backing vocals.

Palmer was dismissed with little fanfare, but he wasn’t quite done making an impact on the music business. He struck up a songwriting partnership with Carole King, during which time he penned the lyrics her 1974 hit single “Jazzman.”

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Neil Young, Stephen Stills Dig Deep at Scorching Hot Painted Turtle Concert

Because Stills is long retired from the road, it was the kind of performance that could only take place at a charity show for a truly worthy cause like The Painted Turtle, a summer camp for children with life-threatening and chronic illnesses.

Neil Young and Stephen Stills walked out together alongside bassist Corey McCormick and drummer Anthony Logerfo, and kicked into the title track to their 1976 collaborative album “Long May You Run.”

“The worst four words you can hear in a live performance are ‘here’s a new song,’” Stills told the crowd. “But this is actually a new version of an old song that took two centuries to write. It’s called ‘Hung Upside Down.’”

The true aficionados in the audience knew he was talking about a tune from “Buffalo Springfield Again” that Young and Stills hadn’t played together since the group’s heyday in 1967.

“Helplessly Hoping” is a tough song to pull off without the pristine harmonies of Crosby and Nash, and Stills doesn’t have the pipes he had back in the Sixties and Seventies, but he attempted it anyway.

Young went further back into “a while ago” for the nostalgic “Helpless” about his childhood in Omemee, Ontario. Stills was on piano for that one, recreating parts he played on the original recording in 1970. He returned to the guitar for a singalong rendition of “Love The One You’re With” before Young welcomed Meola, Fuller, and Kennedy back out to sing background on “Heart of Gold,” “Harvest Moon” and “For What It’s Worth.”

They closed out the set with a blazing “Bluebird” and an extended guitar duel that proved what incredible chemistry Stills and Young still have together after all these decades.

Young kicked off the encore with the On The Beach classic “Vampire Blues,” and then reemerged alongside John Mayer for a wild “Rockin’ In The Free World” to wrap up the show.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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Remember When: @jimmypage Found Another Dynamic Lead Singer and Formed The Firm

The Firm, a supergroup of sorts that came together in 1984. While the band didn’t last all that long, releasing just two albums before Page and lead singer @paulrodgersofficial moved on to other things. But they gave the legendary Led Zep guitarist a few hits along the way, while also rejuvenating his passion for making music.

Rodgers and Page chose Chris Slade, then known for his work with Uriah Heep, to play the drums. Pino Palladino nearly joined on bass, but the session ace had other commitments that prevented him from doing so. Instead, it was Tony Franklin, who was much younger than the other three and favored a fretless bass, who was chosen to fill the role.

The band, named by The Firm based on an impromptu suggestion by Slade, hit the studio with Page and Rodgers as producers and chief songwriters. Notable on the self-titled 1985 debut album was the nine-minute closing track “Midnight Moonlight,” which Page had originally presented as a musical piece to Led Zeppelin, though the band never finished it.

The Firm also found radio success right off the bat with their first single. “Radioactive,” written by Rodgers, featured a slinky groove, crashing drums, pulsing bass, and oddly enough, a guitar break that was played by Rodgers and not Page. They toured briefly in 1985 in support of the record and made plans for the follow-up.

“Mean Business,” The Firm’s second album, arrived nearly a year to the day after the first in February 1986. Although there wasn’t a big radio single like “Radioactive,” “All the King’s Horses” and “Live in Peace” earned plentiful rock radio airplay. Both albums did respectable business in terms of sales, which made it seem like the band could continue in that vein.

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@mickjagger plans to give @therollingstones catalog to charity, says his ‘kids don’t need $500 million’

The “Rolling Stones” singer said leaving a part of the inheritance might “do some good in the world.”

Jagger shared that he doesn’t enjoy dealing with the business side, but it is necessary. When asked about their post-1971 catalog and if he would be willing to sell it, Jagger answered with a resounding no. He added that his “children don’t need $500 million to live well” and suggested that he may even donate his fortune to charity someday.

Jagger has eight kids, Karis, Jade, Elizabeth, James, Georgia May, Lucas, Gabriel, and Deveraux, between the ages of seven and 53. While he claimed that he would give away his fortune, he believes his kids could still make money off his name.

“You can have a posthumous business now, can’t you?” Jagger said, adding that they can even have a posthumous tour of the band.

It is understandable why Jagger may want his children to fend for themselves as the Stones had to do the same. In 1960, they hired accountant Allen Klein to stabilize and manage their finances. Klein had previously worked with renowned bands like The Beatles and the Kinks.
He negotiated a lucrative deal with the Stones but when their partnership ended he retained ownership of their catalog for the years he managed them. Thus, the music catalog of The Stones from 1965 to 1970, which includes hit singles like “Satisfaction,” “Paint it Black” is owned by ABKCO Music & Records, founded by Klien, as per RollingStone. 

In the interview, Jagger expressed that at the time the industry “was so nascent” that it didn’t have the support and the people to provide them with the right advice. 

The band has been in a legal battle with the label to retain its ownership. Despite not having ownership, The Stones has reportedly made millions in royalties from the songs. 

Like Jagger, Simon also indicated in a SiriusXM interview, that his children are not interested in running his publishing business, and he doesn’t blame them, digitalmusicnews reported.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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The Psychedelic Rock Masterpiece that Turned @creambandofficial into Unlikely Pop Stars

Cream could have stayed in their blues-rock lane and pleased the purists. But the trio of Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker followed their artistic instincts into the realms of psychedelia, leading to the massive 1967 hit single “Sunshine of Your Love.”

What made Cream think it was a good idea to get together when two of the three members (Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker) made no secret of their dislike for each other?

In the end, the two men, excited about the possibilities of playing with Eric Clapton—already a guitar legend by 1966 when Cream formed—decided the music’s potential outweighed the hostility.

“Sunshine of Your Love” rose up out of a bass line Jack Bruce created after attending a Jimi Hendrix concert. Originally, the band tried a typical rock backbeat behind it, but they felt it was missing something. That’s when it was suggested Baker try a more tribal approach on drums, putting the emphasis on what’s normally the downbeat in most songs. Suddenly, the song clicked.

Clapton came through with the chorus refrain, as well as the fluid solo that was meant to mimic the classic rock and roll song “Blue Moon.” The last piece were the lyrics, which came from Pete Brown.

Pete Brown’s lyrics for “Sunshine of Your Love” do a wonderful job of comparing the phenomenon of the sunrise with the glow bestowed by a special relationship. In fact, it’s hard to say if the narrator is even cognizant of the time of day, or if he’s basing his internal clock on whether he’s with his lover or not. In any case, the dawn signals a reunion for the pair after some time apart.

Oddly enough, for all the rancor between Baker and Bruce, it was actually Clapton who sounded the death knell on Cream in 1969 when he decided that the psychedelic rock they were playing had reached a bit of a dead end.

Or maybe he realized that having done “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Disraeli Gears,” the band had pretty much mastered the form.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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On This Day in 1969 @theofficialccr Scored Its First No. 1 Album with ‘Green River’

1969 was a banner year for Creedence Clearwater Revival. During the year, the Bay Area roots-rock act led by @johnfogerty released three studio albums, scored four Top-Five hits played at the historic Woodstock festival, and became one of the most popular bands on the planet.

“Green River” was produced by Fogerty and recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco. The album featured nine tracks, eight of which were Fogerty originals. The ninth and final tune on the record was a cover of the 1959 Ray Charles R&B hit “Night Time Is the Right Time.”

Green River included two hit singles, “Bad Moon Rising” and the title track. Both songs were released in advance of the album and both peaked at No. 2. The singles’ respective B-sides, “Lodi” and “Commotion,” also were popular, reaching No. 52 and No. 30.

In addition, Green River featured the enduring ballad “Wrote a Song for Everyone.” Fogerty has revealed that the tune was inspired by marital issues he was having with his first wife at the time. The song later served as the title track of John’s 2013 duets album, for which he recorded a new version of the tune with Miranda Lambert and Tom Morello.

Green River was CCR’s third album overall. Their self-titled debut was released in July 1968, while their sophomore effort, “Bayou Country,” arrived in January 1969. Creedence followed up “Green River” with “Willy and the Poor Boys,” which was released in October of ’69.

In December 1991, Green River was certified triple-platinum by the RIAA for sales of more than 3 million copies in the U.S. The four-times-platinum Cosmo’s Factory is CCR’s only studio album to sell more copies in the States.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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🌟 Attention All Fun-Loving K-ZAP Family! 🌟

Tomorrow, dive into the juicy chaos of Loomis Fruit Shed Fest! 🍎🍊 Expect:

– Orchard Adventures: Get lost in the maze, then find yourself with a bushel of apples.
– Live Music: From Rock to funk, there`s a beat for every quirky dance move you`ve got.
– Craft Booths: Where artisans sell their souls in the form of handcrafted goods.

And guess what? K-ZAP will be there too! Swing by **Lot B, Booth #115** at the K-ZAP Emporium Of Swag from 10 AM to 4 PM. Snag some gear that`ll make your neighbors whisper, "They must be someone important."

For the full scoop on how to spend your day in a way that`ll make you the envy of your social circle, check out k-zap.org/events.

#kzaporg #loomisfruitshedfest #loomis …

Session Drummer Jim Keltner Shares Why He Feels @georgeharrisonofficial Was “Brilliant” and Why “Give Me Love” Is Among His Favorite Songs

George Harrison’s 1973 solo album, “Living in the Material World,” is being reissued in expanded form on November 15. The album featured one of Harrison’s best-loved solo tunes, “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).” The tune topped the Billboard Hot 100 in June of ’73.

Lauded session drummer Jim Keltner played on the track, and he is extremely fond of the song. In a new video feature posted on Harrison’s social media pages, Keltner shares his recollections of the making of “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).” He also explains why he loves the tune and why he considers Harrison a “brilliant” songwriter.

The video also features various archival photos of Harrison and Keltner. In addition, it includes glimpses of handwritten lyrics of and sheet music for “Give Me Love”

“‘Give Me Love’ has always been one of my favorite songs,” Keltner says at the beginning of the clip. “Anytime I listen to it, it just holds up. It’s just beautiful. It’s a little prayer.”

The drummer then discusses some unique aspects of the song, and of how Harrison recorded the track.

“It’s extremely syncopated, and the phrasing was real typical of George,” Keltner notes. “He would cross bars vocally in a way that would be very complex. George played the guitar and sang live, which is unheard of today. Of course, you don’t do that.”

Keltner also recalls how easily song came together in the studio.
“He sang it for us, I think, once, and I believe we probably did two takes at the most, as I recall, because it came really, really quick,” Jim remembers. “And the idea was not to have a slamming backbeat on it. It was just to follow the vocal and follow the guitar, as subtly as I could. And that really came off.”

Keltner adds, “It’s one little song, one little example of how brilliant George was. If you listen to that, you’ll see.”

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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K-ZAP gets support from our friends at Black Rock Auto in Sacramento.
Are you tired of dealing with those pesky car troubles that make you want to pull your hair out? Well, fear not, because Black Rock Auto is here to save the day! They`re like the superheroes of the automotive world, swooping in to rescue your ride from the clutches of despair.

With their stellar service and commitment to quality, Black Rock Auto is your go-to for all things automotive. They`ve been in the game since 2003, so you know they`ve got the experience to back up their claims. Whether you need a tune-up, a new set of wheels, or a complete overhaul, Black Rock Auto has got you covered.

And if you`re a fan of the Rush Hour Blues program on K-ZAP, you`ll be thrilled to know that Black Rock Auto is a proud sponsor of this rockin` show. So, not only can they fix your car, but they can also fix your blues with some killer tunes.

So, why settle for mediocre service when you can have stellar service with a side of rock `n` roll? Give Black Rock Auto a call at 916-447-3494 or visit blackrockauto.com to experience the difference. Trust me, your car (and your ears) will thank you!

#kzaporg #blackrockauto #sacramento …

@therollingstones Lyric that Proved Even @mickjagger Gets Tired of the Road

But even though they like to put on airs of indestructibility, they do get tired. On the 1971 classic ballad “Moonlight Mile,” Mick Jagger even admitted as much, though he cloaked that message somewhat in mystical music and dreamy lyrics.

When The Rolling Stones recorded the 1971 album “Sticky Fingers,” they were at the absolute top of their game. They had successfully incorporated guitarist Mick Taylor into the band by that time, and his work alongside fellow guitarist Keith Richards elevated their musical output to a skyscraping level. On top of that, the Jagger/Richards songwriting duo had hit upon a rich vein of material.

“I’m sure the idea for the song first came to me one night when we were on a train and the moon was out. I don’t recall. I know I didn’t want to literalize how I was feeling. That’s not really a very good thing to do when you’re writing lyrics, you know? The feeling I had at the moment was how difficult it was to be touring and how I wasn’t looking forward to going out and doing it again. It’s a very lonely thing, and my lyrics reflected that.”

With Charlie Watts’ tender toms, Mick Taylor’s soulful lead guitar, and Paul Buckmaster’s stirring string arrangement adding atmosphere to an ethereal melody, “Moonlight Mile” takes on the guise of a waking dream. That’s apropos for the lyrics delivered by Jagger, which loiter somewhere between sad fatigue and hazy wonder.

Jagger unleashes a simple yet profound line that captures the narrator bewilderment: I am sleeping under strange, strange skies.
The song tiptoes drunkenly between melancholy and hope. On the one hand, Jagger sings, My dreams is fading down the railway line. But when he begins to veer away from the melody and do some improv belting, he imagines a reunion with his love is forthcoming soon: I’m riding down your moonlight mile.

It’s a song caught somewhere between fever dream and weary lament, and every moment of it is mesmerizing.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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The bizarre stories surrounding @thebeatles Fixing A Hole’

Later in the Beatles’ discography, their songs started to become slightly more abstract. Some tracks submerged themselves completely in the realm of fiction, like songs on “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” while others took from real-world events but were contorted throughout the creative process.

Consider a track like ‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window,’ which Paul McCartney wrote after a fan had broken into his house and stolen a photo of his father.

‘Fixing A Hole,’ has three interesting stories attached to it, each of which could potentially give the song a different meaning.

The first is that the song was written about a leaky roof in Scotland. Paul McCartney has confirmed this theory, as he said that the song was about the roof in his farm, which had a hole in it. The hole was so bad that rain used to get into the property and cause minor floods, which Paul used as a muse.

Because of the ambiguous lyricism of some of the Beatle’s previous hits, though, and fans’ willingness to link some of their songs to drugs, a lot of people thought that the song was actually about a reliance on heroin.

They believed the track was less about fixing an actual hole and instead was about “getting a fix.”

The final story attached to this song, which didn’t impact the meaning but did impact the recording, was the fact that Jesus sat in on the recording process.

McCartney recalled when there was a knock at the studio door and a stranger was on the other side, “I said, ‘Who are you?’ He said, ‘I’m Jesus’, so I said, ‘Well, you better come in then’.”

McCartney said he didn’t want to turn him away just in case he was Jesus, so the would-be-Messiah sat in on the recording session and watched the band do what they do best. “So, he sat there for the session of ‘Fixing A Hole’,” recalled McCartney, “We just made it, made the record, said goodnight, and I’ve never seen him since.”

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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On this day October 2, 1989 @neilyoungarchives released his 19th studio album “Freedom” which proved a critical and commercial success.

The album relaunched Young’s career after a largely unsuccessful decade.

The songs on “Freedom” were written over the span of more than a decade.

Young would perform the “Rockin’ in the Free World,” live in September 1989 for the television show Saturday Night Live.

In concert, Young would typically play “Rockin’ in the Free World” well into the set, when the band’s energy is at a high. To achieve the same level of energy, Young worked out with his trainer 30 minutes prior to the performance.

He explained to author Jimmy McDonough: “I had to pretend I wasn’t there. I had a dressing room, a little place with an amp in it, in another part of the building. And I walked from there into Saturday Night Live—and then left. I developed a whole new technique for television. I had my trainer, and we just lifted weights and I did calisthenics to get my blood to the level it would be at after performing for an hour and twenty-five minutes—which is usually how long I’d be onstage by the time I did that song. To perform that song the way it’s supposed to be performed, you have to be at peak blood level.”

Comedian Dennis Miller would later say that “Rockin’ in the Free World” was the single greatest performance on the show in its history.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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@davidleeroth’s road rules that @eddievanhalen hated

Although Eddie Van Halen was, as the band name suggests, the star of the show, that did not mean he necessarily called the shots within the Van Halen camp.

In fact, it was lead vocalist David Lee Roth who made many of the decisions during the early days of the group. Inevitably, this led to various arguments, disagreements, and ego clashes within the band.

Tensions between Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth reached a boiling point during the production of the band’s fourth studio album, “Fair Warning,” in 1981.

Roth was convinced that the band should stick to commercially viable, pop-centric rock tracks, while Van Halen himself yearned for something a little darker and more experimental. As a result of these disagreements, “Fair Warning” itself was far from being Van Halen’s most convincing record, and it largely signalled the beginning of the end of Roth’s time with the band.

Eventually, Roth left the group in 1985 after years of not seeing eye-to-eye with Eddie Van Halen. Although he would reunite with the band on a number of occasions throughout the decades, the conflict and anger of that “Fair Warning”period never particularly left the mind of Eddie Van Halen. In fact, the period proved detrimental to Van Halen’s physical health, with the guitarist once recalling, “I started getting a peptic ulcer, man.” 

Seemingly, Roth had certain rules for the rest of the band to follow while on the road, and these did not go down well with Van Halen.

“’Hey, tell your old lady,’ man,” Van Halen recalled, imitating Roth’s commands, “‘Don’t say this and not do that. No wives on the bus.’ I put up with it all and I can’t believe I did.” These rules do seem fairly strange for the band, as having their wives on the bus might just have helped to cool the rapidly rising tension between the guitarist and the singer.

Upon finding out about the authoritarian stance taken by Roth, and the various rules he sought to implement, it is not all that surprising that the pair parted ways in 1985.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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On This Day @sirrodstewart Scored His Chart-Topper with His Classic Song “Maggie May”

By 1971, Rod Stewart was enjoying success as a solo artist, as well as the frontman of the band Faces.

“Maggie May” is an original composition that Stewart co-wrote with guitarist Martin Quittenton of the U.K. blues-rock group Steamhammer. The song appeared on Rod’s third studio album, “Every Picture Tells a Story,” which was released in May of 1971.

Stewart also initially issued “Maggie May” as the B-side of “Reason to Believe,” a cover of a 1966 song by U.S. folk artist Tim Hardin that he released as a single in July 1971. “Reason to Believe” stalled but DJs began flipping the single over and playing “Maggie May.”

Also on October 2, 1971, “Every Picture Tells a Story” also became Stewart’s first album to top the Billboard 200. The album supplanted Carole King’s landmark Tapestry at No. 1 on that chart, where it spent four weeks.

“Maggie May” was inspired by Stewart’s own admittedly awkward first experience having sex with a woman. The incident, according to Rod, occurred in July 1961 when he was 16 years old at the Beaulieu Jazz Festival in Hampshire, U.K.

Writing about the encounter in his 2012 memoir Rod: The Autobiography, Stewart recalled, “[T]here 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.”

The song came together at Stewart’s home in London while he was working on new material with Quittendon. Quittendon played some chords on guitar that Rod liked, and he began putting together a vocal melody while singing the words to the old English folk tune “Maggie Mae.” As he worked on original lyrics, Stewart used his fledgling sexual encounter as partial inspiration.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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