{"id":282505,"date":"2025-11-25T13:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T13:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/282505\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T13:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T13:13:09","slug":"the-number-one-song-rod-stewart-released-by-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/282505\/","title":{"rendered":"The number one song Rod Stewart released by accident"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rod<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Allan Warren)<\/p>\n

Tue 25 November 2025 9:21, UK <\/p>\n

There are no set rules surrounding how to write a song. Inspiration often comes from the strangest places, and many artists spend years chasing after their first hit by using the same tactics they used the first time around. While Rod Stewart<\/a> may have many classic performances, one of his finest tracks came together by complete accident.<\/p>\n

After working in The Faces and alongside Jeff Beck, Stewart was already becoming known as one of the most in-demand voices of his generation. With a distinct blues-infused rasp to his delivery, Stewart knew how to deliver ballads and rock songs equally, putting together booze-soaked romps like \u2018Stay With Me\u2019.<\/p>\n

By the time the frontman had struck out on his own, he had started to hone his craft by going back to his musical roots. As opposed to the electrified blues coming from the rest of the English rock scene, Every Picture Tells a Story was when Stewart started to get acquainted with acoustic instruments again, with the album benefiting from a more homespun atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Although Stewart claimed that \u2018Reason to Believe\u2019 would be one of the frontrunners for the hit single, one of the greatest tracks of his career was relegated to a B-side. When Stewart first put a tune together for what would become \u2018Maggie May\u2019, though, he never thought there was any merit to it. <\/p>\n

Telling the story about young lust, the song is a retelling of Stewart losing his virginity<\/a> and the strange feelings he had felt afterwards. Although the track would become a rock classic in the years following its release, Stewart would say that he stumbled upon it when he started strumming his guitar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rod<\/a>Rod Stewart in 1973. (Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

When recounting his time writing the song, Stewart had to be convinced to include the piece on the album, telling Classic Rock Stories, \u201c\u2018Maggie May\u2019 was an accident. It wasn\u2019t meant to go on the album. A mate of mine who I thought had good ears said, \u2018Well, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s got much of a melody, and it\u2019s a bit long, you know?\u2019. I said, \u2018Well, I\u2019ve only recorded ten tracks for this album. There\u2019s nothing left over, so it\u2019ll have to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite not having a proper melodic hook to go along with it, the story behind the song was enough to get millions invested in the tune. With the help of the mandolin that opens the tune, the track feels like listening to an old friend recall an old story from his past at a bar, still drowning his sorrows about the one that passed him by.<\/p>\n

Stewart wrote of the track\u2019s composition in his autobiography, Rod. \u201cAt 16, I went to the Beaulieu Jazz Festival in the New Forest,\u201d he explained. \u201cI\u2019d 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\u2019d come on to me very strongly in the beer tent. How much older, I can\u2019t tell you \u2013 but old enough to be highly disappointed by the brevity of the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the song was put out as a B-side, its success came about through pure happenstance. Unbeknownst to Stewart, the track would gain traction when a radio DJ in America began to play the B-side on a whim, leading to millions of listeners requesting to hear it again.<\/p>\n

The song\u2019s momentum continued spreading throughout America before Stewart realised he had made a hit record. Although many artists spend years trying to crack the code of what constitutes a hit, sometimes the massive track is hidden in plain sight without anyone knowing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The track went on to be a number one hit on both sides of the Atlantic, topping the charts in the UK and the US. It has since become perhaps the most defining song of Stewart\u2019s long and deep career. And to think, it almost never happened at all. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Allan Warren) Tue 25 November 2025 9:21, UK There are no set rules surrounding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,24105,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-282505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-rod-stewart","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}