A Soundtrack for my Life

Rod Stewart has had a very interesting career starting in 1960, when he was fifteen years old. He ran away to West London to try out for the Brentwood football club, but ended up working as a grave digger. He soon switched to a career in music, traveling around Europe as a street singer, eventually being deported from Spain for vagrancy.

In 1962, he helped to found the Ray Davies Quartet as the lead singer, which later became known as The Kinks. He was quickly dropped from the band because the drummer’s mother complained about his voice, and there were personality differences with the rest of the band.

Stewart went into several other bands over the course of the next year, and hooked up with another group called The Hoochie Coochie Men, who later changed their name to Steampacket, and opened for The Rolling Stones during their 1965 tour. Stewart was starting to become known in the music circles as “Rod the Mod” due to being featured on a BBC documentary on the mod subculture.

Steampacket broke up in 1966 and Stewart joined Shotgun Express with Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green (who later formed Fleetwood Mac).

In 1967, Stewart joined the Jeff Beck Group as a vocalist, and in 1968 they released their first album, Truth, which became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.  The group toured extensively.  The second album, Beck-Ola was also a hit in mid-1969, but the band broke up at the end of the year.

Stewart and former Beck band mate, Ron Wood joined up with Small Faces, which changed their name to The Faces.  Stewart also started a solo career, but used The Faces as his band, so many of his hits were listed as being performed by Rod Stewart AND The Faces.

Maggie May was originally the B-side of his minor hit, Reason to Believe.

Maggie May

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 anymore.
You lured me away from home
just to save you from being alone.
You stole my heart and that’s what really hurts.
The morning sun
when it’s in your face
really shows your age

but that don’t worry me none
in my eyes you’re ev’rything.
I laughed at all of your jokes
my love you didn’t need to coax

oh
Maggie
I couldn’t have tried anymore.
You lured me away from home
just to save you from being alone.
You stole my soule
that’s a pain I can do without.
All I needed was a friend to lend a guiding hand

but you turned into a lover
and
Mother
what a lover !
You wore me out.
All you did was wreck my bed
and in the morning kick me in the head

oh
Maggie
I couldn’t have tried anymore.
You lured me away from home
’cause you didn’t want to be alone.
You stole my heart
I couldn’t leave you if I tried.
I suppose I could collect my books and get back to school.
Or steal my daddy’s cue and make a living out of playing pool.
Or find myselfe a rock and roll band that needs a helpin’ hand.
Oh
Maggie
I wish I’d never seen your face.
You lured me away from home
just to save you from being alone.
You stole my heart and that’s what really hurts.
The morning sun
when it’s in your face
really shows your age

but that don’t worry me none
in my eyes you’re ev’rything.
I laughed at all of your jokes
my love you didn’t need to coax

oh
Maggie
I couldn’t have tried any face

you made a first-class fool out of me

but I’m as blind as a fool can be

you stole my heart but I love you anyway.
Maggie
I wish I’d never seen your face.
I’ll get on back home one of these days.

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