8. Maggie May, Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart was the greatest rock vocalist of his time – perhaps of all time, a uniquely hoarse sound that carried its own urgency – and this is the song that introduced his greatness to us.  But first there are those opening drum shots, a kickstart whenever I hear them, that make me sit up and listen. Then, “Wake up, Maggie,” Rod shouts insistently, and I am hooked until I hear the end of his plea. And it’s not your usual plea: “I suppose I should collect my books and get on back to school. Or steal my daddy’s cue and make a living out of playing pool.” Interesting choice! The rasp in Stewart’s voice conveys a melancholy that makes this a perfect end-of-summer lament. That is the season I first heard it and will forever think of when the ultimately mysterious Maggie May shows up on my airwaves.  And just as the drums produce a classic start, the mandolin figure that comes at the end is one of rock’s great fade-outs.

Sidebar: Rock Covers

One measure of Rod Stewart’s supremacy as a vocalist is his ability to do justice to other singers’ songs. Listen to Downtown Train (Tom Waits), First Cut is the Deepest (Cat Stevens), Have I Told You Lately (Van Morrison), Reason to Believe (Tim Hardin) or the Motown sound of This Old Heart of Mine (Isley Bros.). There’s so much emotion in that husky voice, you almost think he can’t really sing. But he can. Eventually he falls back too far on that voice and leaves rock behind – some think he’s a sellout after about his second album, but that’s too harsh. He also writes some darn good songs himself: You’re in my Heart; Killing of Georgie, Tonight’s the Night.

            Is there anyone else in the rock pantheon who leaves his mark as an “interpreter”? I’m not counting someone like Elvis, who of course always sang other writers’ songs, since they were written for him in the first place. (Nor, except for My Way, did he add much when he sang a song you already knew.) Johnny Rivers comes to mind, on the strength of Tracks of My Tears, and the fact that 14 of the 16 songs on his Greatest Hits CD were first made famous by someone else, including major players like Chuck Berry and the Beach Boys. Otherwise it’s an interesting phenomenon of rock that songs are defined by their first singer. A list of “covers” that are not as good as the original would be endless.