"Maggie May" expresses the ambivalence and contradictory emotions of a boy involved in a relationship with an older woman and was written from Stewart's own experience. In the January 2007 issue of Q magazine, Stewart recalled: "Maggie May was more or less a true story, about the first woman I had sex with, at the 1961 Beaulieu Jazz Festival."[4][5] The woman's name was not "Maggie May"; Stewart has stated that the name was taken from "an old Liverpudlian song about a prostitute."[5]
The song was recorded in just two takes in one session. Drummer Micky Waller often arrived at recording sessions with the expectation that a drum kit would be provided and, for "Maggie May", it was – except that no cymbals could be found. The cymbal crashes had to be overdubbed separately some days later.[6][5]
The song was released as the B-side of the single "Reason to Believe", but soon radio stations began playing the B-side and "Maggie May" became the more popular side. The song was Stewart's first substantial hit as a solo performer and launched his solo career. It remains one of his best-known songs. A 1971 performance of the song on Top of the Pops saw the Faces joined onstage by DJ John Peel, who pretended to play the mandolin.[7] The mandolin player on the actual recording was Ray Jackson of Lindisfarne.
The album version of "Maggie May" incorporates a 30-second solo guitar intro, "Henry", composed by Martin Quittenton.[5]
In October 1971, the song went to number one on the UK Singles Chart (for five weeks),[8] and simultaneously topped the charts in Australia (four weeks), Canada (one week), and the United States (six weeks). It was the No. 2 record for 1971 on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and UK singles charts.
The song re-entered the UK chart in December 1976, but only reached number 31.
At first, I didn't think much of "Maggie May." I guess that's because the record company didn't believe in the song. I didn't have much confidence then. I figured it was best to listen to the guys who knew better. What I learned is sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.
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This article is about the Rod Stewart song For the musically unrelated folk song also known as Maggie Mae see Maggie May folk song For other uses see Maggie May disambiguation Maggie May is a song co written by singer Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton and performed by Rod Stewart on his album Every Picture Tells a Story released in 1971 Maggie May German picture sleeveSingle by Rod Stewartfrom the album Every Picture Tells a StoryA side Reason to Believe ReleasedJuly 1971Recorded1970GenreFolk rock 1 soft rock 2 Length5 50 Album version W Henry Intro 3 43 Single version LabelMercurySongwriter s Rod Stewart Martin QuittentonProducer s Rod StewartRod Stewart singles chronology It s All Over Now 1970 Reason to Believe Maggie May 1971 I Know I m Losing You 1971 In 2004 Rolling Stone ranked the song number 130 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 3 Contents 1 Background 2 Chart performance 2 1 Weekly charts 2 2 Year end charts 2 3 All time charts 3 Certifications 4 Personnel 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksBackground Edit Maggie May expresses the ambivalence and contradictory emotions of a boy involved in a relationship with an older woman and was written from Stewart s own experience In the January 2007 issue of Q magazine Stewart recalled Maggie May was more or less a true story about the first woman I had sex with at the 1961 Beaulieu Jazz Festival 4 5 The woman s name was not Maggie May Stewart has stated that the name was taken from an old Liverpudlian song about a prostitute 5 The song was recorded in just two takes in one session Drummer Micky Waller often arrived at recording sessions with the expectation that a drum kit would be provided and for Maggie May it was except that no cymbals could be found The cymbal crashes had to be overdubbed separately some days later 6 5 The song was released as the B side of the single Reason to Believe but soon radio stations began playing the B side and Maggie May became the more popular side The song was Stewart s first substantial hit as a solo performer and launched his solo career It remains one of his best known songs A 1971 performance of the song on Top of the Pops saw the Faces joined onstage by DJ John Peel who pretended to play the mandolin 7 The mandolin player on the actual recording was Ray Jackson of Lindisfarne The album version of Maggie May incorporates a 30 second solo guitar intro Henry composed by Martin Quittenton 5 The original recording has appeared on almost all of Rod Stewart s compilations and even appeared on the Ronnie Wood retrospective Ronnie Wood Anthology The Essential Crossexion A version by the Faces recorded for BBC Radio appeared on the four disc box set Five Guys Walk into a Bar A live version recorded in 1993 by Stewart joined by Wood for a session of MTV Unplugged is included on the album Unplugged and Seated Chart performance EditIn October 1971 the song went to number one on the UK Singles Chart for five weeks 8 and simultaneously topped the charts in Australia four weeks Canada one week and the United States six weeks It was the No 2 record for 1971 on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and UK singles charts The song re entered the UK chart in December 1976 but only reached number 31 At first I didn t think much of Maggie May I guess that s because the record company didn t believe in the song I didn t have much confidence then I figured it was best to listen to the guys who knew better What I learned is sometimes they do and sometimes they don t Rod Stewart 2015 5 Weekly charts Edit Chart 1971 PeakpositionAustralia Go Set National Top 40 9 1Canada 10 1Germany 11Ireland 2Netherlands Dutch Top 40 11 3Netherlands Single Top 100 12 3New Zealand 3Switzerland 5UK Singles Chart 8 1US Billboard Hot 100 13 1US Cash Box Top 100 14 1Chart 1976 Peak positionIreland 13UK 31 Year end charts Edit Chart 1971 RankCanada 15 19Netherlands Dutch Top 40 16 21Netherlands Single Top 100 17 13UK 2US Billboard Hot 100 18 2US Cash Box Top 100 19 23All time charts Edit Chart 1958 2018 PositionUS Billboard Hot 100 20 182Certifications EditRegion Certification Certified units salesNew Zealand RMNZ 21 Gold 10 000 United Kingdom BPI 22 Platinum 600 000 United States RIAA 23 2 Platinum 2 000 000 Sales figures based on certification alone Sales streaming figures based on certification alone Personnel EditRod Stewart lead vocals Ronnie Wood electric guitar twelve string guitar bass guitar Martin Quittenton acoustic guitar Micky Waller drums cymbals Ian McLagan Hammond organ Ray Jackson mandolin listed on the album as The mandolin was played by the mandolin player in Lindisfarne The name slips my mind 24 Pete Sears celestaSee also EditMaggie May folk song References Edit Reed Ryan 18 September 2019 Rod Stewart Preps New Orchestral LP You re in My Heart Rolling Stone Retrieved 18 February 2021 Erlewine Stephen Thomas Best of Love 16 Great Soft Rock Hits AllMusic 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 2004 101 200 Rolling Stone Archived from the original on 20 June 2008 Retrieved 23 September 2021 Maggie May by Rod Stewart Songfacts Songfacts com Retrieved 27 March 2014 a b c d e Myers Marc 23 October 2015 Maggie May A Song of Loss The Wall Street Journal Dow Jones amp Company p D6 Archived from the original on 21 October 2015 Rod The Autobiography ISBN 9781780890524 John Peel The Independent 27 October 2004 a b Roberts David 2006 British Hit Singles amp Albums 19th ed London Guinness World Records Limited pp 265 66 ISBN 1 904994 10 5 Go Set Magazine Charts www poparchives com au Barry McKay January 2007 Retrieved 25 February 2017 Image RPM Weekly Library and Archives Canada Retrieved 17 April 2016 Nederlandse Top 40 Rod Stewart in Dutch Dutch Top 40 Rod Stewart Maggie May in Dutch Single Top 100 Joel Whitburn s Top Pop Singles 1955 2002 Top 100 1971 10 23 Cashbox Magazine Retrieved 7 February 2016 Item Display RPM Library and Archives Canada www collectionscanada gc ca Retrieved 23 June 2017 Top 100 Jaaroverzicht van 1971 Dutch Top 40 Retrieved 22 September 2020 Jaaroverzichten Single 1971 MegaCharts Retrieved 22 September 2020 Top Pop 100 Singles Billboard 25 December 1971 TA 36 Top 100 Year End Charts 1971 Cashbox Magazine Retrieved 30 May 2016 Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart Billboard Retrieved 10 December 2018 Rod s Got The Face In New Zealand PDF Cash Box 30 March 1974 p 53 Retrieved 11 November 2019 British single certifications Rod Stewart Maggie May British Phonographic Industry Retrieved 21 May 2021 American single certifications Rod Stewart Maggie May Recording Industry Association of America Retrieved 8 May 2021 Rod faces Maggie May action BBC 3 March 2003 Retrieved 5 December 2019 External links EditMaggie May at Discogs list of releases Rod Stewart Maggie May on YouTube Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Maggie May amp oldid 1108185439, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
