Maggie May
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English
Template:Infobox song "Maggie May" is a song cowritten by singer Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton, performed by Stewart for his album Every Picture Tells a Story, released in 1971. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it number 130 in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2017, the Mercury Records single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
BackgroundEdit
Written from Stewart's personal experience, "Maggie May" expresses the ambivalence and contradictory emotions of a boy involved in a relationship with an older woman. In the January 2007 issue of Q magazine, Stewart recalled: "Maggie May was a true story, about the first woman I had sex with, at the 1961 Beaulieu Jazz Festival."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="MM">Template:Cite news</ref> The woman's name was not "Maggie May"; Stewart has stated that the name was taken from "an old Liverpudlian song about a prostitute".<ref name="MM"/>
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.<ref>Rod – The Autobiography Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="MM"/>
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="MM"/>
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 performanceEdit
In October 1971, the song went to number one on the UK Singles Chart (for five weeks),<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">Template:Cite book</ref> and simultaneously topped the charts in Australia (four weeks), Canada (one week), and the United States (five 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.
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Weekly chartsEdit
Template:SinglechartTemplate:Singlechart| Chart (1971) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia Go-Set National Top 40<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
1 |
| Canada<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
1 |
| Germany | 11 | |
| Ireland | 2 | |
| New Zealand | 3 | |
| Switzerland | 5 | |
| UK Singles Chart<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/> | 1 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100<ref>[Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–2002]</ref> | 1 | |
| US Cash Box Top 100<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
1 |
| Zimbabwe (ZIMA)<ref>* Zimbabwe. Kimberley, C. Zimbabwe: singles chart book. Harare: C. Kimberley, 2000</ref> | 8 |
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Ireland | 13 |
| UK | 31 |
Year-end chartsEdit
| Chart (1971) | Rank | |
|---|---|---|
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19 |
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21 |
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13 |
| UK | 2 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100<ref>"Top Pop 100 Singles" Billboard 25 December 1971: TA-36</ref> | 2 | |
| citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
23 |
All-time chartsEdit
| Chart (1958–2018) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 182 |
CertificationsEdit
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PersonnelEdit
- Rod 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.")<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Blur coverEdit
The English alternative rock band Blur released a cover of "Maggie May" in 1993, for a CD given away with UK rock magazine Q.