Title: Maggie May by Rod Stewart - Songfacts
Headings: by
Rod Stewart

by Rod Stewart
Songfacts®:
Comments: 54

Content: Stewart asked him to play something they might use to end the song, which he improvised on the spot. This became a huge hit in Britain and America, topping both the UK and US charts at the same time. Every Picture Tells A Story was also the #1 album on both sides of the Atlantic, making him the first artist to have the #1 song and album in both the US and UK simultaneously. Stewart's success in the UK was expected, as he had a following there as a member of the Faces, but he was little known in America before "Maggie May" took off. There is no real chorus in this song, but plenty of vocal and instrumental changes to keep it interesting. Running 5:46, it was considered an oddity with no hit potential and nearly left off the album. Stewart's record company, Mercury, didn't think it was a hit either, so used it as the B-side of the " Reason To Believe " single. Disc jockeys liked "Maggie" better, so they played it instead, forcing Mercury to put it out as a single. The first station to flip the single and play it as the A-side was WOKY in Milwaukee. Ray Jackson, a British musician who played in the band Lindisfarne, played the mandolin on this song and on a few others for Stewart.