Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells a Story

Spent time feelin’ inferior
standing’ in front of my mirror
Combed my hair in a thousand ways, but I came out lookin’ just the same

*If you are on the main site…sorry for the formatting but if I correct the spaces it will publish everything as one huge paragrah…thanks WP*

This is my favorite song by Rod Stewart hands down. It’s an acoustic-driven
rocker with Rod never relenting on the lyrics. The song has a
stream-of-consciousness feel to it. Every Picture Tells a Story was written by
Stewart and Ron Wood.

For my money…this is Rod Stewarts best era. He sounds sharp, the music is
alive, and he is not following a trend. I just wish they would have saved some
of these songs for The Faces also. This song has something some of his later
songs did not…a raw energetic sound.

He had some guests on this song. Maggie Bell with vocals, Long John Baldry with vocals, Ian McLagan on Hammon organ, Ronnie Wood on lead and acoustic guitar, and Kenney Jones on drums.

Stewart went from recording the second Faces’ album Long Player,
while also squeezing in tour dates with the group, to starting up the sessions
for Every Picture Needs a Story. He also produced this album and
laid the songs down fast. This album made Rod Stewart in a lot of ways. The
album had Maggie May, Reason To Believe, (I Know) I’m Losing You (with the
Faces), Mandolin Wind, and of course the title song. It is my favorite Stewart
album. I grew up with most of the singles.

One lyric that I’ve heard wrong…well not really heard wrong. In the line On
the Peking ferry I was feeling merry, sailing on my way back here. I knew
what he was singing…but I thought it was “Peking Ferry I was feeling Mary“
which I think would have fit perfectly.

Rod Stewart: “I can remember the build up. You
know what the song’s about – your early teenage life when you’re leaving home
and you’re exploring the world for yourself. Ronnie (Wood) and I rehearsed
round my house at Muswell Hill and recorded it the next day. That whole album
was done in 10 days, two weeks, about as long as it takes to get a drum sound
right nowadays.”

 

Every Picture Tells a Story

Spent some time feeling inferiorStanding in front of my mirrorCombed my hair in a thousand waysBut I came out looking just the same

Daddy said, “Son, you better see the worldI wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leaveBut remember one thing, don’t lose your headTo a woman that’ll spend your bread”So I got out, whoo

Paris was a place you could hide awayIf you felt you didn’t fit inThe French police wouldn’t give me no peaceThey claimed I was a nasty person

Down along the Left Bank, minding my own, whooWas knocked down by a human stampedeGot arrested for inciting a peaceful riotWhen all I wanted was a cup of teaI was accused, whoo

I moved onDown in Rome, I wasn’t getting enoughOf the things that keep a young man aliveMy body stunk, but I kept my funk, whooAt a time when I was right outta luck

Getting desperate, indeed I was, yeahLooking like a tourist attractionOh, my dear, I better get outta hereFor the Vatican don’t give no sanctionI wasn’t ready for that, no, no

I moved right out east, yeahListenOn the Peeking ferry, I was feeling merrySailing on my way back hereI fell in love with a slit-eyed ladyBy the light of an eastern moon

Shanghai Lil never used the pillShe claimed that it just ain’t naturalShe took me up on deck and bit my neckOh, people, I was glad I found herOh, yes, I was glad I found her, whoo-hoo

Wait a minuteI firmly believed that IDidn’t need anyone but meI sincerely thought I was so completeLook how wrong you can be

The women I’ve known I wouldn’t let tie my shoeThey wouldn’t give you the time of dayBut the slit-eyed lady knocked me off my feetGod, I was glad I found her

And if they have the words I can tell to youTo help you on the way down the roadI couldn’t quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats‘Cause it’s all been said beforeMake the best out of the bad, just laugh it off, haYou didn’t have to come here anyway

So, remember, every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it?

Every picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

Every picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? WhooEvery picture tells a story, don’t it? Whoo

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

36 thoughts on “Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells a Story”

  1. Don’t listen to this song much and until today didn’t know anything about it. A lot of great songs on this album as you say and a prolific time for Rod, recording and writing wise it seems.

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    1. He went all out during this time. I just wish he would have saved some of these songs for The Faces…he had a unique sound during this time.

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  3. I loved this album. A great cobination of songs. I thought the production and mix were great – best loud or with headphones. For the most part, covers by white rockers of Black music pale compared with the original, but I thought their cover of “(I know) I’m Losing You” was hot.

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    1. Stewart can really cover a song well…but yes I agree. It’s a great sounding album and I wish he would have stayed in this lane through his career but I guess he had to change with the times.

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  7. Pretty good album for ten day’s work! He had all the right friends back then, didn’t he, or at least enough of them! Gotta like Long John B getting some work from his friend. I’m going to go back give it a listen – I know it, sort of, but never really gave it a proper listen.

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    1. And…I think Ronnie Wood is a better bass player than guitar player lol…thats not a knock on him but his bass really makes a lot of these songs.

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    1. John…I had many comments that didn’t show up yesterday on my side panel for some reason…oh I love this era…to me it was the era that I remember him by the most.

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  9. I do love this album but strangely not that familiar with this song. The only lyrics I really knew were the chorus. So funny on your misinterpreted lyrics. Of course you’d go there as a kid. “Maggie May” and “Reason to Believe” (a Cat Stevens song) were my favorites from it. Maggie May I still fall into every time I hear it, and I love the spin he puts on Reason to Believe.

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      1. Max, feel free to delete the 2nd comment and edit the first comment. Not sure why I thought that was a Cat song, oh yes, because it sounds a lot like “The First Cut is the Deepest.”

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    2. Your comments didn’t show up in my panel yesterday for some reason. Yea Rod could cover a song like no other… I always liked this one because it sounds like they just started to play it out of the blue because it’s so loose.

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  10. After peeking at this take, I took Rodney and this album for a walk. It’s a good one along with the two albums that bookend it. Love this cut Max, real Faces sound along with ‘Im Losing You’ from the album.
    As usual you send me off into music land. Georgia Satellites do a killer version of this take. (They give a nod the the Faces for inspiration). Plus when I got home from the stroll I busted out Rare Earth, They were the first I heard do ‘I’m Losing You’
    “Every picture story tells a story doughnut” That’s for Randy

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    1. I love this stuff because it’s so loose and sound spontaneous. Ron Wood played great based on this as well.
      I have a post tomorrow that kind of describes what you’re saying I call it the ricochet effect. One thing leads you here then that leads you somewhere else.
      I am sure Randy will appreciate it that fits him perfectly.

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  11. Georgia Satellites do a kick ass cover of this track on the debut. Man, I miss those guys. Sorry kinda hi jacked Rod The Mods post here. lol

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    1. They do a good version…I like that one as well…No dude….I like them also…this version of Rod is the Rod I like the best.

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  12. Despite the donut comment it is one hell of a rocking chorus. This is his best era, it is loose and ramshackle at times but when it grooves together it really belts along, like that chorus. It has that Stones-like surge of that era.

    Funnily enough I was listening to Rod in the car earlier in the week and I was sure ‘Hot Legs’ was earlier than ’78, as I’d heard. So I did the Wiki thing (yes mother, I pulled tup o the kerbside) and he did an early cut in ’71. I knew I knew a girl back in ’71 who was nick-(Nikki! )named ‘Hot Legs.’

    Mmmm, thinking on it, THAT didn’t end well.

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    1. Loose and ramshackle is why I like it…much more than when Rod the Mod asked in song if he was sexy lol…
      THAT is interesting Obbverse…yea Hot Legs didn’t fit in that era he released it in as much as early seventies.
      Now that is a good memory!

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  13. Great song. That was a time when Rod Stewart still was a legitimate rocker. The entire “Every Picture Tells a Story” is pretty good. If I could only pick one track from it, I’d go with “Maggie Mae.” I’ve always loved that song and still do, even though it has been over-exposed.

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    1. I like it as well Christian…you know why I like it so much? Ron Wood’s bass playing on it….brilliant…I still say he is a better bass player than guitar player.

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