The song Rod Stewart loves “to death”
Rod Stewart brought to the musical world what no one else could offer. He was a soul singer at heart but had a gravelly, whiskey and cigarette-infused element to his voice, giving new life to the songs he was performing. He received praise from James Brown, who called him the best white soul singer on the planet. What’s equally as important as the approval of others, though, is the approval of oneself.
It tends to be that when we want something, we get it, and then we either don’t want it anymore or refuse to acknowledge that we have it. This is the case for many artists who write, perform and create to get recognition and don’t value it enough when they eventually get it. Any performer needs to be able to look at their work and recognise when they’ve done something good.
Stewart’s ability to do this has led to his successful, elongated career. By being able to still get excited about your work and recognise it as worthwhile, you are simultaneously encouraging yourself to continue making it. He still performs and writes for a reason: he is excited by his work and continues to engage with it.
So, as someone who can connect with what he has done, it won’t be a surprise to hear that Stewart also has favourite songs of his. Some are obvious, but one might come as a surprise, given it is certainly not his most famous and is far removed from his actual life. It is that ability to enact storytelling within his music that Stewart likes the track so much.
‘Mandolin Wind’ was released on Rod Stewart’s 1971 album Every Picture Tells a Story. With narration embedded in the album’s title, it is no surprise that Stewart wanted to capture the hearts and imaginations of those listening.
“I love this song to death,” he said, “I believe it to be one of my finest efforts, written in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1969 – a long, long way away from the buffalo and Great Plains of America that the song depicts. It just shows you what a little imagination can do when writing songs. Acoustic guitar by Martin Quittenton deserves merit.”
The track’s story follows a farmer who has just endured one of the worst winters he has ever seen. It is a love song devoted to his wife, whom he thanks for being loyal and standing by him throughout that particular winter and all the others which have come before it.
To Stewart’s credit, he gets excited about his work and can recognise what he is proudest of and why he is proud of it. People make music because it’s fun, and if they stop enjoying their work, then that initial appeal fades, and the quality of their work does with it. Stewart owes his elongated success to his continued love of what he does.
