Rod Stewart was seemingly surprised by the success of his now legendary song Maggie May.
Rod, 76, released Maggie May on his 1971 album Every Picture Tells A Story, as the song details the real life story of Rod's encounter with an older woman.
In the January 2007 issue of Q magazine, he said: " Maggie May' was more or less a true story, about the first woman I had sex with, at the 1961 Beaulieu Jazz Festival."
Pete Sears worked alongside Sir Rod when creating the song Maggie May, and recently admitted that the legendary singer didn't even think the song would be a hit.
“No, none of us did,” Sears, 73, admits in a recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock.
“In fact, the song that was the A-side was the one I was playing ̂̀̀the piano on, which is \plays another riff], ‘Reason to Believe.’ [Sings] “If you listen long enough to” — I played the piano on that, and that was released as the A-side single.
"And the B side was ‘Maggie May,’ but the DJs started playing ‘Maggie May’, and it just took off. And so it was a surprise to Rod.”
Sears worked with Rod on four of his smash hit albums, and touched on that in the interview.
He said: "We got pretty close here for a while, Rod and I.
"You know, I'd go off — I was with Silver Metre and then I joined Stoneground, and then after that, I was back in the states, and I flew back to play on Every Picture Tells a Story , which is probably my favourite Rod Stewart album.
"And everything was very spontaneous in the studio."
Pete even touched on Rod's producing style, noting that back then the Do Ya Think I'm Sexy singer was trying out a few different sounds.
He added: "Yeah, he had sort of diverse influences.
"He liked Bob Dylan a lot, and he also liked Sam Cooke.
"He had this sort of interesting [mix] of the blues and folk, so it all sort of came together.
"Rod, he had a really interesting way of producing.
"He'd really be into the feel, rather than microscopically sort of going in and making sure everything's absolutely perfect."
Rod recently spoke out against performing some of his more risque hits out of fear he would be "cancelled".
During an interview with Times Radio host John Pienaar, the two discussed some of Rod's more controversial singing material.
The rock star's latest album, The Tears of Hercules, features many songs that explore the themes of sex, love and relationships but Rod deems them more appropriate than his old hits.
Maggie May centres around a toyboy singing to his older lover, while Lost Paraguayos features what interviewer John Pienaar described as the singer’s “ridiculously young girlfriend”.
“You couldn't do those now because you would be cancelled, wouldn’t you?” asked John.
Rod replied: “You know, I think if you listen to the new album there’s two or three songs that are about girlfriends and having sex.
“I mean it’s such a huge part of life. I think what you have to be careful of now is what you say in those songs,” he cautioned in his interview with Times Radio.
“You know, I don’t do Stay With Me or Hot Legs anymore, because they’re not appropriate. They were in the 70s but they’re not anymore.”
Pete Sears full interview is available to read here - https://ultimateclassicrock.com/pete-sears-rod-stewart-maggie-may/
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