"The single Maggie May is a freak. A million-to-one chance. But the album has permanence and a lasting value. I still can’t see how the single is such a big hit cos it’s got no melody! Plenty of character and nice chords, yeah, but no melody.”
When Rod Stewart utters these words in October 1971 Maggie May, the hit he cannot understand and which a friend will tell him to leave off the album (“because it’s not commercial”) is stuck to the top spot on the British and US charts. Every Picture Tells A Story will match that feat at the same time – elevating Stewart from a respected journeyman into rock’s new superstar elite.
