Two rock greats Rod Stewart and the late Jeff Beck first joined forces in the late 1960s when the latter recruited Stewart for his post-Yardbirds project, the Jeff Beck Group. The move would not only mark Stewart’s big break, but it would also mean the start of a beautiful working relationship between the two.
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Separately, the duo would have their own highly successful careers – Stewart, as an unmatched rock vocalist and frontman, and Beck as one of rock’s greatest guitarists. But together, they made tremendous music, specifically co-writing a handful of songs for two of Beck’s acclaimed releases, the 1968 album Truth and the 1969 project Beck-Ola.
1. “Let Me Love You” – Jeff Beck (1968)
Written by Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart
Let me love you baby, / You’re drivin’ my poor heart crazy / When I’m with you woman, / My whole life seems so hazy, Stewart’s rapturous rasp rips through a hefty blues-rock arrangement.
Beck’s Truth featured three Beck-Stewart compositions – all were credited to a “Jeffrey Rod,” a songwriting pseudonym the pair adopted – one of which was “Let Me Love You.” The ferocious tune is a reworking of Buddy Guy’s blues classic of the same name.
2. “Blues Deluxe” – Jeff Beck (1968)
Written by Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, B.B. King, and Johnny Pate
I don’t know too much about love, people / But I sure think I’ve got it bad / Some people say love is just a gamble / But whatever it is, it’s about to drive poor me mad, yes, it is, Stewart croaks against the piano-powered blues production, “Blues Deluxe.”
Another Beck-Stewart work on Truth, “Blues Deluxe” is again a product of the two re-imagining the B.B. King song, “Gambler’s Blues.”
3. “Rock My Plimsoul” – Jeff Beck (1967)
Written by Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Curtis Jones, Lil’ Son Jackson, B.B. King, and Joe Josea
You can rock me, rock me all night long / Keep on rocking me baby, rock me all night long / ‘Cause you know what, when you rock me / My poor back it ain’t got a bone, Stewart sings along to Beck’s rollicking guitar prowess.
The pair penned the Truth tune, “Rock My Plimsoul,” as a reworking of the blues tune “Rock Me Baby,” another B.B. King classic.
4. “Spanish Boots” – Jeff Beck (1969)
Written by Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, and Ron Wood
I used to work and take a salary / In a hole up near a foundry / But it did not take me too long / To get my boots on a “So long!” / Long Spanish boots on a “So long!,” Stewart matter-of-factly wails on “Spanish Boots.”
Beck and Stewart penned the tune alongside their then-fellow Jeff Beck Group member and now-Rolling Stone guitarist Ron Wood. The song was featured on Beck’s Beck-Ola.
(Photo by Robin Platzer/IMAGES/Getty Images)
