Rod Stewart’s run on the US pop charts stands as one of the most impressive in music history. How many other artists can boast that they were still scoring hits when they were in their 50s instead of plying their trade on the oldies circuit?
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Stewart’s final song to reach the US Top 40 allowed him to come full circle in many ways. And it also gave him the chance to right a wrong he had perpetrated many years before.
Rod’s Rise
Before he was a solo star, Rod Stewart worked his way up singing for several bands. The Faces, whom Stewart joined along with Ronnie Wood in 1969, were the most prominent of those groups. Once the Small Faces, they became a blues-rock powerhouse with the new additions to the lineup.
After a few albums that solidified their critical status, as well as some rambunctious tours that cemented them as inveterate partiers, Faces broke out with the release of their 1971 album A Nod Is As Good As A Wink…To A Blind Horse. That record included their first US hit singles, which raised their exposure level a great deal.
That album arrived not long after Stewart had rocketed to the top of the charts with his single “Maggie May”. As a result, many in the press started to view Faces as Stewart’s backing group, even though the creative duties were shared equally. For his part, Stewart couldn’t help but put more focus on his solo career.
Stewart’s Statement
In 1973, Faces returned with a new album. Rod Stewart decided to take the occasion of its release to criticize the album in the British press. Although he quickly tried to qualify his statements, the damage was done in terms of the group’s morale. But in the meantime, they were about to release their most memorable song.
The title track for the new album, “Ooh La La”, was written by Ronnie Lane, the Faces’ bassist, and Ronnie Wood. Wood handled the music, and Lane wrote the sweetly sentimental lyrics detailing the advice given to a young boy by his grandfather. It features the immortally wise refrain, “I wish that I knew what I know now/When I was younger.”
Stewart, who usually handled most of the lead vocals for Faces, balked at singing it because it didn’t fit his preferred key. Lane also struggled to get it right when he made an attempt. Finally, Wood took a crack at it, and something about his croaky style fit the bill. As utterly charming as it was, “Ooh La La” stayed mostly under the radar at the time.
Meanwhile, The Faces could never quite recover from the blow-up caused by Stewart’s words. They lingered on as a touring act for a few years. Wood’s decision to join The Rolling Stones finally put them out to pasture for good. But “Ooh La La” wasn’t done making an impact, partly due to, of all people, Rod Stewart.
Returning to “La”
In 1998, Stewart released the album When We Were The New Boys. He sang mostly covers on the record, taking on songs from then-current buzz acts like Ron Sexsmith and Oasis. But he saved a spot on the album to do his own version of “Ooh La La”.
What was the occasion? A year earlier, Ronnie Lane passed away after battling multiple sclerosis for decades. Thus, Stewart featured the song that featured Lane’s most memorable lyrics, finally singing them after passing on them 25 years earlier. And he pulled it off quite well, well enough that it scraped into the Top 40 in the US at No.39.
Rod Stewart’s luck on the pop charts finally ran out after that. But how fitting it was for him to go out with his own rendition of “Ooh La La”, allowing him to both pay tribute and sort of apologize to his much-loved former band.
Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
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