The Intro

Rod Stewart was derided by many for jumping on the disco bandwagon with Da ‘Ya’ Think I’m Sexy? and it began his transformation into a figure of fun. However, it’s one of the more enjoyable of his six number 1s.

Before

After his fourth chart-topping single kept The Sex Pistols from number 1 (so we’re led to believe – see First Cut Is the Deepest/I Don’t Want to Talk About It) in 1977, he remained in the upper reaches of the singles chart. One of his most popular tunes, the love song You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim) peaked at three. It was the first release from his eighth album, Foot Loose & Fancy Free.

Next up was Hot Legs/I Was Only Joking, a number five hit in 1978. The former, a Rolling Stones-style raunchy blues number, hasn’t aged well, with lyrics like ‘Are you still in school?’ and ‘Hot legs oh you’re pussy’s whipped/Hot legs I just love your lips’. He later wisely changed these last lines.

A huge football fan (and former player), Stewart then teamed up with the national Scotland squad for their 1978 World Cup song Ole Ola (Mulher Brasileira). It fared better than the team’s performance in the tournament. Despite manager Ally MacLeod’s bold claims, they were unable to get past the first round. The song climbed to four.

Setting to work on his ninth LP, Blondes Have More Fun, Stewart developed an increasingly outlandish look. With his peroxide bouffant and tight spandex, he began to resemble a prostitute. Seeing an ever-growing number of fellow rock stars adopting disco (best of the bunch was The Rolling Stones’ sleazy Miss You), Rod the Mod went full throttle down the disco avenue.

Released on 10 November, a week before the album, Da ‘Ya’ Think I’m Sexy? was co-written by Stewart with his drummer Carmen Appice (formerly of Vanilla Fudge) and producer and musician Duane Hitchings. However, several other names should be on those credits, really. The chorus is remarkably similar to Brazilian singer Jorge Ben’s 1972 track Taj Mahal. A lawsuit ensued which ended in Ben’s favour. However, in a potentially sly move to avoid him making royalties from the track in the future, Stewart donated them all to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Stewart claimed in his 2012 autobiography that it was an unconscious steal on his part and Taj Mahal had stuck in his brain after hearing it at the 1978 Rio Carnival. He did admit to purposefully stealing from elsewhere though. The yearning synth line in Da ‘Ya’ Think I’m Sexy?, which is the highlight of the track, came from Bobby Womack’s 1975 soul song (If You Want My Love) Put Something Down On It. Now that’s a great title, isn’t it?

https://youtu.be/Hphwfq1wLJsn

Review

As we all know, Da ‘Ya’ Think I’m Sexy? has become synonymous with Stewart’s image as an egotistical, leopard-skin-wearing joke. There’s been countless spoofs – perhaps the most memorable being from Kenny Everett in the early 80s. A friend of Stewart’s, he performs this song glammed up as him, strutting around in the same stupidly tight spandex Stewart wears in the real video. His arse grows ever bigger, eventually causing the DJ to fly off into the sky.

It’s worth noting though, and it hadn’t really occurred to me before, that the song isn’t about him. It’s another of his character studies and it only takes a read of the first verse to realise this. A guy in a nightclub wants to try his luck with a girl, but ‘He’s so nervous, avoiding all the questions/His lips are dry, her heart is gently pounding’. As if Stewart would be nervous in that situation! Come the second verse he’s worked up the courage to ask her back to his ‘high-rise apartment’. We even get a porn-style saxophone interlude, which is clearly there to symbolise them getting it on. Come the last verse, it’s dawn and it sounds like he may have talked up his situation as he confesses he has no milk or coffee for a pick-me-up after their night of passion but, in a nice play on words ‘Never mind sugar, we can watch the early movie.’

Da ‘Ya’ Think I’m Sexy? has been in my mind for decades as a song to laugh at. So it came as a surprise to find myself enjoying it upon this review. It’s a lot more fun and less ‘worthy’ than his earlier number 1s and the third-person narrative adds a new dimension to the song. Also, Phil Chen’s disco bass is great and the aforementioned synth line is even better, despite beingstolen. Not so good when the sax mirrors it at the climax, though, and Stewart’s voice isn’t the right type for the chorus, I’d argue. He rather bludgeons it.

I’d say the video is a big reason for this song and Stewart himself becoming a joke. He stars as the guy in the song, sat with his prey, watching himself and his band on a little TV on the bar. Inbetween the footage on stage, in which Stewart’s outfit is somehow actually more ridiculous than Everett’s, we cut to Rod the Mod and the girl, about to get it on, while watching him and the band on TV. In case you’re not sure what the song is about, Stewart gets on the floor and humps thin air. The interplay between him and the band is good knockabout fun though. For the dawn scene, they remain clothed and the band are still on TV, which suggests either Stewart gets off on a looped performance of himself, or they’ve just fallen asleep for a minute or so.

After

This, Stewart’s last UK number 1 of the 70s, also went to the top around the world. In 1997, UK dance act N-Trance released a cover version, featuring Rod the Mod’s vocal on the chorus, which peaked at seven. It’s not a patch on their best work, Set You Free.

The Outro

Written by

Rod Stewart, Carmen Appice & Duane Hitchings

Producer

Tom Dowd

Weeks at number 1

1 (2-8 December)

Trivia

Births

6 December: Screenwriter Jack Thorne
7 December: Historian Suzannah Lipscomb