Sailing

405. Rod Stewart – First Cut Is the Deepest/I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1977)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

‘There is no future in England’s dreaming’

Sorry, but it’s very difficult to talk about the 405th number 1 single and not mention the rumours of a fix preventing what would have been the 406th…

Before

Rod Stewart’s 1975 LP Atlantic Crossing, his first for Warner Bros. was a huge global success. And Sailing, the first single from it, his biggest-selling song ever. The next single it spawned, a cover of The Isley Brothers’ This Old Heart of Mine, went to four. His next album, also considered among his finest, was A Night on the Town in 1976. Once more produced by Tom Dowd at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, its first single, Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright) was huge in the US. Reigning at the top of the Billboard chart for eight weeks, it was the longest-running number 1 there since Hey Jude in 1968. And this was in spite of its risky lyrics in which Stewart is basically deflowering a ‘virgin child’. Perhaps because of that it only climbed to five in the UK.

The next release ranks among his finest. The Killing of Georgie (Part II and II) is a beautiful true story about a gay friend of his former band Faces, who was murdered in 1974. The lyrics are Stewart at his best. The second part is basically Don’t Let Me Down by The Beatles, but that’s no bad thing either. Far removed from his laddish image, the US didn’t take to it, but it reached two in the UK. Good old UK.

Another Beatles connection came next when Rod the Mod covered Get Back for the music documentary All This and World War II. This took him to 11. On the back of The Best of Rod Stewart and its use as the theme to BBC documentary series Sailor, Sailing was re-released and went to 31. OK, it’s a low position, but bear in mind it was number 1 only two years previous.

While Stewart was selling millions globally, a new movement was growing. The Sex Pistols became notorious in December 1976 for their sweary appearance on Bill Grundy’s Today. Goaded by a drunken Grundy, the host was sacked. EMI ended their record deal with the punk pioneers after one single, Anarchy in the U.K. But they grew ever more infamous while they recorded their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. They signed with A&M and announced they were to release God Save the Queen in Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee year. Following a riotous press conference and fight with a label executive a few days later, A&M sacked them and virtually all the singles were destroyed.

You may well know why I’m talking about Sex Pistols so much, but if not, it’s fascinating and one of pop’s greatest controversies. Johnny Rotten and co (including new member Sid Vicious) soon signed with Virgin Records, who were more than happy to release God Save the Queen to tie in with the height of the Jubilee celebrations. Punk was quickly gaining traction with a disaffected youth, bored of progressive rock albums and dull light entertainment pop. Malcolm McLaren’s group may have been hated, but any publicity was good publicity for a band that thrived on being loathed.

Allegedly, a panicked music industry may face decided the Sex Pistols needed to be stopped from embarrassing the nation by taking the number 1 spot in Jubilee week. So Warner Bros. released a budget double A-side by a much safer UK pop star.

Reviews

The First Cut Is the Deepest had been the second track on A Night on the Town. Originally one of Cat Stevens’ earliest songs, the most famous version was recorded by US soul singer PP Arnold in 1967. He had sold it to her for £30. Stewart’s version is a decent retread. Not up there with his greatest work, but I prefer it to some of his more famous number 1s like Sailing. It showcases the sensitive side of Stewart, in the role of wounded ex-lover. Dowd’s production is, as always, very slick, and Stewart’s gravelly voice suits it well.

I Don’t Want to Talk About It dates back to Atlantic Crossing. Unusual to pick a song from an earlier album as a double A-side, but it complements the flip very well. The original version by Danny Whitten featured on his band Crazy Horse’s eponymous debut LP in 1971. Best known as Neil Young’s backing band, Whitten was sacked from Crazy Horse soon after and died of an alcohol/diazepam overdose a year later. This is a great song and I prefer it to the better known flip side. Once again Stewart is all broken up over a relationship. It’s another tender, heartfelt performance, and he captures Whitten’s anguish very well. Very similar to First Cut Is the Deepest, you could be forgiven for thinking they were recorded at the same time.

After

First Cut Is the Deepest/I Don’t Want to Talk About It became Stewart’s fourth number 1 on 21 May. The following week, God Save the Queen was released. On the Jubilee holiday of 7 June the Sex Pistols tried to play their song from a boat named Queen Elizabeth on the River Thames. Following a scuffle between Jah Wobble and a cameraman, 11 of the entourage including McLaren and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood were arrested when the boat docked.

The official chart for Jubilee week was to be released a few days later, and the Daily Mirror were predicting a number 1 for God Save the Queen, despite its ban by the BBC. On 15 June it became number 1 on the NME chart, but peaked at two in the BBC and Record Retailer ‘official’ chart.

So, conspiracy theory or not? Nothing has ever been officially proven either way, but there is compelling evidence to suggest it may be the case. According to a 2011 article by The Independent, the British Phonographic Institute decreed that for one week only – Jubilee week, sales from record-company operated shops were excluded from sales figures. Of course, that would have meant excluding Virgin. Pretty bad behaviour, if true. McLaren also claimed that someone at CBS Records, which was distributing both singles, told him the Sex Pistols were outselling Stewart two to one that week. But McLaren was an expert bullshitter, so don’t assume this to be the truth.

The Outro

We’ll never know for sure, it seems. But if it’s true, it’s shocking, and a crying shame. God Save the Queen, a vibrant, angry anti-establishment song, urging the working class to wake up and consider their lot, would have been an incredible number 1, and the only punk song to get there. To achieve it in Jubilee week would have been such a statement. Instead, it was two (admittedly decent) Stewart ballad covers.

‘Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?’

The Info

Written by

First Cut Is the Deepest: Cat Stevens/I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Danny Whitten

Producer

Tom Dowd

Weeks at number 1

4 (21 May-17 June)

Trivia

Births

30 May: Actress Rachael Stirling
6 June: Welsh chef Bryn Williams

Deaths

2 June: Actor Stephen Boyd
3June: Physiologist Archibald Vivian Hill

Meanwhile…

21 May: Manchester United won the FA Cup for the fourth time, beating Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley Stadium. 

25 May: Liverpool made up for the loss by winning the UEFA European Cup. They defeated West German league champions Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 in Rome.

27 May: Prime Minister James Callaghan officially opened the M5 motorway, 15 years after the first stretch near Birmingham was opened. 

6-9 June: Silver Jubilee celebrations were held to celebrate 25 years of the Queen’s reign, with a public holiday on 7 June.

377. Rod Stewart – Sailing (1975)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

1975 was a pivotal year for Rod Stewart. He switched labels, left the UK, released this, his most popular of six number 1s, and lost his bandmates when Faces split. He became a superstar and lost credibility at the same time.

Before

Such was Stewart’s popularity when his previous chart-topper, You Wear It Well was released in 1972, his uncredited appearance on Python Jackson’s In a Broken Dream soared to number three. The album Never a Dull Moment spawned number four hit What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me). In 1973, Faces recorded their final album Ooh La La. It wasn’t supposed to be, but tensions made it so. Stewart didn’t turn up for the first few weeks of recording, then complained the songs were in the wrong key, leaving the band to re-record them. The title track, a classic, was made three times before Stewart eventually passed vocal duties on to guitarist Ronnie Wood.

In the meantime, Stewart’s solo career was still holding firm, with a medley of Farewell/Bring It On Home to Me/You Send Me reaching seven in 1974. I also have to mention the best song title I’ve seen in a while, also from that year – You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything (Even Take the Dog for a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away the Ironing Board, or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings. This was the final single by Rod Stewart and Faces. Note that billing. Either the record label knew the singer now had more pulling power, or he insisted on it himself.

In 1975, Stewart left Mercury Records and signed with Warner Bros. and decided to leave England with his girlfriend Britt Ekland for Los Angeles, in order to avoid paying 83% tax on his earnings. With a bigger budget, Stewart ditched his colleagues to work with famous producer Tom Dowd and the legendary Muscle Shoals musicians in Alabama. Cleverly, the LP was named Atlantic Crossing. On Ekland’s suggestion, the album was sequenced to have a slow side and a fast side.

It’s likely that Stewart may have suggested he cover Sailing to tie in with the theme of travelling to a new country. The fact it’s a cover was a surprise to me, and it’s original meaning wasn’t so literal either. It was written by Gavin Sutherland, one half of folk duo The Sutherland Brothers. It was released as a single in July 1972, and was a more haunting affair than the better-known cover. Featuring Gavin on bass drum and Iain on harmonium, it was intended as representing one man’s Celtic spiritual journey to freedom. Deep. If you like the gist of Sailing but find Stewart’s too overblown, it’s worth a try. Stewart became aware of The Sutherland Brothers the year their single came out and apparently they even co-wrote two songs with him intended for Atlantic Crossing but they never saw the light of day.

Stewart, despite his confidence, always needed a drink or two back then to record his vocals. So he was in for a shock when Dowd rang his hotel room at 10am telling him the backing track was ready so he had to go sing it ASAP. And so he found himself recording, stone-cold sober, at an ungodly hour for any musician, for the first time. And in front of world-famous musicians, to boot. But he loosened up enough to get it in six or seven takes, he later recalled. The choir were put together by Bob Crewe, a writer and producer for The Four Seasons.

Review

Sailing seems to be a song you either love or hate. As he moved into the big league, Stewart ditched the folk sound and the lyrical talent displayed on previous number 1s Maggie May and You Wear It Well. He used to have a great way of making the characters in his songs relatable and more human than your average songwriter. From here on in, he started to become mainly interested in covering other people’s material and showing off his famously gravelly voice. I may perhaps be over-generalising though, as The Killing of Georgie (Parts I and II) was still a year away.

As for me, I neither love nor hate it. It’s inferior to the songs I’ve just mentioned, and yes it’s overlong and overblown, but there was far worse to come. Nice guitar sound during the solo too. Perhaps you had to be there at the time to really feel it an overfamiliar dirge. And with four weeks at number 1, followed by almost repeating the feat a year later when it was used as the theme tune to Sailor, a BBC One documentary series on the Ark Royal, it was certainly a familiar song back then.

After

Sailing has sold over a million and became one of Stewart’s signature songs. Two videos were made. The first, from 1975, also starred Ekland, and the second, in which he dons a sailor outfit and looks all wistful at New York, was made in 1978 and became one of the first videos to be shown on MTV. You can see it above. It became a popular tune during the Falklands conflict, and was re-released in 1987 to raise money for charity following the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster. Whichever version you prefer, you cannot argue that it was Stewart who made it the anthem it’s known as to this day.

The Info

Written by

Gavin Sutherland

Producer

Tom Dowd

Weeks at number 1

4 (6 September-3 October)

Trivia

Births

18 September: Football player Richard Appleby
23 September: Radio DJ Chris Hawkins
25 September: Presenter Declan Donnelly

Deaths

10 September: Nobel Prize laureate George Paget Thomson

Meanwhile…

19 September: John Cleese’s classic sitcom Fawlty Towers debuted on BBC Two.

24 September: Douglas Haston and Doug Scott became the first British people to climb Mount Everest.

27 September: York’s National Railway Museum became the first national museum outside London.

28 September–3 October – The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people are taken as hostages at the Spaghetti House restaurant , takes place in London.