Song of the Day 7/26: Rod Stewart, “True Blue”

The lead-off track to “Never a Dull Moment,” the 1972 follow-up album to Stewart’s mega-hit “Every Picture Tells a Story,” finds Rod the Mod struggling with his new-found success. Like many of Stewart’s solo records from the period, it’s hard to hear any difference from his work with the Faces, and no wonder — it’s the entire Faces lineup forming the backing band on this one, and the song was frequently featured in Faces concerts. Stewart co-wrote this one with Ron Wood, and it’s pretty clear the music is by Wood — it’s got that mid-period Stones chord progression — and the lyrics are by Stewart, who claimed he didn’t want a fast-back mid-engine Porsche or a private jet, stances he would soon abandon as the money kept rolling in.

Here’s the LP version:

And a live rendition that shows just how good the Faces were, even when Ron Wood kicks off the song-ending jam too soon: