This might not have been the most obvious of Christmas songs when it came out in December 1973 but it was The Faces at their raucous, rowdy, ramshackle best.

It kicks off with a great guitar riff from Ron Wood, there’s some freewheeling barrelhouse piano from Ian McLagan, and it’s anchored by the dependable drive of Kenney Jones and a new Face in Tetsu Yamauchi, who stepped in after Ronnie Lane left six months before this was recorded and released in December 1973.

Rod’s rasp is turned up to the max and his lyrics are Rod Stewart to the max. He’s concerned with the arrival of a new pool hustler in town with “a reputation bigger than gasoline,” a man who wears “a yellow carnation and a pink satin shoe” – just the one, apparently.

Rod’s main concern, as ever, concerns his woman; specifically his belief that the newcomer, the titular Richard, has designs on her. In Rod’s almost Byronesque words, he intends to “fill my lady unless he teaches him a lesson on the green baize and wipes the smile off his chin (I know: what’s it doing down there?).

It doesn’t go entirely to plan, as Rod explains in the closing line which, once again, is sheer poetry: “You’re breakin’ my heart ‘cos you’re stealin’ my tart.”

So Christmassy too!