It’s easy to mock Rod Stewart as a sexist old dinosaur but it’s equally important to remember that he was like that long before it was unfashionable.
Stay With Me, which came along soon after Rod topped the charts with Maggie May, will win him no prizes as a proto-feminist with that opening line: “In the morning, don’t say you love me / Cos I’ll only kick you out of the door”.
Whatever you way you look at it, it’s utterly reprehensible: “I don’t mean to sound degrading,” sings Rod to his latest conquest. “But with a face like that / You’ve got nothing to laugh about.”
Still, he’s all heart at the end of this particular one night stand. “I’ll pay your cab fare home,” he promises her generously. “You can even wear my best cologne… Just don’t be hear in the morning when I wake up.”
Then, in case you were worried he might see the error of his ways at the end of the song, he signs off with the final insult: “What’s your name?”
And yet…. It’s just brilliant. That opening riff by Ronnie Wood. The bar-room piano of Ian McLagan. Ronnie Lane’s surprisingly intricate bass. Ron’s slide guitar flourishes. And Rod’s signature rasp.
It was The Faces’ first hit, and defines their ramshackle rock’n’roll charm, as well as Rod’s laddish ‘charm’ as a lyricist and front man, seen here going through his full repertoire of posturing, preening and microphone-stand acrobatics.
Although I was too young to have seen them in their prime, I actually saw The Faces perform this live in 1993, at my first ever Brit Awards, sitting in about the fifth row from the front at Ally Pally.
Rod had reunited the band to accept a lifetime achievement award and it was fantastic. Partially because I hadn’t heard this for more than 20 year.s. Partly because it always is when you’re about 10 feet away from a superstar who normally only performs in stadiums. But mostly because… well, shoot me if you like, but it’s a fucking fantastic song.