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Got arrested for insightin a peaceful riot when all I wanted was a cup of tea

While making burritos a couple weeks ago, I caught on the radio "Every Picture Tells a Story" by Rod Stewart. With that acoustic chime-y guitar intro, I recognized it from his early post-Faces/Maggie May days. Chopping peppers, boiling rice, the song immediately grabbed me. Fresh, energetic, that same upbeat riff for six minutes. Just yesterday I ripped the track of Rhapsody, and ever since then I've played it over and over, loving every minute of it.

MP3 Download: Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story

Six minutes, one riff

The song is ridiculously long - just under six minutes, considering it's just a pop song. Even more flabbergasting, during the course of those 360 seconds, the chord progression is exactly the same. No chorus, no bridge, just the big chords into the guitar breaks. I can't think of the last song I heard like that.

Some of the lyrics are amazing

Spent some time, feelin inferior
Standin in front of my mirror
Comb my hair in a thousand ways
But I came out lookin just the same
This is Springstein before Springstein was Springstein, but coming out of Rod's mouth. Honest, deprecating, and a sentiment I can completely empathize with.

Most of the lyrics are horrible, if not taboo

. . . But that doesn't mean this is the sort of poetry you'd tattoo to your arm. The gist of "Every Picture" has Rob setting the scene for traveling the world, looking for his next muse. No luck in Paris or Rome. He stunk but he kept his funk (no mention of junk or a hunk?) But ol' Goldielocks manages to score a dame in the Far East. You can tell the romance must be fervent, as he refers to this goddess as a "slit eyed lady." Whoa . . . Rod . . . you can't say that. That's down right racist. Certainly, he could think of a more eloquent way to express the ethnicity of his female companion. Howz about "Shanghai Lil" and then again "slit eyed lady." Wow. You put those lyrics in a song today and good luck with getting airplay.

This song must have been recorded in one take

It's a straightforward production: Electric guitar, acoustic guitar, Rod's vocals, female vocals, bass, drums, and at the end you've got piano and backing vocals. That's it. Simple and direct with no room for atmopheric sounds. This is the sort of production you can take out of the studio and place right in a bar and it would sound just the same. Moreover, there's a couple mistakes you can hear on the track. Rod begins a lyric two beats early around 3:47. Some dude (who must be into it) gives "heeyy" at 4:10. There's that energy of "this doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be fun" and its immediately accessible.

Rod is a powerhouse

1971 - Rod Stewart at his finest. The slower radio-friendly hits "Reason to Believe" and "Maggie May" were able to work their way up the charts, but both lack the energic force of "Every Picture." Rod truly sounds like golden god we all imagine he must of been during the 70's. But this is before disco, before his mall-directed Top 40's run in the 80's. This is Rod shouting like a kid knowing he's making a hit record.