Maggie May, Rod Stewart, and the age issue in rock

The predatory nature of age-difference relationships is barely explored in rock music. Take my words as cynicism soaked: rock music is the place where some of the most infamous [and dangerous] predators find their profession. You have Jimmy Page, Bill Wyman, Steven Tyler, Jerry Lee Lewis - the list is sadly very very long. There is a lot of damage to these relationships, not just being many of these women were abused in an abuse cycle [outsourcing a Mick Jagger quote on this one here but: ¨They [groupies] get very abused, you know? Because they put up with an awful lot of shit. They get kicked around and abused which isn't very nice. [...] The problem is not to abuse them, because they're people, you know… and they´re open to abuse.¨], as well as the power dynamic of famous people who adore and the adoree, but the age differences. You know, a terrible combination is that of an adult being adored and a child adoring, not knowing any better. The seeming “adult” allows themself to be in the wrong, and the only person to be treated with those consequences is the poor fan who lives with the pain gifted by someone who was supposed to know better. The point of this is age difference couples are often not explored in rock, at all.

However, this changed. Recording his album Every Picture Tells A Story (1971), Rod Stewart penned a song about age difference, abuse, and toxic relationships, and from the perspective of a young man who had to grapple with the pain of being taken advantage of by an older woman. The song is ¨more or less¨ a true story, and the name is derived from an old Liverpudian folk song about a prostitute known to steal from sailors when they return from sea [clever on Rod here: the name coming from a song in which a woman steals from the unsuspecting]. The song was originally the B-side to his single Reason to Believe, though it would go on to gain more traction and become a bigger hit than it's A-side. A reminder here is that this would go onto become a double A-side, which was insane for being a single from one of his first solo albums. At this point, Stewart was just the frontman of an obscure 70s glam rock band who had one hit in nearly 5 years together. He wasn't an established artist, yet he was able to grasp a double hit with his first, impressive to say the absolute least.

The song is featured in nearly every live set by Stewart, and is credited as being the greatest song he's written [something that doesn't seem that difficult, but if you were to look through the man's musical output you'd find so many examples of topnotch songwriting that you begin to question if Maggie May is really the best he has ever offered], but many don't realize the meaning behind the words.

If you´ve never heard, or better wording, never listened to the lyrics of Maggie May we shall break it down:

Wake up, Maggie, I think I got somethin' to say to you
It's late September and I really should be back at school
I know I keep you amused, but I feel I'm being used
Oh, Maggie, I couldn't have tried any more

The narrator is debating on whether he could discuss his apprehensions with the woman in question, a clear sign of a power imbalance between the two. This is only further hammered in by the references to school, and how the author must go back. Obviously this is a clear reference to a University because a song this infamous about pedophilla in the highest regard would be insane, but the word choice of school instead of university once more drives home the point that this is a young man, and he is tied into a relationship he isn't prepared for.

There's a guilt found within the closing two lines of this verse, almost as though the narrator has tried to discuss this before but was shot down, or ¨love-bombed¨. Going back to the groupie discussion point of earlier, feeling special was a huge reason in which *some* did what they did, something present in many relationships with a power dynamic, such as the one described here. The author is worn down, starting to see through the lies that have been whispered to him for so long.

You led me away from home
Just to save you from being alone
You stole my heart and that's what really hurts

There is also a swift brush with selfishness in these relationships, displayed here. This young man has a whole life in front of him, yet Maggie takes most of this childhood and innocence for herself so she wouldn't have to be alone. He doesn't understand the deeper implications of this relationship, but he knows his heart was broken and that he was mistreated, a hard thing for anyone to learn, let alone a boy.

The mornin' sun when it's in your face really shows your age
But that don't worry me none, in my eyes, you're everything

This is the biggest implication that Maggie is a predator as opposed to just continuing a toxic relationship. What’s interesting here is that the narrator is still hell bent on making sure that she knows how perfect he still views her. This can be viewed a few ways: one being that he is reverting back to complimenting her after saying what can be viewed as negative, almost in a fearful, learned way. Another is that he is still conflicted about these feelings, playing back into the power dynamic issue, that regardless of how terrible he knows he's treated, he almost knows that he’ll never not love the attention or the way she makes him feel special. There’s a lot of layers to this story that I feel like I need to applaud Rod for adding, as the whole thing is laced with confusion as opposed to a black and white issue as things are often not that simple, though they seem it on the outside.

I laughed at all of your jokes, my love, you didn't need to coax

Personally I view this as more of an allegory for something else. Once more, it seems as though the narrator is appealing to the woman at hand, as opposed to being true to how he knows he feels deep down, he feels how he has been conditioned to feel.

You stole my soul, and that's a pain I can do without

The traditional tale that Rod took the name from is very important here, I believe. In the original story of Maggie May, you find that something is taken from innocent, unsuspecting, and unquestioning people. While not getting too into detail [for my own sake mainly], soul is most likely not in reference to soul. Substituting soul for virginity, happiness, or love could easily work here and drive home Rod’s point like nothing else. He was taken advantage of, and lost something that was supposed to be special to someone that only created pain in his life.

All I needed was a friend to lend a guiding hand
But you turned into a lover, and mother, what a lover, you wore me out
All you did was wreck my bed, and in the morning, kick me in the head

This is the most on the nose these lyrics become, as it seems almost written in a confessional way by the narrator, finally connecting to his real thoughts. There is a realization that he was taken advantage of, he was looking for someone to understand and be his friend and all he got was someone who took advantage of his nativity of just looking for that, knowing he wouldn't notice or say anything once that line was crossed. Preying on the weak, if you will. He never gained anything from the relationship except suffering or ruined things.

You stole my heart, I couldn't leave you if I tried

Once more, going back to the mentality that he knows it's not good but he almost has to revert back to going to her. She is seemingly all he knows, and he can’t distance himself from that, as she took so much of his youth he can't leave as it will almost be leaving that behind too. Once more he appeals to her after a spurt of sudden confidence that admits the pain of his circumstances on him.

I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school
Or steal my daddy's cue and make a living out of playing' pool
Or find myself a rock and roll band that needs a helping' hand

A future planned outside of her, but all of which require help from other people. He can’t be alone, he never learned. The narrator has only known childhood and Maggie, and Maggie took the time that should have gone to understanding himself because she “didn’t want to be alone”.

Oh, Maggie, I wished I'd never seen your face
You made a first-class fool out of me
But I'm as blind as a fool can be
You stole my heart, but I love you anyway

There is a confusion in these lines, as he goes from almost enraged at how he was treated to all of a sudden “I love you anyways”. It once more seems to be that pulling back after admitting true feelings, that every fight he’d put up before was shut down and he was coaxed to say he loved her again. There was no bridge from child to adult, just pain in a relationship he couldn’t escape.

Maggie, I wished I'd never seen your face
I'll get on back home one of these days

There's no happy ending to this rollercoaster ride of a relationship or these emotions. There are simple endings laced to each other about how the rest of the song is, he hates being with her, and he’ll escape one day, but there is no date as to when. The conclusion starts in a place that would almost lead us to believe that the cycle hasn't ended, and we will never know if it has.

Stories of male abuse often go under the radar, as there is a false notion that men cannot be abused or taken advantage of, when the truth is that they can. Unfortunately, I have to call back to the same Mick Jagger interview from earlier but there is a genuine discussion he tries to make about how men and women need to be put on an equal playing field, as so many times women aren’t acknowledged for being terrible and abusive towards the men in their company. The interesting case of Maggie May is multiple things: it's a song about relationship power dynamics in rock, a rare occurrence for a genre that seems to need it more than any other, and its a song about an abusive woman from the eyes of her victim, written and performed by one themself. The lyrics guide through the story of a confused young man who was so intricately hurt that he can't stop loving the person who pained him.

Stewart rarely performs in a somber tone, showmanship usually overtaking every performance, but saying that the tone in which he communicates the song has no baring on the lyrics. While, no, he doesn't sadly choke out the lyrics, he never minces his words. One thing about Stewart as a vocalist is that he enunciates incredibly well: whether you like his lyrics or not you always know exactly what he said. To look towards one performance that exemplifies this well would be his infamous MTV Unplugged set [Unplugged... and Seated with special guest Ronnie Wood]. He starts slow, before going into the regular tempo of the song. The song is, as it always has, speaking for itself.

There's a phenomenon of this song being considered a love song, when in my eyes it has never, will never, and could never be one. The song, to anyone who listens to the lyrics, is a song about a man coming to terms with the abuse he faced and the fact that he now are faced with the difficulty of leaving the only thing he knows and going off the beaten path, or stay in a cycle of abuse that has ruined a majority of his life.

There is no love in this song. There is confusion, there is regret, there is hopes and fears, but there is no love. The only time the phrase "I love you" is uttered throughout the song is after the admission that something was stolen. Maggie is stuck in his life, not chosen to stay in it.

No matter what he does, Maggie will never escape his life.

She stole, and what she took was irreplaceable.

This song is one of the only times in rock music where the horrors of age gaps has been explored, and even then it lives in a limbo of being misconstrued for love, an almost scarily prophetic fate. In the same way people see Stewart's communication of pain due to "Maggie", people see "love" between a grown man and someone not yet born by the time they'd already hit 20. In neither scenario is there love, but for some reason people can't see that.

Maggie May may just be the best song Rod Stewart ever wrote, but not due to his actual musical composition, due to it's ability to try and communicate something that no one understands. Hopefully people see it as more than the Rod Stewart song they're tired of hearing, and more for the message that is trying to be conveyed.

But, as it stands, his voice is caught within the thousands who try and tell their story and aren't listened too. Heard, but not listened too.