Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop… Read Full Bio ↴Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 250 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top ten singles in the UK, six of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.

Stewart's music career began in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica. In 1963, he joined The Dimensions as a harmonica player and vocalist. In 1964, Stewart joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars before moving to the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. Joining Faces in 1969, he also maintained a solo career releasing his debut album that year. Stewart's early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music, and R&B. His third album, 1971's Every Picture Tells a Story, was his breakthrough, topping the charts in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, as did its ballad "Maggie May". His 1972 follow-up album, Never a Dull Moment, also reached number one in the UK and Australia, while going top three in the US and Canada. Its single, "You Wear It Well", topped the chart in the UK and was a moderate hit elsewhere.

After Stewart had a handful more UK top ten hits, the Faces broke up in 1975. Stewart's next few hit singles were ballads with "Sailing", off the 1975 UK and Australian number-one album, Atlantic Crossing, becoming a hit in the UK and the Netherlands (number one), Germany (number four) and other countries, but barely charting in North America. A Night on the Town (1976), his fifth straight chart-topper in the UK, began a three-album run of going number one or top three in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia with each release. That album's "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" spent almost two months at number one in the US and Canada, and made the top five in other countries. Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) contained the hit "You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)" as well as the rocker "Hot Legs". Blondes Have More Fun (1978) and its disco-tinged "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" both went to number one in Canada, Australia and the US, with "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" also hitting number one in the UK and the top ten in other countries. Stewart's albums regularly hit the upper rungs of the charts in the Netherlands throughout the 70s and in Sweden from 1975 onward.

After a disco and new wave period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stewart's music turned to a soft rock/middle-of-the-road style, with most of his albums reaching the top ten in the UK, Germany and Sweden, but faring less well in the US. The single "Rhythm of My Heart" was a top five hit in the UK, US and other countries, with its source album, 1991's Vagabond Heart, becoming, at number ten in the US and number two in the UK, his highest-charting album in a decade. In 1993, he collaborated with Bryan Adams and Sting on the power ballad "All for Love", which went to number one in many countries. In the early 2000s, he released a series of successful albums interpreting the Great American Songbook.

In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the "Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists". A Grammy and Brit Award recipient, he was voted at No. 33 in Q Magazine's list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time. As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and he was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces.

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Stewart

Studio albums
An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (1969)
Gasoline Alley (1970)
Every Picture Tells a Story (1971)
Never a Dull Moment (1972)
Smiler (1974)
Atlantic Crossing (1975)
A Night on the Town (1976)
Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977)
Blondes Have More Fun (1978)
Foolish Behaviour (1980)
Tonight I'm Yours (1981)
Body Wishes (1983)
Camouflage (1984)
Every Beat of My Heart (1986)
Out of Order (1988)
Vagabond Heart (1991)
A Spanner in the Works (1995)
When We Were the New Boys (1998)
Human (2001)
It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook (2002)
As Time Goes By: The Great American Songbook, Volume II (2003)
Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III (2004)
Thanks for the Memory: The Great American Songbook, Volume IV (2005)
Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time (2006)
Soulbook (2009)
Once in a Blue Moon: The Lost Album (2010)
Fly Me to the Moon... The Great American Songbook Volume V (2010)
Merry Christmas, Baby (2012)
Time (2013)
Another Country (2015)
Blood Red Roses (2018)
The Tears of Hercules (2021)

Big Bayou
Rod Stewart Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I took a long, long trip to the city
I was determined to get somewhere
I spent all my hard earned money
I had saved to put me there

Big bayou where did you go
To the river that's running slow
And to the Gulf of Mexico

Big bayou carry me home

I took a cotton picking job in Memphis
And the people there treated me good
But my luck run bad in Nashville
I had to walked the streets of Hollywood

Big bayou where did you go
To the river that's running slow
Into the Gulf of Mexico
Big bayou carry me home

Oh Lord I'm going home
Where the fish jump in the air
You know I don't need a lot of money
'Cause I ain't going nowhere

Big bayou where did you go
To the river that's running slow
Into the Gulf of Mexico
Big bayou carry me home

Big bayou carry me home
To the river that's running slow
Into the Gulf of Mexico
Big bayou where did you go

I'm gonna catch a southbound
Train home one of these days

Overall Meaning

The song "Big Bayou" by Rod Stewart is a story about a man who embarks on a journey from his hometown to the city with the hopes of finding success and making a better life for himself. He spends all his hard-earned money hoping to put himself in a good position to succeed but finds that his luck is not the same in every place he visits. He spends some time working in Memphis, where people treat him well, but his fortunes take a turn for the worse in Nashville and Hollywood.

The lyrics make references to a river that runs slow, and the Gulf of Mexico that is possibly the river's destination. The singer of the song seeks solace and comfort in returning to his native land by asking the Big Bayou to carry him home. It appears that he wants to return to a simpler life where he does not need a lot of money, and is content to breathe in the fresh air while watching the fish jump in the air.

In summary, "Big Bayou" speaks to the longing for home, a place of refuge where one can find inner peace and happiness. The theme resonates deeply, as many people can identify with the desire to return to their place of origin to escape the noise and chaos of city life.

Line by Line Meaning

I took a long, long trip to the city
I embarked on a far-flung expedition to the urban area

I was determined to get somewhere
I had made up my mind to accomplish a goal

I spent all my hard earned money
I exhausted my earnings that I had toiled for

I had saved to put me there
That I had set aside to take myself there

Big bayou where did you go
I wonder where you disappeared to, big bayou

To the river that's running slow
Did you journey to the sluggish-flowing river?

And to the Gulf of Mexico
Or maybe you went towards the Gulf of Mexico?

Big bayou carry me home
Oh please, big bayou, take me home with you

I took a cotton picking job in Memphis
I opted for a job that involved harvesting cotton in Memphis

And the people there treated me good
But the locals there were hospitable to me

But my luck run bad in Nashville
My fortune was ill-fated when I got to Nashville