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)

Hard Lesson To Learn
Rod Stewart Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I drifted into the notion
That you were looking for me
I told myself that devotion
Would flow from your heart to me

When I looked into your eyes
Still no reflection did I see
Of love light glowing within there

That I hoped there would be

And it's a hard lesson to learn my friend
A hard lesson to learn
Sometimes you gonna get what you want
Times you gonna get burned

I took a chance on emotion
Washing my heart out to see
A single wave on the ocean
You feel so distant from me
And there's a shadow dark upon your smile
A sadness living in your eyes
Storm clouds rolling in an outofdaught
Guess I been living alive

And it's a hard lesson to learn my friend
Hard lesson to learn
Sometimes you gonna get what you want
Sometimes you gonna get burned
Sometimes you gonna get what you want
Sometimes you gonna get burned

And it's a hard lesson to learn my friends
Hard lesson to learn
Sometimes you gonna get what you want
Sometimes you gonna get burned

I drifted into the notion
That you were looking for me
I told myself that devotion
Would flow from your heart to me
But when I looked into your beautiful eyes
Still no reflection did I see
Of love light glowing within there
That I kind o hoped there would be

And it's a hard lesson to learn my friends
Hard lesson to learn
Sometimes you gonna get what you want
Sometimes you gonna get burned
Sometimes you gonna get what you want
Sometimes you gonna get burned
Sometimes you gonna get what you want
Sometimes you gonna get burned
Sometimes you gonna get what you want
Sometimes you gonna get burned

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah oh

Sometimes you gonna get what you want
Sometimes you gonna get burned

Overall Meaning

In the song "Hard Lesson to Learn," Rod Stewart reflects on the difficulties of love and relationships. The lyrics speak of a man who mistakenly believed that his partner was looking for him, only to realize that she was not as devoted as he hoped. He had thought that love would blossom between them, but there was no reflection of that in her eyes. The chorus drives home the theme: sometimes you get what you want, but sometimes you get burned. The singer is learning a hard lesson about love through his experience.

The song captures the vulnerability and fragility of relationships. Even when we think we have found love, we can still be disappointed. Sometimes we put our hopes and dreams on someone who does not reciprocate those feelings. The repetition of the chorus emphasizes the point that love is unpredictable and that we have to accept that truth.

Overall, "Hard Lesson to Learn" is a beautifully crafted ballad that speaks to the universal experience of love and heartbreak. The song teaches that sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, but we must keep on trying because love is worth it in the end.

Line by Line Meaning

I drifted into the notion
I had a vague idea that you were interested in me

That you were looking for me
I thought that you were searching for me

I told myself that devotion
I convinced myself that you were devoted to me

Would flow from your heart to me
That you will love me with pure devotion

When I looked into your eyes
But when I looked into your eyes

Still no reflection did I see
I didn't see any reflection of love in your eyes

Of love light glowing within there
I didn't see any signs of love in your eyes

That I hoped there would be
I was hoping to see the signs of love in your eyes

And it's a hard lesson to learn my friend
This is a tough lesson to learn, my friend

A hard lesson to learn
It's a very difficult lesson to learn

Sometimes you gonna get what you want
Sometimes you'll get what you want