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)
Stardust
Rod Stewart Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
The lyrics of Rod Stewart's Stardust are an evocative and melancholic reflection on lost love and the power of music to bring back memories of a past relationship. The song opens with the image of dusk settling across the heart, symbolizing the darkness and loneliness that comes with a relationship's end. The "little stars" that climb up in the sky act as a reminder of the distance between the two lovers, now apart. As the song progresses, the singer reflects on the past and admits to being haunted by a melody that brings back memories of love when it was new, and each kiss was an inspiration. He admits, however, that those moments were long ago and his only source of consolation is in the stardust of a song that captures the memory of love's refrain.
The second last verse paints an image of the singer holding his loved one's hand underneath the starry sky and being serenaded by the nightingale's song. A paradise is described where roses grew, but these scenes are now only a fruitless dream. In the end, the stardust melody is all that remains, a memory that lingers on in the singer's heart.
Line by Line Meaning
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
As the day draws to a close, the sky turns purple, reminding the singer that a happy time is ending.
Steals across the meadows of my heart
The feeling of sadness is so profound it spreads across his heart as if it were a meadow.
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Even as the sun sets, the stars appear in the sky, rising high as if they were climbing.
Always reminding me that we're apart
The stars symbolize the distance between the singer and the person he misses so much.
You wander down the lane and far away
The person he longs for has gone away and down a different path than him, far from his reach.
Leaving me a song that will not die
Even though the person is gone, they left behind something that will always live on, like a song that never fades.
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
Love that once existed now seems like a distant memory, captured in the beauty and evanescence of stardust.
The music of the years gone by.
The music evokes memories of the past, of a time long gone but still cherished.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
The singer ponders about how he manages to survive the lonely nights.
The lonely nights
These words refer to the nights when the singer is alone and missing someone very dear.
Dreaming of a song
During those lonely nights, the singer dreams of a song, a melody that keeps him company in his thoughts.
The melody
The tune of the song conjured up in his mind is a soothing, hypnotic and sentimental melody.
Haunts my reverie
The melody haunts him, fills his daydreams and doesn't let him forget what he's lost.
And I am once again with you
Listening to the melody, the singer is transported back in time when he was with his loved one.
When our love was new
The song evokes the memory of a time when their love was still fresh, young and full of promise.
And each kiss an inspiration
Each kiss was magical, inspiring, and full of emotions that are being recalled by the song.
But that was long ago
Now the happy events and emotions seem like they happened centuries ago.
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
The only thing that brings him peace and comfort are the memories evoked by the emotional and melancholic tune of this song.
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
The singer is describing a moment under the stars, leaning against a garden wall.
You are in my arms
In his dream, he has reached out to the person he misses and is holding them tightly.
The nightingale
The nightingale is a bird symbolizing love and romance in poetry and literature.
Tells his fairytale
The bird's song tells a romantic story, like a fairytale brimming with passion and love.
Of paradise, where roses grew
The paradise evoked in the bird's song is full of beauty and richness, much like the Garden of Eden. The roses, as symbols of love, are a feature of this paradise.
Though I dream in vain
Although he knows his dream won't come true, the dream is too precious to abandon.
In my heart it will remain
The memory of this dream will still live on, it's part of his being, a part that he will never forget.
My stardust melody
The song is now his, but it's not just the song he's singing, it's the dream and the love that is captured in those notes, a memory made eternal.
The memory of love's refrain.
The song will always be a testament to the love he has lost, but it will also be a reminder of the love that once existed.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: CHRISTOPHER GENTRY, JOHN HUTCHINSON DEAN, MATTHEW EVERITT, SIMON IAN WHITE, STUART BLACK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind