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)

The Motown Song
Rod Stewart Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Bring over some of your old Motown records
We'll put the speakers in the window and we'll go
On the roof and listen to the Miracles
Echo to the alley down below

Let's dance together just for the night
Let's don't worry about the future or nothin' else
'Cause just like the music's sayin' you gotta take chances

Go ahead just do it and trust yourself

There's a soul in the city
Watching over us tonight
There's a soul in the city
Saying everything's gonna be all right

So bring over some of your old Motown records
We'll put the speakers in the window and we'll go
On the roof and listen to the Miracles
Echo to the alley down below

They wish us luck
But they think we're just dreaming
Let's prove them wrong baby
'Cause you know what luck is
Luck is believing you're lucky
That's all and showing just a little bit of faith

There's a soul in the city
Watching over us I swear
There's a soul in the city
There's a whole world waiting out there

Listen
I got plans for us
Playing like a skip on a record
Through my head all night long
But when we walk that darkened stairway
And step out on the roof
I know what we're feeling can't be wrong

Bring over some of your old Motown records
We'll put the speakers in the window and we'll go
On the roof and listen to the Miracles
Echo to the alley down below

Bring over some of your old Motown records
We'll put the speakers in the window and we'll go
On the roof and listen to the Miracles
Echo to the alley down below
Let the Temptations sing it one time
Bring over some of you old Motown records
We'll put the speakers in the window and we'll go
On the roof and listen to the Miracles
Echo to the alley down below

Bring over some of you old Motown records
We'll put the speakers in the window and we'll go
On the roof and listen to the Miracles
Echo to the alley down below

Bring over some of you old Motown records
We'll put the speakers in the window and we'll go

On the roof and listen to the Miracles
Echo to the alley down below

Overall Meaning

The Motown Song by Rod Stewart with The Temptations is a nostalgic tribute to the music that inspired the artists and helped shape the musical landscape of an era. The song begins with the proposal to listen to old Motown records by putting speakers in the window and climbing onto the roof, where they can listen to the Miracles echo to the alley down below. They indulge in the music, letting themselves go and dance for the night while ignoring their worries about the future.

The song speaks about a soul in the city that watches over them and reassures them that everything will be all right. This could be interpreted as the soul of Motown, imbued into the streets of Detroit, the city where Motown Records was founded. The lyrics also express the need to take chances in life by trusting oneself, which is a reflection of the artists' own experiences in the music industry where they have taken risks and followed their passion. The song ends with a repetition of inviting a friend to bring over some old Motown records and listen to them on the roof.

Overall, The Motown Song is a celebration of the nostalgia, music, and the memories that surround Motown. The song is an uplifting tribute to a musical movement that changed the face of popular music and laid the foundation for future generations.

The Motown SongRod Stewart Lyrics

The Motown Song
Rod Stewart Lyrics