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 Very Thought of You
Rod Stewart Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The little ordinary things that everyone ought to do
I'm living in a kind of daydream
I'm happy as a king
And foolish though it may seem
To me that's everything
The mere idea of you, the longing here for you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love
The mere idea of you, the longing here for you
You'll never know how slow the moments go till I'm near to you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love
The lyrics to Rod Stewart's song "The Very Thought Of You" convey a sense of infatuation and how the mere thought of someone can consume a person's mind and emotions. The first verse speaks to the idea that when one is consumed with thoughts of their loved one, they may forget to do their mundane daily tasks, as they are living in a kind of daydream where everything is happy and perfect. The second verse goes further to say that when one is away from their loved one, time seems to go by slowly and their image remains omnipresent in everything around. The lyrics suggest that the very thought of the person creates a feeling of completeness and happiness, which is not possible in the absence of the loved one.
The song describes the different ways in which love can affect an individual's life. In this case, love is presented as a combination of nostalgia, passion, and happiness. The singer's longing for the loved one is revealed through the recurring refrain of "The very thought of you, my love," which represents the power of his love and suggests how deeply he feels for his partner.
The song was written and originally composed by Ray Noble in 1934, and many different artists have since covered it, including Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. In Rod Stewart's version, he adds a more contemporary rock influence to the genre of jazz that the song is often associated with.
Line by Line Meaning
The very thought of you and I forget to do
The mere thought of you makes me forget all the everyday tasks I am supposed to do.
The little ordinary things that everyone ought to do
These are the routine chores that everyone has to do but seem insignificant when the thought of you is hovering over my mind.
I'm living in a kind of daydream
My mind is always caught up in a reverie while thinking about you.
I'm happy as a king
The thought of you makes me extremely joyful and satisfied as if I were a monarch.
And foolish though it may seem
Although it may seem absurd, to me, your thought means the world.
To me that's everything
The mere thought of you is the most significant thing to me out of everything else I know.
The mere idea of you, the longing here for you
Just the thought of you is compelling and brings an intense desire to have you near me.
You'll never know how slow the moments go till I'm near to you
Time becomes slow without you, and all I want is to be close to you.
I see your face in every flower
Your beauty is so attractive that I see your reflection even in every flower around me.
Your eyes in stars above
The radiance of your eyes is so abundant that I find it in the stars above in the night sky.
It's just the thought of you
Even the thought of you has the power to give me immense pleasure.
The very thought of you, my love
Having you in my thoughts is so valuable to me that it means everything, my love.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, CARLIN AMERICA INC
Written by: Ray Noble
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind