Good Morning Little Schoolgirl – The song that started it all for #RodStewart. #MusicisLife #TedTocksCovers #SonnyBoyWilliamson #BrownsvilleSonBonds

Today’s song is a classic that goes back over 80 years. ‘Good Morning Little School Girl’ could be a feature article in and of itself but I will just do a brief summary of its history, before moving on to the reason I chose this song. 
This blues standard was first recorded by John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson in 1937. Typical of many blues songs it owes its roots to a slightly earlier blues song called ‘Back and Side Blues’ by Brownsville ‘Son’ Bonds.

From that time on it has been recorded by a veritable who’s who of rock and blues artists all the way through to the present. Way too many to list. Do yourself a favour though…Look it up. 

It is clear that ‘Good Morning Little School Girl’ is revered by blues artists young and old. In 1990 Sonny Boy Williamson’s version was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame as a Classic of Blues Recordings.

As mentioned, this post will be more about the significance of one of the many artists who performed this song. His name is Roderick David Stewart. You can call him Rod or Sir. Rod Stewart is one of the top selling artists of all time. He has sold over 100 million records worldwide and had numerous #1 albums and singles and countless others in the Top 10 and Top 40. He was knighted in 2016 for his contribution to music and charity. And it all began with one song.

Rod Stewart was an up and coming 17 year old when he began busking with his harmonica in his home town of London, England. He spent time in a band called the Dimensions in 1963 as a part time vocalist and harmonica player before joining Long John Baldry and the All Stars in early 1964. Baldry heard him playing ‘Smokestack Lightning’ by Howlin’ Wolf while busking and offered him a position in his band for 35 pounds a week. In August of that same year he signed a solo contract. On this day in 1964 he recorded his first single; ‘Good Morning Little Schoolgirl’. The single did not sell well but it gained him some attention and his association with Long John Baldry began a series of interconnected musical relationships that exist to this day. If you want to follow the roots of the rock n’ roll family tree you would find Rod Stewart near the bottom and see the trunk grow up and numerous branches grow out.

It began with Baldry, and by 1965 he would join a group with Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green who would go on to form the original Fleetwood Mac. Soon after that, Stewart became the vocalist for one of the greatest guitar players of all time; Jeff Beck, in the Jeff Beck Group.

It was while playing with Beck that he began to play with a lifelong associate by the name of Ron Wood. The two actually met in a pub a few years earlier and hit it off (how English). The Jeff Beck Group was partially managed by Peter Grant who would go on to rule Led Zeppelin with an iron fist. Stewart and Wood would ultimately leave the Jeff Beck Group because of musical differences. Stewart actually said he felt overmatched by Beck’s prowess. Beck and legendary drummer Carmen Appice invited Stewart to join them in forming a supergroup but Stewart opted to follow Ronnie Wood and become part of a musical evolution that would see what was The Small Faces transform into The Faces. When singer/guitarist Steve Marriott left the band Stewart and Wood replaced him, and along with Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones they would become The Faces. Ronnie Wood went on to become Mick Taylor’s replacement in The Rolling Stones and Kenney Jones would replace Keith Moon as the drummer for The Who until they completed their first Farewell Tour in late 1982. 

Through all this time Rod Stewart managed to maintain a healthy solo career. A series of solo records and chart topping singles emerged that made Rod Stewart an absolute star. His astronomical record sales were matched only by his charisma. By 1975 The Faces broke up with Wood’s departure and Stewart’s solo career bursting at the seams. By the late ‘70s Stewart dabbled a little bit in disco with ‘Do Ya’ Think I’m Sexy’ and in the early ‘80’s he worked in a little new wave with ‘Passion’ and ‘Tonight I’m Yours’. In 1983 he rekindled his professional relationship with Jeff Beck on ‘Infatuation’ which generated a ton of MTV exposure and kept him vital to a new generation of fans. Beck and Stewart would again collaborate on the stunning remake of Curtis Mayfield’s ‘People Get Ready’ in 1985. The ever evolving performer worked with Andy Taylor of Duran Duran fame on the 1988 album ‘Out of Order’ and the record was a hit machine. The most memorable of the songs was ‘Forever Young’ which won him a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. The fact it shared a title with a famous Bob Dylan song resulted in an agreement to share royalties. In the early ‘90’s he went to #3 with ‘Downtown Train’ by Tom Waits and then a U.K Top 5 single with ‘It Takes Two’ a duet with Tina Turner. 
The point is “Every Picture Tells a Story’ indeed, with this rocker. Every duet or collaboration seemed to spin pure gold. Nearly 25 years ago he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by his friend Jeff Beck and he is still going strong. I have said all this and I have only gotten to 1994. There will be more to come in a few weeks. 

I will leave you with this quote from Rolling Stone which was written as a salute to his career in 1980. 

Rarely has a singer had as full and unique a talent as Rod Stewart; rarely has anyone betrayed his talent so completely. Once the most compassionate presence in music, he has become a bilious self-parody – and sells more records than ever…a writer who offered profound lyricism and fabulous self-deprecating humour, teller of tall tales and honest heartbreaker, he had an unmatched eye for the tiny details around which lives turn, shatter, and reform…and a voice to make those details indelible… His solo albums were defined by two special qualities: warmth, which was redemptive, and modesty, which was liberating. If ever any rocker chose the role of everyman and lived up to it, it was Rod Stewart.

Rolling Stone Magazine

Who knew there was so much more to come at that time.

And to think it all began with ‘Good Morning Little Schoolgirl’ back in 1964.

Here you go.

This post is just a snapshot that will lead to a world of discovery.

Enjoy!