‘Who writes songs that will be heard in 50 years?’
Rod Stewart’s new album with Jools Holland is a paean to swing. He tells Jonathan Dean what makes a classic and who’s writing those classics today.
ROD STEWART welcomes me with the enthusiasm of an estate agent trying to flog a particularly exciting lounge. The man has no barriers. He is all ceaseless enthusiasm and an explosion of clothes, jewellery and hair, tossed together to create the sort of pop star a child might draw.
He can be loud, sweet, blunt, fun, brash and sincere all at once, and blurts out whatever is on his mind. “Dad used to do that,” he scoffs at biscuits dipped in tea. “I never got why. It gets soggy. Each to his own.”
And they do not come much more singular than Stewart, a man who is 79 but, frankly, could pass for any age from 50 up. We are at the home of his label in west London because he has a big band album, Swing Fever, recorded with Jools Holland and the presenter’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.
The titans had barely met before but agreed on which covers should be on the record - and that, for Stewart, counts as a good start.
It was certainly easier than in the 1970s, when Stewart combined a nascent solo career with singing in the Faces alongside Ronnie Wood.
“Jools and I grew up on the same stuff, so it was easy peasy,” he says of Swing Fever. “But with the Faces, we’d have bloody rows for weeks. With them it was egos, people saying, ‘He’s got more songs than me on the album.’ But then, when I’m making my own records, I’m the boss and if you don’t like it? F--- off!”
Swing Fever - largely filled with covers of American standards - has been a labour of love.
Born in London in 1945, as a child Stewart would look to the US and listen to Sam Cooke and Muddy Waters.
“I owe it all to them,” he says. “That’s why we sang with American accents. I mean, Johnny Rotten’s the only bloke who didn’t.”
Was the accent put on to help sell in the States? “No. It just came out that way. When I was 15 or 16 I knew every song on Bob Dylan’s first album, but you couldn’t sing that in a Cockney accent.” Then, wonderfully, Stewart does exactly that. “‘Ow many roads must a man walk da’hn ...” It sounds terrific. I’d take an entire album of that.
Holland, 66, sits by Stewart’s side. He is quieter than his colleague, but then most people are. The two had fun making their record; they even invited dancers into Stewart’s home gym to create an authentic tap-shoe sound for one song. They clearly have a rapport. When I ask why Stewart has never been on any of the 61 series of Holland’s show Later With ..., the singer giggles cheekily. “The timing never worked,” Holland says, squirming a bit. “We only do 12 a year.”
“Do you have to ask?” Stewart says, a twinkle in his eye.
“Well, you have to let us know you’re coming so we can reserve a parking space,” Holland replies.
Swing Fever features tracks previously sung by legends such as Doris Day and Louis Armstrong. Did Stewart feel intimidated? Not at all. “I never work out how I’m going to sing until I get in a studio and open my mouth,” he says.
“It’s just what I do. I’m bloody lucky.” Holland, who has seen his fair share of stars, says the only singer who comes close in terms of Stewart’s range and impact is Ray Charles.
“Rod connects with people,” he says. He grins. “And Amy Winehouse too. She, like Rod, could sing her own modern songs, but also understood those old songs and she loved them.” Stewart sighs. “Oh, she was great.”
When Stewart was recently asked to pick his favourite songs of all time, apart from Uptown Funk (2014) and Prefab Sprout’s Cars and Girls (1988), they all came from a time when the singer was in short trousers. Does he think timeless songs are still being made? “I’m sure they are,” he says.
“You mean like Maggie May?” he continues, referring to his own classic. “Songs that will be played in 50 years?” Exactly. “I like whatshisname. Oh f---ing great, Rod. Well done. He’s British, really talented and his songs will be around. Erm ...” Does he mean Ed Sheeran? “No, not Ed, I don’t know any of his songs, old ginger bollocks. Jesus ...”
Then he sings: “I’ll be riding shotgun ...” Ah, George Ezra! “Yes! I think he writes really tremendous songs. He’ll be around for quite a while.”
Stewart is relieved that he is not starting out today, when music is content and it is harder to stand out from the crowd. “More people want to do it and fewer people are able to do it,” Holland says concisely.
“We were brave in those days to go into the music business,” Stewart says. “We didn’t know where it would take us but record companies were different. They would give you a try. Also, the people I came up with - the Stones, Elton
- we all came into it because we loved the music. Money and fame didn’t factor - it was a burning ambition to
sing. That may have changed. Now it’s more, ‘Ooh, let’s have a go at music. I don’t even have to play well. Maybe I’ll get rich.’ Fame comes before everything. All kids want is fame.”
Being a pop star, though, is only half of what Stewart does these days. In the past few years he has campaigned for HRT awareness, after his wife, Penny Lancaster, started her menopause; popped out on to his local road to fix potholes; housed Ukrainians; and even paid for hospital scans.
He is a multimillionaire, sure, but most of his peers don’t bother. Why does he? “Well, I’ve got a lot of money. I want to help,” he says bluntly. “But it’s also because I’m a knight.” Stewart is also a CBE. “I want to live up to that reputation. I’m a knight
- I should do some f___ing good! But it’s a double-edged sword. You help out but people say, ‘Oh, he must have an album out.’ Which is so far from the truth.”
Indeed, early last year, when Stewart had precisely zero new albums out, the singer phoned Sky News to vent about NHS waiting lists and offered to pay for people’s scans. What pushed him to make that call? “Well, I’d been to a private clinic to get a scan and I was 20 minutes late,” he says. “So I walked in and went, ‘I’m so sorry,’ and they said, ‘Don’t worry. We’ve only got another two people in today.’ This was 10 in the morning. With 12 people waiting around doing f--- all. There are people dying because they cannot get scans. That’s when the penny dropped.”
So far, Stewart has paid for one set of scans in Harlow and has more coming in Dundee. “I’m waiting for people to ask me. I want to pay.”
Stewart looks out into the dusk at the lights, buildings and trains of London. His attention has been grabbed by the railways below. The singer and, yes, activist is also a model railway zealot. As, quite usefully, is his bandmate.
Stewart has a huge replica of Chicago and New York. What is Holland’s set? “Nazi Germany,” Stewart deadpans. “A bit of Cold War Germany,” Holland corrects. “The Berlin Wall. But also London’s East End with a tram - it’s multi-era.”
Without putting Stewart into therapy, I ask if his train set offers him control over a miniature world that is psychologically pleasing for a singer who has spent half a century in the chaos of global superstardom. He does not entirely dismiss this.
“But it’s actually escaping the world that I enjoy,” he states. “When I go into my workshop, it’s wonderful freedom. I love this hobby. I go in there and the world can bugger off.” He smiles. “I’m making one building that’s taller than my wife. And she’s 6ft 2in!”
Despite his train set and old-timer swing music, Stewart is not slowing down. He has a Las Vegas residency incoming and a gig with Billy Joel that, sweetly, he seems rather humbled by. “I’m knocked out by that,” he says.
“This is just a very pleasant branching off,” Stewart says about Swing Fever. “See, trains again - with the branch line.”
But the record has its place. The duo banned slow songs. The idea here is to have fun. “Music can be a great expression of joy,” Holland says. “There are awful things going on and this goes, ‘It’s all right, just enjoy each other.’”
“But,” Stewart adds, “there’s also room in music for pointing out the wrongs on this planet. Dylan was always so good at that, pointing out the political things.”
This is true, but I don’t remember Dylan ever phoning Sky News.
“With the Faces, we’d have bloody rows for weeks. With them it was egos... But then, when I’m making my own records, I’m the boss and if you don’t like it? F---- off!”
Rod Stewart
Swing Fever is out on February23