“Maggie May” is an embellished retelling of a tryst Rod Stewart had with an older woman in 1961. Rod Stewart recalls the circumstances that inspired the song:

In July 1961, a few of my mates and I went off to the south of England to camp out at the Beaulieu Jazz Festival. The concert was held on the lawns of an estate owned by Lord Montagu, who was a big jazz fan. I was 16 and just coming out of my beatnik phase, wondering whether I should become a Mod. It was a transitional period for me with days of much confusion… That afternoon, we snuck into the festival through a large runoff pipe and eventually made our way to a beer tent. There, I met an older woman who was something of a sexual predator. One thing led to the next, and we ended up nearby on a secluded patch of lawn. I was a virgin, and all I could think is, ‘This is it, Rod Stewart, you’d better put on a good performance here or else your reputation will be ruined all over North London.” But it was all over in a few seconds. Her name wasn’t Maggie May, but the experience I had with her would influence the writing of the song 10 years later.

The woman’s name was not Maggie May, and Stewart says the song’s title is taken from “‘Maggie Mae,’ an old Liverpudlian folk song about a prostitute.” Contrary to the character in the song, Rod Stewart did not return to school and instead continued to pursue his career in music.

In 1971, while working on his third solo album, Rod Stewart met guitarist Martin Quittenton, and they conceived of the song during an impromptu meeting at Stewart’s home in London, and later refined it after recording the melody and a few phrases during a demo session Morgan Sound Studios in London. Later, Stewart listened back to the demo tape after the session, and pieced together the rest of the lyrics from there.

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