Rod Stewart’s hair was bigger than ever in 1977. He was living the high life in Los Angeles, dating stars like Britt Ekland, and cementing his transition from the gritty folk-rocker of the Faces to a global pop phenomenon. Then came I Was Only Joking. It wasn't just another hit; it was a confession.
Honestly, when you listen to the track today, it feels less like a polished studio production and more like a guy staring at himself in a cracked mirror at 3:00 AM. It’s the final track on the Foot Loose & Fancy Free album. While songs like "Hot Legs" were getting all the attention for their swagger, this one was doing something much more interesting. It was looking backward.
Why I Was Only Joking Hits Different Forty Years Later
Most people remember the mandolin. It has that distinctive, mournful strumming that calls back to Rod's earlier masterpieces like "Maggie May" or "Mandolin Wind." But the lyrical weight is where the real magic happens.
Rod Stewart wrote the lyrics himself, with Gary Grainger handling the music. That’s a key detail. At the time, Rod was often criticized for becoming a "jet-set" caricature. People thought he’d lost his soul in the glitz of Hollywood. Then he drops a line like, "My youthful days are over now and in the mirror's gaze, I see a reflection of a man who's lost in a purple haze." It’s heavy stuff. He wasn't just playing a character; he was admitting that the party might be ending.
The song structure is fascinatingly loose. It builds from a simple acoustic foundation into this sweeping, cinematic epic. It’s over six minutes long. In an era where radio edits were king, Rod insisted on letting the song breathe. That choice allowed for one of the greatest guitar solos in rock history.
The Jim Cregan Factor
You can't talk about I Was Only Joking without talking about Jim Cregan. The solo isn't just a display of technical skill; it’s a narrative. It starts slow, melodic, and almost hesitant. Then it explodes.
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Cregan has mentioned in various interviews over the years that the solo was a labor of love. It wasn't just about hitting notes; it was about matching the regret in Rod's voice. When the electric guitar kicks in, it feels like the emotional dam finally breaking. It’s messy, soaring, and perfectly captures that feeling of looking back at your mistakes and realizing you can't fix them.
The solo actually takes up nearly half the song's runtime. Think about that for a second. A massive pop star in the late 70s dedicated three minutes of his closing track to a guitar instrumental. It was a bold move that paid off because it gave the listener space to sit with the lyrics.
The Story Behind the Lyrics
There's a persistent rumor that the song is purely autobiographical. It is. Sort of. Rod has always been a bit of a "lad." In the mid-70s, he was known for his pranks, his love of football, and his revolving door of high-profile relationships.
The phrase "I was only joking" is the ultimate defense mechanism. We’ve all used it. You say something hurtful or reveal too much truth, and then you retreat behind the mask of a joke when the reaction isn't what you expected. Rod is singing about a guy who used his charm as a shield.
- The School Years: He mentions "Tearin' down the highway with a bottle of wine," which sounds like a classic rock trope, but in Rod’s context, it felt like a specific memory of his North London roots.
- The Regret: The line about "The tales I've told, the hearts I've cold-bloodedly broken" is surprisingly dark for a man who was usually singing about "da ya think I'm sexy."
- The Reality: By the end of the song, the "joke" isn't funny anymore.
It’s about the realization that being the life of the party is a lonely job. You spend so much time making people laugh or keeping them entertained that you forget how to be real.
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A Masterclass in 70s Production
Produced by Tom Dowd—the legend who worked with everyone from Aretha Franklin to Lynyrd Skynyrd—the track has a warmth that digital recordings struggle to replicate. You can hear the wood of the acoustic guitar. You can hear the slight rasp in Rod's throat.
The arrangement is a bit of a kitchen sink approach. You’ve got the mandolin, the acoustic guitars, the heavy drums, and eventually, those lush strings that swell during the climax. Usually, this much stuff makes a song feel cluttered. Here? It feels like a grand finale.
Interestingly, the song performed exceptionally well on the charts despite its length. It hit the Top 5 in the UK and did solid business in the US. It proved that Rod’s audience wasn't just there for the disco beats; they were there for the storyteller.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Song
A common misconception is that I Was Only Joking is a "sad" song. I’d argue it’s more of an "honest" song. There’s a difference. Sadness is passive; honesty is active.
People also tend to lump it in with his "crooner" phase that came decades later. That’s a mistake. This isn't a Great American Songbook standard. This is 100% rock and roll. It has the grit and the "Faces" DNA that fans still crave. If you listen closely to the drum fills by Carmine Appice, there's a power there that keeps the song from becoming a sappy ballad.
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Another thing? The timeline. People think this was written by an old man looking back on a long life. Rod was only in his early 30s when he wrote this. That’s what makes it so poignant. He was having a mid-life crisis in real-time, right in front of the whole world.
Impact on the Rod Stewart Canon
In the grand scheme of his career, this track stands as a bridge. It connects the "Rocking Rod" of the early 70s with the "Global Icon Rod" of the 80s. It’s perhaps the last time he was this vulnerable on record for a very long time.
Musicians still cite the guitar work as a benchmark. It’s a favorite for cover bands who want to show off their lead player’s phrasing. But for the average listener, it remains the ultimate "growing up" song. It’s the song you play when you realize you aren't twenty-one anymore and your actions actually have consequences.
How to Truly Appreciate the Track Today
If you really want to "get" the song, don't listen to it on a low-quality streaming playlist while you're doing the dishes.
- Find the original vinyl or a high-fidelity FLAC file. The dynamic range between the quiet mandolin intro and the screaming guitar outro is massive.
- Listen to the live versions. Rod’s live performances of this song in the late 70s were legendary. He would often get quite emotional, and the band would extend the jam sessions even further.
- Read the lyrics separately. Without the music, it reads like a poem. It’s one of the few times Rod’s writing stood on its own without needing his charismatic delivery to carry it.
- Watch the 1977 promotional video. It’s a trip. It features Rod in his peak flamboyant gear, but his facial expressions tell a different story. He looks tired. He looks like he’s actually thinking about those broken hearts he’s singing about.
I Was Only Joking is a reminder that even the biggest stars have moments of profound doubt. It’s a humanizing moment for a guy who often seemed larger than life. It’s the sound of a man realizing that the joke might actually be on him.
Next time you hear that mandolin start to chime, don't just hum along. Listen to the words. It might just change how you see the "Mod" forever. Whether you're a lifelong fan or just someone who knows him from his later hits, this song is the essential key to understanding who Rod Stewart actually is behind the hairspray and the sequins.
Stay with the music until the very last fade-out of the guitar—that's where the real closure happens.