#4: Baby Jane by Rod Stewart

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: September 1983
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
Peak Position on Belgian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Irish Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on South African Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Spanish Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on West German Singles chart ~ #1
YouTube: “Baby Jane”
Lyrics: “Baby Jane”

Roderick David Stewart was born in London, England, in 1945. In 1956 he got introduced to rock ‘n roll when he saw Bill Haley and His Comets in concert, and heard Little Richard’s “The Girl Can’t Help It”. He was given a guitar by his dad in 1959, and he learned to play the Kingston Trio’s “A Worried Man”. He quit school at age 15 and worked as a newspaper boy. He auditioned with Joe Meek in 1961, but didn’t get a record deal. By 1963 he was part of an R&B band called The Dimensions. In 1965 he teamed up with Long John Baldry, Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger to form a blues band called Steampacket. This lasted another year. Eventually, Stewart became part of the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. When that band broke up in the fall of ’68, Rod Stewart got invited to join the reformed Small Faces, who were now just called Faces.

The Faces played a rowdy, brawling brand of rock that could make a large arena seem like a corner bar. Rod Stewart’s raspy, soulful vocals and the musicianship of other Faces bandmates  made the group a rival live act to the Rolling Stones. Their onstage performances paved the way for punk bands like the Sex Pistols. They also were influences for roots bands decades later like the Georgia Satellites and the Black Crowes.

The Faces made four studio albums with A Nod Is as Good as a Wink…To a Blind Horse in 1971 their biggest seller. Their first hit single, “Stay With Me”, went to #6 in the UK, #17 in the USA and #1 in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, Stewart also embarked on a parallel solo career. In 1970 he released Every Picture Tells A Story. The album was released with the double-sided hit number one hit “Maggie May” and “Reason To Believe”. The followup single from the album was a cover of a Temptations hit from the mid-sixties titled “(I Know) I’m Losing You“.

In the fall of 1972 Stewart’s single from Never A Dull Moment, “You Wear It Well”, peaked at #8 in Vancouver (BC) and #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became his second chart topping single in the UK. Between 1973 and 1975 Stewart charted four singles into the Top Ten on the UK charts: “Oh! No Not My Baby”, the medley “Farewell/Bring It On Home To Me/You Send Me”, a cover of the Isley Brothers “This Old Heart Of Mine”; And a number one hit in England titled “Sailing”, later covered by Joan Baez on her Blowin’ Away album in 1977.

But Stewart waited for four years to return to the Top Ten in most North American radio markets in 1976 with “Tonight’s The Night”, from his A Night On The Town album. He was a common Top Ten feature in Vancouver (BC). In 1977-78 Rod Stewart had more Top 30 hits starting with “You’re In My Heart”, “Hot Legs”, and “I Was Only Joking“.

Stewart continued to have chart successes in the late 70s with “Do You Think I’m Sexy?” and “Ain’t Love A Bitch”.

In the early 80s, Stewart had more hits with “Passion”, “Young Turks” and “Tonight I’m Yours (Don’t Hurt Me)”. The latter hit was the title track from the album Tonight I’m Yours (Don’t Hurt Me). Internationally, the title track was the debut single from the album. But in North America, “Young Turks” was the debut single and the title track was the followup release.

Through the 1980s, Rod Stewart had many international Top Ten hits. In 1983 he released “Baby Jane”.

“Baby Jane” was cowritten by Rod Stewart and Jay Davis. Davis is best known for his collaborations on a number of singles recorded by Rod Stewart in the mid-1980s. These include playing bass guitar on “Tonight I’m Yours (Don’t Hurt Me)”, “Young Turks”, “Some Guys Have All The Luck”, “Infatuation”, “All Right Now”, “Love Touch” and “Every Beat of My Heart”.

“Baby Jane” reached #2 in Montreal, and Sherbrooke (PQ), #3 in Boston, Kansas City (MO), St. Cloud (MN), Ottawa, Halifax (NS), and Denver, #4 in Bangor (ME), Portland (OR), #5 in Providence (RI), Washington DC, Toronto, and Vancouver (BC), #6 in Burbank (CA), San Luis Obispo (CA), Tacoma (WA), and San Francisco, #7 in Philadelphia, Sioux Falls (SD), New York City, Harrisonburg (VA), Lebanon (OR), and Milwaukee (WI), #8 in Hoquiam (WA), Regina (SK), Amarillo (TX), Chicago, Winnipeg (MB), and Cleveland, and #9 in Mesa (AZ).

Internationally, “Baby Jane” reached number-one in Belgium, Ireland, South Africa, Spain, the UK, and West Germany, #2 in France and Switzerland, #3 in Austria, Sweden, and Zimbabwe, #9 in the Netherlands, and #10 in Australia and Norway.

Other hits for Rod Stewart in the 1980s include “Infatuation”, “Some Guys Have All The Luck”, “Love Touch”, “Forever Young”, “My Heart Can’t Tell You No”, “Crazy About Her”, “This Old Heart Of Mine” and “Downtown Train”.

Into the 1990s, Stewart extended his string of hits with “Broken Arrow”, “Rhythm Of My Heart”, “The Motown Song”, “Tom Traubert’s Blues” and “Have I Told You Lately?”

In 1993 Stewart recorded a song with Sting and Bryan Adams titled “All For Love”, which climbed to #1 in many countries. Since 1977 Rod Stewart has mounted over thirty tours. He has sold over 200 million records. He has been nominated fifteen times for a Grammy Award, and won once in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Stardust: The Great American Song Book Volume III, in 2004. He has also been nominated seven times for a Juno Award in Canada. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

July 25, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
John Walsh, “The Saturday Profile: Rod Stewart, Rock Star: Do ya Still think I’m Sexy?,” Independent, UK, December 5, 1998.
“Stewart Goes Beneath the Covers,” BBC, December 23, 2006.
Matthew Taylor, “Five decades of rocking and 62 hits earn Rod CBE,” Guardian, December 30, 2006.
“Pagham’s Gary Grainger celebrates Rod Stewart’s classics in Southampton,” Midhurst and Petworth Observer, June 8, 2012.

CKGM 980-AM Montreal Top Ten | September 14, 1983