This song recounts a series of misadventures endured by Stewart's globetrotting protagonist, culminating with his torrid romance with a "slit-eyed lady." (Political correctness has never exactly been Rod Stewart's calling card). In the May 1995 issue of Mojo, Stewart said of the song: "I can remember the build up. You know what the song's about - your early teenage life when you're leaving home and you're exploring the world for yourself. Ronnie (Wood) and I rehearsed round my house at Muswell Hill and recorded it the next day. That whole album was done in 10 days, two weeks, about as long as it takes to get a drum sound right nowadays."
The song's title doesn't appear in the lyrics until the end... where it is repeated 24 times! ("Every picture tells a story, don't it?")
Ron Wood, who played guitar and bass on this song, was Stewart's bandmade in Faces, extant from 1969-1975 concurrent with Stewart's solo career. Stewart got a lot of help from Wood on his early solo efforts, and also got contributions from his Faces mates Ronnie Lane and Ian McLagan.
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