This was originally recorded by the Sutherland Brothers on their Lifeboat album in 1972. It was written by their bassist Gavin Sutherland. Rod Stewart's cover in 1975 bought the group to prominence and they released a couple of UK Top 40 hits the following year: "Arms Of Mary (#5) and "Secrets" (#35).
Stewart related to the song's theme of homesickness (the high rate of tax in the UK had forced him to move to America) and he recorded his version at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama with a choir assembled by Bob Crewe, the Four Seasons' producer. It became his third UK chart-topper and the following year, it was revived following it's use as the theme music for a BBC TV documentary series about the HMS Ark Royal, this time peaking at #3. The combined sales of the 2 releases meant this is Stewart's biggest ever selling single in the UK with 955,111 copies sold.
Other acts who have covered this include Robin Trower (1976), Joan Baez (1977) and Smokie (2001).
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