Rod Stewart says The Killing of Georgie is the song he hopes to be remembered for
The 80-year-old rocker cites a 1970s track about homophobia as his proudest work, not his pop hits.
Rod Stewart says the one song he would like to be remembered for is The Killing of Georgie, a two-part ballad from the 1976 album A Night on the Town, not the chart-topping Maggie May or the disco-era hits that helped cement his status as a rock icon. The British singer, now 80, has built a six-decade career filled with enduring favorites, but he says this lesser-known track stands above the rest in terms of personal significance.
On A Night on the Town, The Killing of Georgie is a two-part suite that tackles a subject rarely addressed in popular music at the time: homophobia. The song follows the murder of a man for his sexuality, a narrative Stewart has said was loosely inspired by a friend’s real-life experience. The opening lines, which frame the era’s “changing ways,” set the scene for a story Stewart has described as both poignant and courageous for its moment in the cultural conversation of the mid-1970s.
In a 2016 interview with The Guardian, Stewart discussed the Georgie story in more detail, saying he knew the man only fleetingly and acknowledged that he had embellished aspects of the tale. “I only knew him fleetingly. He would play songs for us and say, ‘Have you heard this?’ I remember him turning us on to Sam and Dave singing ‘Night Time Is the Right Time.’ I can tell you, he was a hell of a good-looking guy,” Stewart recalled. He added that while the narrative rang true, he wasn’t part of the events as they happened and that his recollection had been amplified over time.
That disclosure came against the backdrop of renewed public interest in Stewart’s personal life as well as his comments about his own body of work. In 2011, he told Dean Goodman that if he had to name a single track he’s most proud of, The Killing of Georgie would be the one. “If I was to say one song I was really proud of, it would be The Killing of Georgie. Because it dealt with a very difficult subject in 1976, which is a long time ago,” he said, underscoring the song’s bold stance for its era.
The Killing of Georgie has long been noted for its lyrical approach and its willingness to address prejudice head-on. The song’s narrative centers on Georgie, a friend of the songwriter, and uses his story to comment on the broader climate of bigotry faced by LGBTQ+ people in the 1970s. Stewart has described how the personal became political through music, a move that stands in contrast to some of the more club-ready fare that dominated much of pop and rock in that decade.
The public-facing narrative surrounding Georgie in the late 1970s and beyond has been enriched by later reflections from Stewart and those close to him. The Guardian interview, conducted years after the song’s release, is one of several moments where he acknowledged the emotional weight of the Georgie tale and his own evolving understanding of its subject matter. He has also acknowledged that the way he remembers events can shift with time, noting that memory can blur lines between fact and embellishment even as the core truth remains intact.
Away from the Georgie conversation, Stewart continues to be a fixture on the musical landscape. His early breakthrough came with Every Picture Tells a Story in 1971, which yielded the enduring hit Maggie May and established him as one of the era’s most influential voices. Over the ensuing decades, hits such as Do Ya Think I’m Sexy, Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright), and Sailing kept him in the public eye as the charts shifted around him. The remarks about Georgie sit alongside a string of other life events that have kept him in the tabloids while also fueling ongoing conversations about the artist’s legacy.
The public profile surrounding Stewart’s personal life has remained substantial. Reports circulated recently that his wife, Penny Lancaster, described him as “so youthful he’s a machine,” a characterization that underscored the couple’s long-running dynamic. The couple, who have been married for about 18 years, have spoken publicly about their plans for the future, including tours that would extend into the coming years. Lancaster has also described the couple’s blended family, noting the challenges and joys of navigating a large brood formed across multiple relationships. She recalled meeting Stewart at a time when the age gap between them was substantial, and she emphasized the importance of inclusivity with his children from prior relationships. Their conversations about expanding their musical family through future performances reflect Stewart’s continued appetite for live work and public engagement.
In addition to his own storytelling through music, Stewart’s broader influence in popular culture persists through the way audiences engage with his catalog. The Killing of Georgie remains a touchstone for fans who view the song as a bold, socially conscious work from a time when pop music was only beginning to grapple with issues of sexuality and prejudice. While the track has not dominated radio play in recent years in the same way as Maggie May or Sailing, its message endures for listeners who seek out Stewart’s catalog with an eye toward its more ambitious, story-driven moments.
As Stewart continues to reflect on his legacy, The Killing of Georgie stands as a testament to a moment when a mainstream artist used his platform to address a difficult social issue head-on. Whether cited by fans, scholars, or fellow musicians, the song is part of a broader narrative about how artists of that era helped shape public conversation—often at a personal cost and with lasting impact.