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Sir Rod Stewart has a catalogue of tunes worthy for his iconic status. But, for the man himself, there is one tune in particular who would love his legacy to be remembered for - and it's not one some would expect. The 80-year-old rocker is still going strong, wowing his crowds at energetic gigs . His career has spanned over six decades and he is one of the best-selling artists of all time. While his fans continue to swoon over hit tunes such as Maggie May and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, Rod himself is most impressed by one of his other numbers. Speaking in 2011, Rod confessed that a socially-conscious song from the peak of his career in the 1970s could be seen as his crowning achievement in the industry. He told Dean Goodman at the time: "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.” The song, which is a two-parter, featured on his seventh solo album titled A Night on the Town from the year. It touched on the issue of homophobia. At the time, the subject was rarely discussed in popular culture in such a way. The tune's story played out that of a person who had been beaten and murdered for his sexuality. Previously, Rod explained how the story for the song was loosely based on an old friend's story. At the start of the song, Rod sings the lyrics: "I these days of changing ways/ So called liberated days/ A story comes to mind of a friend of mine/ Georgie boy was gay I guess/Nothin’ more or nothin’ less/ The kindest guy I ever knew." Discussing his link to the true story, Rod told the Guardian in 2016: "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.” And he admitted that while the story rings true, he wasn't a part of it at the time. “I wasn’t on the scene when it happened, so I embellished a bit.” he said The icon explained how he portrayed the murder as unintentional, calling that "poetic license” "I thought maybe they didn’t mean to take his life. Maybe they just meant to do him over." Rod recently called his wife Penny Lancaster's new memoir 'blood curdling' as she gets ready to spill some of their most intimate marriage details in the book. In a lighthearted video on Instagram showing him thumbing through Penny’s book while the pair lounged togethe, Rod put on a horrified performance, gasping: "Wow this is incredible Penny. Absolutely blood curdling information in here." As he pretended to cringe at her revelations, he teased: "You shouldn’t have put that in the book, Penny." Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
