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Sailing towards Glastonbury: Rod Stewart’s greatest solo songs – ranked!

As the 80-year-old gears up for Worthy Farm, we pick the best of his post-Faces career, from moving ballads to silly, sleazy pop, and cover versions that became definitive

Noticeably more thoughtful than the rest of his Foot Loose and Fancy Free album, the remorseful I Was Only Joking unexpectedly suggests a certain darkness – and weariness – behind Stewart’s playboy image: “Illusions of that grand first prize are slowly wearing thin.” Also home to a great bit of fourth-wall breaking: “Verse seven is never clear.” For all its lyrical references to Aubrey Beardsley and faintly Gallic-sounding violin (actually the work of bluegrass innovator Richard Greene), something of the pub at last orders rather charmingly clings to You’re in My Heart: its bottom-of-the-fourth-pint blend of confession and teary sentimentality, its arms-around-your-mates chorus. Photograph: ITV/Rex Features To borrow an old Smash Hits phrase, there were points where Stewart’s late 70s brand of raunch turned a little Uncle Disgusting – Hot Legs; the frankly creepy Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright) – but his “disco spoof” is so preposterous, so evidently performed with tongue in cheek, that it’s weirdly irresistible.

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