Album: Never A Dull Moment
Year: 1972
. . .
You’d think after four albums, Rod Stewart & Ronnie Wood would have run out of songs like this, but the rascally, raggedy “Italian Girls” comes across like something from Exile on Main St, like the song that would have connected “Tumbling Dice” to “Sweet Virginia.”
I was going to joke that the first half of “Italian Girls” played like Ronnie Wood’s audition tape for the Stones, but of course, that was pretty much his entire career in the 1970s, and anyways, we’ll get to all of that in about a month or so, won’t we?
In any event, Wood’s opening riff on “Italian Girls” is a thing of pure beauty, as he’s joined almost instantly by Martin Quittenton, playing a 12-string that rings like cathedral bells as Rod describes at least one of the titular girls.
She was tall, thin and tarty
And she drove a Maserati
Faster than sound
I was heaven bound
Although I must have looked a creep
In my army surplus jeep
Was I being too bold
Before the night could get old?
No, no, no, no
She proved me so wrong
What I love about the first half of “Italian Girls” is that it’s always on the verge of falling apart — even more than a lot of these songs are on the verge of falling apart — like they were arranging it just seconds after playing each part. So Mickey Waller would barrel down the highway, then suddenly miss beats for no real reason; Ron Wood would riff hard, or not, as the case may be, and then out of nowhere Pete Sears would kick out a fucking great piano solo and then disappear.
And then eventually, “Italian Girls” just completely breaks down, and what seemed like yet another “check out the hot chicks I fucked” song turns into something else. Waller goes away a bit, but the guitars and piano start weaving around him, plus a violin and maybe even yet another fucking mandolin, as Rod turns on his sad voice and suddenly he’s gone all soft on us.
Gotta get on back there soon as I can
Take me there
And I miss the girl so bad
Oh yeah, wait a minute
She broke my heart, she broke my heart, she broke my heart, woo
Gotta get on back there soon as I can
I miss the girl, I miss the girl, I miss the girl so bad
I was a lot better off
It goes without saying that his vocal on the triple invocations of “she broke my heart” and “I miss the girl” is heartbreaking as hell, and a perfect way to end the song. Am I once again saying that I’m a sucker for Rod Stewart’s multi-part songs that end up in a different place from which they began? Oh, you bloody well know it, and “Italian Girls” is yet another master class in power, beauty, wit and emotion.
“Italian Girls”
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