Still, Stewart said, "I could invent a cure for cancer and the critics wouldn't give me any credit for it. They do tend to want to smash you down." Stewart, calling from his Los Angeles home, spoke of his latest career moves and the world tour coming to the Pepsi Center on Monday.
It sounds like you and producer Clive Davis butted heads a bit on song selection. "Clive has a touch of genius to him but sometimes he goes way off the mark. He wanted me to do Don't Go Breaking My Heart (the Elton John/Kiki Dee hit) and Dancing in the Dark by Bruce.
Those songs, one's a horrible pop song and the other one is untouchable. It's like someone covering Maggie May. There's a fine line in what you cover and what you don't.
I must admit I've never been in love with the heads of the record companies. I've always had wars with the suits, as we call them. But this guy has been to three shows in New York and two here.
I'm sure he has better things to do but he stays right to the end. He comes backstage, we have a drink and talk music. Those guys, they're gone.
We just lost one recently with Ahmet (Ertegun). Is it hard to interpret songs that are already hits? "I made my name by interpreting other people's songs so I wanted to take it a step further with this album.
Looking back on it, It's a Heartache worked, and Have You Ever Seen the Rain. The only one maybe on hindsight is probably the Bob Seger song (Still the Same). That's the one I should have left off, but then we wouldn't have had an album title.
" In the past you've changed songs dramatically, like your version of (If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right. These ones are faithful to the originals. "That was (guitarist) John Shanks' idea.
If you hear it on the radio you'll hear the intro and people will know it. It can work both ways. It can either be 'Oh (expletive), there's Rod Stewart singing my favorite song from Bob Seger or the other way and people say, 'That's unusual, that's nice to hear.
'" Were you surprised to see it debut at No. 1? "I was, absolutely.
The first American Songbook, after being off the radar for a while, was absolutely wonderful because I took such a risk. This one was double that. I was really proud it got to No.
1. But No. 1 is not what it used to be.
When mine got to No. 1 in October there had already been 36 No. 1s (in 2006).
I'm not knocking it because I'm so pleased to get to No. 1. But it's not what it was when Every Picture Tells a Story got to No.
1 and stayed there for seven weeks and sold 3 million in a few months." Your past few career moves have been savvy. When did you stray most off-track in your career?
"I don't think there has been any lengthy period when I've been that far off the track. I've recorded a few dodgy songs where I thought 'This'll be a hit' instead of 'Does this have any substance?' A career is made of ups and downs.
Mine's no different." Even the lulls have never lasted. "I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this.
I'll always make records. I love touring but I can't see myself taking another five-month tour. Not so much from the physical standpoint, it's just too time-consuming at my advanced age.
I just want to watch my youngest son grow up. I have six kids all together and I want to be around them now. That sounds wonderfully domestic and it is.
It also gets so (expletive) boring, night after night. I never thought I'd say this but sometimes I get on the stage and go 'Oh my God, not again.' But then the show starts and the audience can lift you.
They lift me out of the doldrums." At least you have new material. "It's amazing how people wanna hear these things.
It amazes me every night when the curtain goes up and I survey the audience and see how many youngsters are out there. I'm so flattered. It's great.
By the way, this upcoming show you should let people know there's no American Songbook. If they think they're going to hear the American Songbook they won't. They should get their money back.
" Do you like the in-the-round stage you're using? "I do, but it's a hell of a lot more work. I'm consciously thinking 'Oh my God I've had my back to the audience far too long on that side' even though we have the cameras.
I'm always running around in circles. And there's nowhere to hide. You're at the top of the Christmas cake, as it were.
The lights are always on. There's nowhere to hide with this show." After five albums interpreting other people's material where are you as a songwriter?
"Oh, I think I'm midway across the Atlantic, bobbing around on the ocean. I've said this before. I can't see people of my generation Elton, Bowie, the Stones, anybody of my age - I don't think people want to hear it.
This is a bold statement I don't think people really want to hear what we've got to say. The radio stations don't want to play us. I've written songs and nobody wants to know.
The exception being Bob Seger's album, which did very well. But he hadn't made an album in 14 years. You look at all the albums in the past two years Elton's was the biggest flop, the Stones barely made the top 20 .
. . the list goes on and on.
" What's your best overlooked work? Blondes Have More Fun got crucified for Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, but it had some great songs, including The Best Days of My Life. "Let me think.
That's a good song. What happened in the '70s going into the '80s, I did become larger than life and critics couldn't handle me anymore from what I started out as this down-to-earth working-class rock 'n' roll who lived in north London and the singer with the Faces. I turned into this Hollywood-hype person, going out with a glamorous movie star, Britt Ekland.
It just got up people's noses, especially the critics. Some of them got over it, but I think that's where the music got overlooked. Look at the album cover of Blondes Have More Fun.
It might have sold millions but it's the tartiest album cover you've ever seen (laughs). I've never been able to take this business that seriously." The Faces box set examined that part of your career, but other than that you've not emptied your vaults.
"I have the attention span of a flea. I'd like to get someone to go and do it. I'd get bored after 10 minutes going through reel after reel of analog tape.
Every album I've done . . .
we've always recorded seven or eight songs more than I needed. Perhaps when I'm on the wrong side of the grass someone will go dig them up. (laughs).
" When and where: 8 p.m. Monday, Pepsi Center Cost: $29.
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