Every Picture Tells a Story ( song ) - wikipedia Every Picture Tells a Story ( song ) `` Every Picture Tells a Story '' Single by Rod Stewart from the album Every Picture Tells a Story B - side `` Reason to Believe '' Released 1971 ( Spain ) Genre Hard rock Length 5 : 59 Label Mercury Songwriter ( s ) Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood Producer ( s ) Rod Stewart Rod Stewart singles chronology `` Reason to Believe '' ( 1971 ) `` Every Picture Tells a Story '' ( 1971 ) `` ( I Know ) I 'm Losing You '' ( 1971 ) `` Reason to Believe '' ( 1971 ) `` Every Picture Tells a Story '' ( 1971 ) `` ( I Know ) I 'm Losing You '' ( 1971 ) `` Every Picture Tells a Story '' is a song written by Rod Stewart and Ron Wood and initially released as the title track of Stewart 's 1971 album Every Picture Tells a Story. It has since been released on numerous Stewart compilation and live albums, including The Best of Rod Stewart, Storyteller -- The Complete Anthology : 1964 -- 1990 and Unplugged... and Seated. It was released as a single in Spain, backed with `` Reason to Believe. '' It has also been covered by The Georgia Satellites on their 1986 album Georgia Satellites and by Robin McAuley on Forever Mod : A Tribute to Rod Stewart. In the Rolling Stone Album Guide, critic Paul Evans described `` Every Picture Tells a Story '' and `` Maggie May, '' another song off the Every Picture Tells a Story album, as Rod Stewart 's and Ron Wood 's `` finest hour -- happy lads wearing their hearts on their sleeves. '' Music critic Greil Marcus regards the song as `` Rod Stewart 's greatest performance. '' The lyrics of `` Every Picture Tells a Story '' from a first person narrative of the singer finding adventures with women all over the world but eventually returning home after having learned some moral lessons. Locations of his adventures include Paris, Rome and Peking. Allmusic critic Denise Sullivan commented that lyrics are racist and sexist ( e.g., describing an Asian woman as a `` slit - eyed lady '' ), and that the song `` is a real nugget from a brief period in time when rock singers did n't worry about what it meant to be rude -- in fact, the ruder and cruder, the better. '' However, a live version of the song performed by Stewart in 1992, 21 years after the original album version was released, skips a complete verse containing some particularly unkind and crude references to women, as well as a self - deprecating reference : `` I firmly believed that I / Did n't need anyone but me / I sincerely felt I was so complete / Look how wrong you can be / The women I 've known I would n't let tie my shoe / They would n't give you the time of day / But the slit - eyed lady knocked me off my feet / God I was so glad I found her ''. Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the song as `` devilishly witty. '' The lyrics begin with a reference to the theme of self - discovery : Spent some time feeling inferior Standing in front of my mirror Combed my hair in a thousand ways But I came out looking just the same The song 's lyrics are entirely free - form in that they do not follow any consistent rhythmic meter and read almost like prose. Rhyming only appears occasionally and randomly, some within individual lines as opposed to between them ( `` On the Peking ferry I was feeling merry '', `` Shanghai Lil never used the pill '' ). There are somewhat more near - rhymes between lines ( inferior / mirror, ways / same, stampede / tea, funk / luck, attraction / sanction ), but these too are random and occasional. The lyrics even exhibit occasional elements of subtle vowel alliteration ( `` I firmly believed that I did n't need anyone but me '' ). Stewart 's confident performance, however, renders these shortcomings of rhyme and rhythm unnoticeable to the listener ; the song sounds like it does have lyrical rhyme and rhythm. The song 's music incorporates many elements. Toby Creswell describes the opening guitar theme as reflective and melancholy. As the guitar opening fades, the drums played by Micky Waller crash primitively before Stewart begins to sing. In his review of the album in Rolling Stone Magazine, John Mendelsohn noted that this song `` does rock with ferocity via a simple but effective seven - note ascension / five - note descension riff that Waller cleverly punctuates with a halved - time bass - drum - against - snare lick. '' The rhythm is loose throughout most of the song, although it tightens in the coda. Stewart biographers Tim Ewbank and Stafford Hildred describe the music as `` a mess - unbalanced and shoddily thrown together, '' although the `` vocals pull the song out of trouble. '' Despite being a hard rock song, the song primarily uses acoustic instruments, although guitarist Ron Wood does use an electric guitar occasionally. Pete Sears played the acoustic piano. Greil Marcus also praises the acoustic guitar parts that are played after each verse and the drum roll after the first verse. According to Stewart, he found the mandolin and violin players for this song and for `` Maggie May '' in a restaurant in London. Maggie Bell and Long John Baldry provide energetic harmony vocals, including the line `` She claimed that it just ai n't natural '' in response to Stewart 's line `` Shanghai Lil never used the pill. '' Allmusic 's Sullivan describes the song as `` just plain visceral -- so much so that ( it is ) better heard than described '' and that it represents six minutes of `` defining rock & roll. '' `` Every Picture Tells a Story '' was used in the Cameron Crowe movie Almost Famous in a scene where main characters William and Penny walk through the halls of a hotel. It was also included on the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV : The Lost and Damned. The song was also referenced in Jayne Anne Phillips ' short story `` What It Takes to Keep a Young Girl Alive. '' While the story 's character Sue is lying in bed in the dark `` Rod Stewart, scratchy and loud, combed his hair in a thousand different ways and came out looking just the same. '' Greil Marcus uses the reference to the song in `` What It Takes to Keep a Young Girl Alive '' to muse on what makes a good record and why `` Every Picture Tells a Story '' is a good record, i.e., a good record is one that `` entering a person 's life, can enable that person to live more intensely -- as, whatever else it does, ' Every Picture Tells a Story ' does for Jayne Anne Phillips ' Sue. '' Personnel Rod Stewart -- lead vocals, backing vocals Ronnie Wood -- electric guitar, 12 - string guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals Pete Sears -- piano Micky Waller -- drums Ian McLagan -- organ, backing vocals Long John Baldry, Maggie Bell, Mateus Rose, Kenney Jones, Ronnie Lane -- backing vocals References Jump up ^ `` The Top Hard Rock Songs ''. Allmusic. ^ Jump up to : Sullivan, D. `` Every Picture Tells a Story ''. Allmusic. Retrieved 2011 - 08 - 11. Jump up ^ Ruhlmann, W. `` Georgia Satellites ''. Allmusic. Retrieved 2011 - 08 - 11. Jump up ^ Huey, S. `` Forever Mod : A Tribute to Rod Stewart ''. Allmusic. Retrieved 2011 - 08 - 11. Jump up ^ Evans, P. ( 2004 ). `` Rod Stewart ''. In Brackett, N. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Fireside. p. 782. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7432 - 0169 - 8. ^ Jump up to : Marcus, G. ( 1999 ). In the fascist bathroom : punk in pop music, 1977 - 1992. Harvard University Press. pp. 275 -- 277. ISBN 978 - 0 - 674 - 44577 - 2. ^ Jump up to : Mendelsohn, J. ( 8 July 1971 ). `` Every Picture Tells a Story Review ''. Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved 2011 - 08 - 15. Jump up ^ `` Rod Stewart Vagabond Heart Tour, Live in Los Angeles 1992 ''. YouTube. Retrieved 22 April 2013. ^ Jump up to : Erlewine, S.T. `` Every Picture Tells a Story ''. Allmusic. Retrieved 2011 - 08 - 12. ^ Jump up to : Creswell, T. ( 2005 ). 1001 Songs. Thunder 's Mouth Press. pp. 856 -- 857. ISBN 978 - 1 - 56025 - 915 - 2. ^ Jump up to : Ewbank, T. ; Hildred, S. ( 2005 ). Rod Stewart : The New Biography. Citadel Press. p. 100. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8065 - 2644 - 7. Jump up ^ Hornby, N. ( 2003 ). `` Mama You Been on My Mind ''. Songbook. Penguin. ISBN 978 - 1 - 57322 - 356 - 0. External links Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics Rod Stewart singles 1970s `` It 's All Over Now '' ( 1970 ) `` Reason to Believe '' / `` Maggie May '' ( 1971 ) `` Every Picture Tells a Story '' / `` Reason to Believe '' ( 1971 ) Spain only `` ( I Know ) I 'm Losing You '' / `` Mandolin Wind '' ( 1971 ) `` Handbags and Gladrags '' ( 1972 ) `` You Wear It Well '' ( 1972 ) `` Angel '' ( 1972 ) `` What 's Made Milwaukee Famous ( Has Made a Loser Out of Me ) '' ( 1972 ) `` Twistin ' the Night Away '' ( 1973, 1987 ) `` Oh ! No Not My Baby '' ( 1973 ) `` Farewell '' / `` You Send Me '' ( 1973 ) `` Mine for Me '' ( 1974 ) `` You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything '' ( 1974 ) Stewart / Faces `` Sailing '' ( 1975 ) `` This Old Heart of Mine '' ( 1975 ) `` Tonight 's the Night '' ( 1976 ) `` The Killing of Georgie '' ( 1976 ) `` Get Back '' ( 1976 ) `` The First Cut Is the Deepest '' ( 1977 ) `` I Do n't Want to Talk About It '' ( 1977, 1990 ) `` You 're in My Heart ( The Final Acclaim ) '' ( 1978 ) `` Hot Legs '' ( 1978 ) `` I Was Only Joking '' ( 1978 ) `` Da Ya Think I 'm Sexy ? '' ( 1978, 1997 ) `` Ai n't Love a Bitch '' ( 1979 ) `` Blondes ( Have More Fun ) '' ( 1979 ) 1980s `` ( If Loving You Is Wrong ) I Do n't Want to Be Right '' ( 1980 ) `` Passion '' ( 1980 ) `` Tonight, I 'm Yours ( Do n't Hurt Me ) '' ( 1981 ) `` Young Turks '' ( 1982 ) `` How Long '' ( 1982 ) `` Baby Jane '' ( 1983 ) `` That 's What Friends Are For '' ( 1983 ) `` Infatuation '' ( 1984 ) `` Some Guys Have All the Luck '' ( 1984 ) `` All Right Now '' ( 1984 ) `` People Get Ready '' ( 1985, 1991, 1993 ) Stewart / Beck `` Love Touch '' ( 1986 ) `` In My Life '' ( 1987 ) `` Forever Young '' ( 1988 ) `` My Heart Ca n't Tell You No '' ( 1988 ) `` This Old Heart of Mine ( Is Weak for You ) '' ( 1989 ) Stewart / Isley `` Downtown Train '' ( 1989 ) 1990s `` It Takes Two '' ( 1990 ) Stewart / Turner `` Rhythm of My Heart '' ( 1991 ) `` The Motown Song '' ( 1991 ) `` Your Song '' ( 1992 ) `` Ruby Tuesday '' ( 1993 ) `` Have I Told You Lately '' ( 1993 ) `` Reason to Believe '' ( unplugged, 1993 ) `` All for Love '' ( 1993 ) Stewart / Adams / Sting `` Leave Virginia Alone '' ( 1995 ) `` Lady Luck '' ( 1996 ) `` Ooh La La '' ( 1998 ) `` Rocks '' ( 1998 ) `` Cigarettes and Alcohol '' ( 1998 ) `` Faith of the Heart '' ( 1999 ) 2000s `` These Foolish Things '' ( 2002 ) `` They Ca n't Take That Away from Me '' ( 2003 ) `` Time After Time '' ( 2003 ) `` What a Wonderful World '' ( 2004 ) `` Blue Moon '' ( 2004 ) `` Baby, It 's Cold Outside '' ( 2005 ) `` I 've Got a Crush on You '' ( 2005 ) `` I 've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm '' ( 2006 ) `` Have You Ever Seen the Rain ? '' ( 2006 ) 2010s `` Let It Snow ! Let It Snow ! Let It Snow ! '' ( 2012 ) `` Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas '' ( 2012 ) `` Everyday '' ( 2015 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Every_Picture_Tells_a_Story_(song)&oldid=847961556 '' Categories : 1971 singles Rod Stewart songs Songs written by Rod Stewart The Georgia Satellites songs Songs written by Ronnie Wood Song recordings produced by Rod Stewart Mercury Records singles Hidden categories : Use British English from August 2014 Use dmy dates from August 2014 Articles with hAudio microformats Talk About Wikipedia Norsk nynorsk Edit links This page was last edited on 28 June 2018, at 23 : 11 ( UTC ). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who wrote the song every picture tells a story
Answer: Rod Stewart