Maggie May

Maggie May was written by Stewart and Martin Quittenton and recorded for Every Picture Tells a Story. It was cut in two takes in one session. Drummer Micky Waller expected a kit to be supplied, and one was, but no cymbals could be found, so the crashes were overdubbed some days later. It went out as the B-side of Reason to Believe, until radio stations began playing it and it became the more popular side. The album version opens with a half-minute guitar piece by Quittenton called Henry.

Ray Jackson of Lindisfarne played the mandolin. He wrote and developed his part but received 15 pounds for the session and a line on the sleeve, which reads "The mandolin was played by the mandolin player in Lindisfarne. The name slips my mind." Tal Rosenberg of Pitchfork noted that the song has no chorus, unless the mandolin solo at 4:26 counts, and credited Quittenton with the central melody, McLagan's organ, Sears's celeste and Wood's bass lines, twelve-string and electric solo.

In autumn 1971 it was number one in the UK for five weeks and in the United States for five, and number two in the year-end listings of both countries. Rolling Stone ranked it 130 in its 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs, and the Mercury single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017. Blur recorded a cover in 1993 for a CD given away with Q magazine.

Live

On Top of the Pops in 1971 the Faces were joined by the DJ John Peel, who mimed the mandolin. Stewart and Wood played it for MTV Unplugged in 1993, and it appears on Unplugged...and Seated.