The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)

"The Killing of Georgie Parts 1 and 2"
Single by Rod Stewart
from the album A Night on the Town
B-side	"Fool for You" (UK) "Rosie" (US)
Released	1976
Genre	Pop rock, soft rock
Length	6:30
Label	Riva (UK) Warner Bros. (US)
Writer(s)	Rod Stewart
Producer(s)	Tom Dowd
Rod Stewart singles chronology
"Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" (1976) "The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)" (1976) "Get Back" (UK) (1976) "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (US) (1977)

"The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)" is a song written and recorded by Rod Stewart. It was released as a track on his album, A Night on the Town, in 1976. The song tells the story of a gay man who was killed in New York City. It is a two-part song: Part I, the more popular hit, was blended into the more melancholy and sombre Part II of the song.

Lyrics

The song's lyrics^[1] tell the tale of a friend of the narrator's, a gay man, the eponymous Georgie. The song follows Georgie through his life. When Georgie tells his parents of his sexuality, his father responds by saying "How can my son not be straight after all I've said and done for him?" Georgie leaves home, bound for New York, cast out by his parents. He becomes successful and popular in Manhattan's upper class. The narrator visits him in Summer 1975, when Georgie tells him he's in love and the narrator responds by saying that he is pleased for him. Georgie attends the opening night of a Broadway musical, but leaves early with his lover. They decide to take a short-cut through an alley, where Georgie is attacked and killed by a New Jersey gang. The narrator then quotes something Georgie once said to him about living life while you're young, before your life ends. The song ends with the narrator's begging him to stay.

Despite the song stating that Georgie was killed in 1975, this was done for rhyming purposes only and his murder actually occurred in 1974.^[2]

Background

In the May, 1995 issue of Mojo, Stewart explained: "That was a true story about a gay friend of The Faces. He was especially close to me and Mac. But he was knifed or shot, I can't remember which. That was a song I wrote totally on me own over the chord of open E." However, the mention of a switchblade knife in the song's lyrics implies that Georgie was very likely stabbed to death.

When he was asked about writing a song with a gay theme, Stewart said, "It's probably because I was surrounded by gay people at that stage. I had a gay PR man, a gay manager. Everyone around me was gay. I don't know whether that prompted me into it or not. I think it was a brave step, but it wasn't a risk. You can't write a song like that unless you've experienced it. But it was a subject that no one had approached before. And I think it still stands up today."

Part II provides a coda to the song and employs a melody identical to The Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down". In a 1980 interview, John Lennon said, "the lawyers never noticed".^[3]

References