Sir Rod Stewart started a sing-along and showed off his tap dancing skills on Tuesday while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on NBC.
The 79-year-old British rocker and Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland, 66, made a joint appearance on the talk show to promote their new album Swing Fever.
Jimmy, 49, gushed about the swing classics on the album and pointed out the 1947 song Almost Like Being in Love, the 1929 song Ain’t Misbehavin’ as being standouts.
‘I’ve got to say that Lullaby Of Broadway, which is the first track on this album, that moves as well. Everything jumps on this album, but are those real tap dancers on there?,’ Jimmy asked.
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s a wonderful old song,’ said Rod, who wore a grey and red plaid jacket with black lapels and a white dress shirt sans tie.
Sir Rod Stewart started a sing-along and showed off his tap dancing skills on Tuesday while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on NBC
Rod then started singing and clapping as he gave an impromptu performance of Lullaby On Broadway with the studio audience, Jools, Jimmy, and house band The Roots joining him.
‘Come on. That’s how you do it. I’d start tapping now,’ Jimmy said.
‘My man,’ Rod said as he pointed toward frontman Questlove and The Roots.
Rod shared that Lullaby On Broadway was the first song that they recorded.
He noted the song’s connection to Busby Berkeley who has a famous Lullaby Of Broadway production number in his 1935 musical film Gold Diggers Of 1935.
‘And they had all these tap dancers, so when we recorded it, I said to Jools, ”Leave a little gap, I want something in there surprise”,’ Rod said as he turned the story over to Jools.
Jools continued the story an d admitted that he was a ‘bit worried’ until Rod showed up dancing.
‘The dance told me everything was going to be all right. But then he said, ”We need tap dancers here.” So I said, ”Oh, well, yeah, well we can put them in on the studio afterwards. We can get, sort of, somebody to synthesize that.” He said, “I don’t want any of this synthesized nonsense. I want tap-dancers”,’ Jools said.
The 79-year-old British rocker and Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland, 66, made a joint appearance on the talk show to promote their new album Swing Fever
Rod started singing and clapping as he gave an impromptu performance of Lullaby On Broadway with the studio audience, Jools, Jimmy, and house band The Roots joining him
Rod then got up and started tap dancing furiously and was joined by Jimmy and Jools as The Roots provided some music.
Jimmy asked about their surprise performance of Swing Fever songs recently in London in a train station.
Rod said they set up an 18-piece band and started playing during rush hour.
‘Did you get in trouble?,’ Jimmy asked.
‘No, no, no, no. Not at all,’ Rod said.
‘No, they loved it,’ Jools said.
‘We didn’t get the permission. We were supposed to get permission from the police, but as I’m a Knight of the Realm, I think they overlooked it,’ Rod said.
Rod and Jools also talked about the close connection between swing and rock.
‘Do you like doing this?,’ Jimmy asked Rod.
‘I love it, mate. I love the rock ‘n roll, too, you know. God has given me a voice where I can sing this stuff as well. So I’m not just stuck with singing Hot Legs, Maggie May and Do You Think I’m Sexy,’ Rod said.
Rod got up and started tap dancing furiously and was joined by Jimmy and Jools as The Roots provided some music
‘I love it, mate. I love the rock ‘n roll, too, you know. God has given me a voice where I can sing this stuff as well. So I’m not just stuck with singing Hot Legs, Maggie May and Do You Think I’m Sexy,’ Rod said
Jools later played piano as Rod sang Almost Like Being In Love
The Roots and backup singers joined in on the stellar performance by the music legends
The Squeeze keyboardist and Rod beamed while posing backstage together
Jools said they loved every minute of making the album and hopefully it will connect with people.
Rod and Jools later performed Almost Like Being In Love live.
Jools was on piano with The Roots as Rod again showed off some nifty footwork while dancing.
Swing Fever will be released on February 23 by Warner Music.