The anthem Rod Stewart never gets tired of singing live: “I’m most comfortable”Playing any song for an extended period of time can be like Groundhog Day for most musicians. They might still have to put as much emotion into it as they can, but no matter how hard they try to get everything together, there will always be a few songs that become a chore rather than an emotional experience when they play. Although Rod Stewart has probably grown far too sick of tracks like ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy’ lately, he knew that ‘Young Turks’ would never wear out its welcome.

But before he made his quantum leaps from disco embarrassment to 1980s pop star, Stewart remained a respectable rock and roll singer throughout the 1970s. No one gets the gig sitting in with Jeff Beck and holding his own by accident, and even during his solo career, tunes like ‘Maggie May’ already set Stewart up as a decent singer-songwriter after his days in The Faces.

Then again, the singer-songwriter tag was never limited to just someone behind a piano or holding a guitar singing their pieces. By the 1980s, the biggest names in singer-songwriters became people like Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, and that meant investing in a synthesiser if that meant keeping up with the times.

In theory, though, making an album with squelchy backing tracks should be the anti-Rod Stewart equation. His rustic rasp has always been better suited to having a roaring guitar behind him or maybe some folk instruments in the mix to make everything feel organic, so pairing that with the processed sounds of a keyboard should have been like chalk and cheese.

And yet, something about ‘Young Turks’ works surprisingly well. Just like Van Halen found a way to work around David Lee Roth’s squawky voice in 1984, Stewart absolutely soars over the hook as he sings about watching the new generation get up to the same shenanigans that he went through.

Although the tune has become an anthem for Stewart’s 1980s years, he will still gladly play it whenever he gets the chance, saying, “Definitely one of my favourites to sing live, and, if I may say so as a songwriter, the area in which I’m most comfortable. The telling of a story with a beginning and an end is very difficult within the confines of a rock & roll song.”

But maybe the reason why it works so well is because it hasn’t had the chance to wear out its welcome. Since every other great rock and roll tune is about a singer talking about all the great things that they did when they weren’t trying to cash retirement checks, writing a song about looking at the next generation and wishing well is never going to get old as long as Stewart continues to have a few grey hairs.

If anything, ‘Young Turks’ is one of the few classics of the 1980s that only feels more relevant the more that you sing it. People can latch onto the nice melody when they’re kids, but once the twilight years come rolling in, it’s borderline heartbreaking listening to the tune in the wrong context.