Songfacts®:

• Rod Stewart was anything but stone cold sober in 1975, so imagine his surprise when he showed up in Alabama at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios to record and learned that it was located in what Americans call a "dry" county, meaning there is no liquor available.
  
  Forced into sobriety, he wrote this song at the studio with guitarist Steve Cropper. The song is about the inevitable hangover that comes after the indulgence. At this point anyway, Stewart felt it was worth it.
• Finding himself in an alcohol desert wasn't Stewart's only surprise when he came to Muscle Shoals Sound Studios.
  
  "I was under the impression that the musicians from Muscle Shoals studios, who had backed such luminaries as Aretha Franklin, Carla Thomas, Wilson Pickett and many others, were all Black," he wrote in his Storyteller compilation. "Imagine my surprise on arriving at the studio to find they were all, in fact, white persons."
  
  Among these soulful white guys were bass player David Hood, keyboard man Barry Beckett, and drummer Roger Hawkins. The producer was Tom Dowd, who among many other accomplishments, produced the Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs album for Eric Clapton's group Derek & the Dominos. Stewart also recorded his UK hit "Sailing" at these sessions.
• "Stone Cold Sober" is part of Stewart's Atlantic Crossing album, the title representing his move to America. His band The Faces had recently broken up (with Ron Wood joining The Rolling Stones) so Stewart was focused on his solo work. "Sailing" and his cover of "This Old Heart Of Mine" were big hits in the UK but didn't rate very high in America, but "Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright)," the lead single from his next album, was a #1 hit in the US.