Update: Here's the thing. This list is SEVENTIES SONGS; Seventies music. There are genres of music like rock, metal, Motown, etc. There is no doubt that Born To Run, the song and the album are pure genius. And as a song, Jungleland or BTR cannot compare with, say, That's The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia or Undercover Angel. But TTNTLWOIG is by far a better SEVENTIES song, emblematic of Seventies music, than Thunder Road. Thunder Road is a classic that stands the test of time. But Lights or Leroy Brown is a better Seventies song. So no Stones or Dead or Aerosmith or Bruce. But we've added Night Fever, because it was THE disco seventies song, and disco was Seventies music.
Remember, as the Spinners sing in Rubber Band Man: "So much love and grace and debonair in one man? Nah."
Update: A careful and alert reader writes in support of Hello it's Me by Todd Rundgren, Definitely a top twenty song of the seventies. Coming in right around twenty or so.
Another reader mentions "Brandy You're a Fine Girl" which we put right at or outside the top ten.
Another reader has the most complete list so far, including Rock the Boat, You Don't Have To Be A Star (Marilyn McCoo), Come And Get Your Love (Redbone), September (Earth Wind and Fire) , Running On Empty (Jackson Browne), and Could It Be I'm Falling In Love (The Spinners). And other readers have chimed in and we have taken all of those comments and started populating our top 25 list:
1.That's The Night That The Lights Went Out In Georgia (Vicki Lawrence not Reba McEntire); 2. Lets Get It On (Marvin Gaye); 3. Night Fever (Bee Gees);
4 Taking Care of Business (BTO): 5. Spirit In The Sky (Norman Greenbaum);
6. Bad Leroy Brown (Jim Croce); 7. Midnight Train to Georgia (Gladys Knights and the Pips); 8. American Pie ( Don McClean); 9. Dancing Queen (ABBA); 10. Brandy You're a Fine Girl; 11; More Than A Feeling (Boston) ; 12 Running on Empty (Jackson Browne).; 13 Could it Be I'm Falling In Love (The Spinners): 14 Come and Get Your Love (Redbone) ; 15; You Don't Have To Be A Star (Marilyn McCoo): 16 Rhinestone Cowboy (Glen Campbell): 17 Baby Blue (Bad Finger and a great song to end Breaking Bad and the tortured life of one Walter White); 18 Rubber band Man (The Spinners): 19 Touch Me In The Morning (Diana Ross); 20 Undercover Angel (Alan O'Day); 21_Don't Leave Me This Way (Thelma Houston); 22 Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head (BJ Thomas); 23 Rock The Boat (The Hues Corporation) ; 24 Still The One ( Orleans) ; 25 Car Wash.
Feeling a little creative this holiday weekend, we've been thinking about the best songs from 70's, which, along with the 60's, are the two best decades for music (sorry Madonna fans from the 1980's).
If you want to send us your list, we will create a top ten or top twenty. There is a clear number one, and if you need a hint, he just announced a European Tour for 2023. We will post that on Monday.
This song, which epitomizes all that was in the 1970's, comes in for us right around 25. Not the best by far, but a prototypical song, attached to a prototypical and iconic 1970's fun movie, with appearances by George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and that 70's icon Professor Irwin Corey (who BTW died at age 102 in 2017).
Coming in at NUMBER 25 on Rumpole's list, from 1976, the song and the movie.... Rose Royce's
CARWASH!
39 comments:
Way too many good songs from the 70's. Not gonna say these are the "number 1's" but they are some of my personal faves -
- Hello, It's Me - Todd Rundgren
- Ramble On - Led Zeppelin
- Kiss You All Over - Exile
- Drivin' My Life Away - Eddie Rabbit
- Sentimental Lady - Bob Welch
- Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress - The Hollies
I could go on.
That's real music!
Just play some Steely Dan. Or a little Stealers Wheel sounds good, too.
In no particular order:
1. Born to Be Alive/Patrick Hernandez
2. Hot Legs/Rod Stewart
3. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad/Paradise By The Dashboard Light/Meatloaf
4. Leyla/Derrick And The Dominoes\
5. Get It On/Trex
6. Hot Rod Lincoln/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
7. Highway To Hell/AC DC
8. Baby Blue/Bad Finger
9. Don't Bring Me Down/ELO
10. American Pie/Don Maclean
Honorable Mention, On The Cusp: Spirit In The Sky/Norman Greenbaum (December, 1969). The original Jew For Jesus.
Some favorites, alphabetically by song:
Brandy - Looking Glass
Breezin’ - George Benson
Come and Get Your Love - Redbone
Could it Be I’m Falling in Love - The Spinners
East Bound and Down - Jerry Reed
Fooled Around and Fell In Love - Elvin Bishop
I’ll Take You There - The Staples Singers
Keep On Comin’ Love - KC and the Sunshine Band
Lido Shuffle - Boz Scaggs
Life’s Been Good - Joe Walsh
Rock the Boat - The Hues Corporation
Running on Empty - Jackson Browne
September - Earth Wind & Fire
Still the One - Orleans
You Don’t Have to be a Star - Marilyn McCoo
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer
Springsteen's Born to Run, Thunder Road, Jungle land, Backstreets...all from same album
BTR is the greatest rock and roll album of all time. And Thunder Road is the greatest example of poetry and rock in one song (...:"You can hide neath your covers and study your pain, make crosses with your lovers, throw roses in the rain, waste your summer prayin in vain for a savior to rise from these streets.." ) Pure genius. But I don't consider it a prototypical 70's song. In other words, it transcends the decade because its so brilliant.
If considering British artists too, I would place Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel) in the top ten.
No 70s list is complete with Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jack.
Also in no particular order:
Staying Alive
Bohemian Rhapsody
American Pie
Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)
Let's Get it On
Stairway to Heaven
Highway to Hell
Let it Be
Dancing Queen
Jolene
Superstition
Lean on Me
I Will Survive
Y.M.C.A.
Free Bird
Smoke on the Water
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Dont Stop 'till You Get Enough
My Sharona
Sweet Home Alabama
Heart of Glass
You're So Vain
Midnight Train to Georgia
Stayin Alive. Tragedy. Jive Talking.
Draggin’ the Line - Tommy James
When Will I See You Again - Three Degrees
Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone - Temptations
Where is the Love? - Roberta Flack/Donny Hathaway
Thunder Island - Jay Ferguson
Don’t Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston
Nobody Does It Better - Carly Simon
Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart - Elton John/Kiki Dee
With a Little Luck - Paul McCartney & Wings
Undercover Angel - Alan O’Day
Low Spark of High Healed Boys - Traffic
The entire Deja Vu album- CSN&Y
Southern man- Neil Young
Sympathy for the Devil- Rolling Stones
Take a Walk on the Wild Side- Lou Reed
Send Lawyers Guns and Money- Warren Zevon
Hey 7:39. Thanks. I just vomited my breakfast on my lap. Tough to pick a particular song, but The Bee Gees were the most successful group of the '70's. They changed styles to usher in the disco era. They wrote and sang their own songs. Equally important, they became Miami Beach's adopeted sons and put Jimmy's East Side Diner on the map.
Wow! How quickly our cultural historians forget. There is a group and two of its songs that epitomize the 1970's. The Eagles. Life In The Fast Lane and Hotel California
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hTIKfFL8uXE
You need a little rock and roll (in no particular order)- 1) Boston-More than a Feeling 2) Styx-Come Sail Away 3) Journey-Don't Stop believing 4) Eagles-take your choice Hotel California or Take it to the Limit 5) Led Zeppelin-Kashmir 6) Def Leppard-Bringing on the Heartbreak 7) Van Halen-Running with the Devil 8) Police-Don't Stand so close to me 9) REO Speedwagon-Keep on Loving you 10) Sweet-Fox on the Run or Ballroom litz
7:43, 12:14 and 6:40 you make me wish I had bought more albums back then
1. Who Are You (The Who, the first song I ever heard on a jukebox)
2. E Street Shuffle (Bruce Springsteen)
3. Brave Strangers (Bob Seger)
4. Red Shoes (Elvis Costello)
5. Rock Me on the Water (Jackson Browne)
6. Who'll Stop the Rain (CCR)
7. Dixie Chicken (Little Feat)
Stealer's Wheel -- Stuck in the Middle with You.
Gerry Rafferty -- Baker Street
It Don't Come Easy -- George Harrison or Ringo Starr version
Moonlight Feels Right -- Starbuck
Ebony Eyes -- Bob Welch
Free Bird -- Lynyrd Skynyrd
In no particular order;
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Imagine - John Lennon
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Let It Be - The Beatles
Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
Just My Imagination - The Temptations
Roxanne - The Police
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 - Pink Floyd
No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley and the Wailers
Dancing Queen - ABBA
We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions - Queen
Lola - The Kinks
Who'll Stop the Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
Theme from "Shaft" - Isaac Hayes
Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin
Baba O'Riley - The Who
Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed
Riders On the Storm - The Doors
Black Magic Woman - Santana
Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin
I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones
Money - Pink Floyd
Changes - David Bowie
Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
Heroes - David Bowie
Bruuuuuuuuce!
Impossible to limit to just one song. Art is not like sports , ya can’t quantitatively compare art . Things need to be broken turn into genres. I’m a music snob I’m sure I’ll ruffle some feathers
- prog- roundabout by Yes
- hard rock/ long player - Kashmir by Led Zep
- hard rock / shorter song - 30 days in the hole by Humble Pie
- bubblegum/AM radio - I know I can dance by Leo Sawyer
- novelty song - hooked on a feeling by Blue Suede
- funk- Give up the Funk by Funkadelic
- singer songwriter- whole Tapestry album by Carol King
- punk Anarchy in the UK by Sex Pistols
- new wave - Life during wartime by Talking Heads
- dance/disco. Saturday Night Fever soundtrack
- garage rock Roadrunner by Jonathan Richman
- soul. What’s going on by Marvin Gaye
- FM rock. Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin
- power pop. September Gurls by Big Star
- Girl music Color my world by Chicago
- cock rock. Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith
- psychedelia Dark side of the moon by Pink Floyd
- instrumental. Rise by Herb Alpert
- Freak/eccentric music. Joes Garage by Frank Zappa
- hip hop. Rappers delight by sugar hill gang
- guitar - eruption by Van Halen
- jazz fusion- birdland by Weather Report
- jazz - whatever Keith Jarret did
- blues - statesborough blues by allman brothers
- debut - Boston
- English folk- unhalfbricking by Fairport Convention
- American Folk- Hurricane by Bob Dylan
- best LP of the 70’s. Shoot out the lights by Richard and Linda Thompson
- prettiest songs - Stevie Wonder catalog
the first time ever I saw your face
Conspicuous by their absence:
1. Proud Mary (CCR and Tina Turner)
2. Piano Man by Billy Joel
3. Sundown and Early Morning Rain by Gordon Lightfoot
4. Blue Bayou by Lind Ronstadt
5. Cracklin Rosie by Neil Diamond
6. Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
7. Tainted Love by Soft Cell
8. Hot Stuff by Donna Summer
9. Angel Of The Morning by Merilee Rush
10. All Right Now by Free
Dude, your team was magnificent but show some class
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
CELTICS FANS ARE LOSERS.
That's right, losers.
The Miami Heat started playing basketball in the 1988-89 season. Going into this year we played 33 seasons through 2021.
In that time, we have been to six NBA Finals and we have won three titles.
In that same time span, the LOSER CELTICS have been to the Finals twice and won one title.
And, the LOSER CELTICS played four playoff series against the Heat in those 33 years. And the LOSER CELTICS LOST three of those four playoff series to the HEAT.
I am no fair-weather fan. I am there for the highs and the not so highs.
So, go back to your LOSER CELTICS homes and envy the fact that we have been to the Finals SIX TIMES in just the past 15 years. And have THREE NBA TITLES IN THAT TIME.
LOSER CELTICS. GO HOME.
Cap Out .......
Heat or Celts. Doesnt matter much.
Neither one stopping the Warriors.
What kind of idiot are you? Celtics won titles in 57,59, 60,61,62,63,64,65,66,68, 69, 74,76, 81,84,86, and 2008. Go crawl back under the front running rock you crawled out of. All these baby heat fans who I was laughing at Sunday night ( which one is Lebron again ?) I won’t see you until a game six or seven playoff game next year clad in your sissy white shirt pretending that you go to every home game and watch every road game on TV. SUCH LOSERS. And btw the captain add 2021 as a year Heat definitely did not win a championship because they choked at home. Missing that three pointer with two seconds left. Maybe they should have called time out and paid Lebron to come and shoot it. Hahahahahahah losers.
Try winning 11 titles in 12 years asshole without paying Lebron. 3 in six years ? Bill Russell wipes his ass with three titles.
This is what the heat fans were chanting as they left en mass in the third quarter… Let’s go Dolphins!
Last thought while the Celtics get ready to PLAY FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP
it was lil jimmy butler that choked and missed that three pointer. Wa wa wa wa wa wa.
Captains post is all-time ignorant. Celts are a historic sports franchise. And Heat fans are Johnny come lately fair weathered morons.
Come on man. There has got to be at least one Steely Dan song in the list. My Old School? Show Biz Kids? Rikki? Bohdistavva?
Celtics LOSER FAN:
Pretty sad that you have to go back six decades to the 60s when there were something like 12 teams in the NBA and the Celtics were playing against part time firemen and police.
Ignore if you want. But when comparing apples to apples, the two franchises side by side, since the inaugural season of the HEAT, the LOSER CELTICS can’t even sniff the Heat’s jock straps.
LOSER CELTICS. GO HOME.
Cap Out …..
The Celtics won, the Heat are going home. The Heat do have a very weak and fickle fan base. The Celtics fans are rabid and knowledgeable. No one really disputes this.
Loser Celtics going home. Wait. Who won game 7 In Miami? Who choked?
Which one is Lebron again?
Hahahhahahhahahahaha
So basically, you all stole the songs from Guardians of the Galaxy and nominated them. Good work.
4:52: Cousey?
Get a hold of yourself captain and act like an adult. You sound deranged. The HEAT are not a complete team. The better squad won. I'm shipping up to Boston !
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