Life Songs: ’70s, additional

Okay, so I’ve been pondering that last list and I realize I left a LOT out, and here’s some other ones I came up with. I know my list is way too freakin’ long now.

1970

• Focus – House Of The King – there was a great show in the 70s called Don’t Ask Me, where they took audience and viewer science questions. Dr Magnus Pike was one of them. This was the theme tune. It’s awesome.
  
• Mungo Jerry – In The Summertime – I take a bit of offense to ‘if her daddy’s rich take her out for a meal, if her daddy’s poor just do what you feel’ line. What, if she doesn’t have money you don’t need to treat her well? Anyway, the rest of the song is a great summer anthem, so I overlook it. Usually.
  
• Jerry Reed – Amos Moses – remember The Hilarious House of Frightenstein? This was one of the Wolfman songs, and it’s been a favourite ever since.
  
• Simon & Garfunkel – Cecilia – Bottled joy.
  
• James Brown – Sex Machine – Get on up.
  

• George Harrison – What Is Life, My Sweet Lord, Isn’t It A Pity, If Not For You, Behind That Locked Door – Why don’t I just list the entire All Things Must Pass triple album? Definitive answer to the question: who was the most awesome Beatle?
  
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – Up Around The Bend – swamp rock from the best. One of the best summer songs ever, so happy.
  
• Rod Stewart – Gasoline Alley – Rod before he became inexcusable.
  
• Derek & the Dominoes – Layla – you know why, it’s just brilliant.

1971

• The Who – Behind Blue Eyes – Pete Townshend is such a poet, and Roger Daltry had the sexiest voice.
  
• Richie Havens – Here Comes The Sun – possibly the best Beatles cover ever. I heard this version before I heard the Beatles version. What’s that you say, it’s a George Harrison song? That explains it.
  

• Harry Nilsson – Without You, Coconut, Let The Good Times Roll – Everyone’s heard his version of Without You and didn’t realize it was him. The Muppets covered Coconut and, again, no one knew it was him. And his cover of Let The Good Times Roll (not the Cars song) rocks more than any other version has.

1972

• Arlo Guthrie – City Of New Orleans – Yes, he had a song after Alice’s Restaurant. Good mornin’ America, how are ya?
  
• Paul Simon – Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard – How does Paul Simon bottle childhood innocence like that?
  

• Neil Young – Heart Of Gold – it will always remind me of Ice Man. You know, the scene with Timothy Hutton and John Lone singing around the fire...
  
• Todd Rundgren – Hello It’s Me – such a great love song.
  
• Lou Reed – Walk On The Wild Side – I had no idea what ANY of this meant when I was little. Probably just as well, I had no frame of reference for it then.

1973

• The Who – Love Reign O’er Me – this song gives me chills. Also, have you heard Bettye LaVette’s version? That’s gonna be on my list later, makes me cry.
  
• Wings – Live And Let Die – Best Bond song ever. Second would possibly be Living Daylights by A-Ha.
  
• Golden Earring – Radar Love – excellent bass line, very cool and slick.
  

• Bob Dylan – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – Sub-par people keep covering this, but they all pale in comparison. This is a man who sounds like he’s done with it all and ready for the end.
  
• Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells – The only thing I can play on the piano is the signature 31 notes, over and over again. Not written to underscore a little possessed girl, but that’s how we all remember it, isn’t it?

1974

• Harry Nilsson – Old Forgotten Soldier, Black Sails, Many Rivers To Cross – Pussy Cats was a phenomenal album. Nilsson destroyed his vocal chords while having a shouting contest with John Lennon while they made it, so his voice after this album wasn’t its warm and fuzzy self afterwards. Just get it.
  
• Supertramp – Bloody Well Right – I can’t explain why I love this song so much, really.
  
• Cat Stevens – Another Saturday Night – Again, best cover of this song ever.
  
• Kool & The Gang – Jungle Boogie – Never even really heard this until I was grown up, but I’m sure I would have hated it then. Instead, it’s one of those that’s impossible not to move to. One of my Wii games has a dance game to this song, so much fun.

1975

• Loudon Wainwright III – Unrequited To The Nth Degree – this is the funniest song about threatened suicide that’s ever been written, and you must all listen.
  
• Eagles – Journey of the Sorcerer – Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy placed this firmly in my psyche and it’s never coming out again.
  

• The Who – Squeeze Box – No Mum, it’s about an accordion, really. They just like to play the accordion, I swear.
  

• Willie Nelson – Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain – Red-Headed Stranger is another album you just have to have. At the time, Nelson had complete control of his own output (who has that nowadays?), so the record company had to put it out, though they were sure it would be an abject failure. Instead it became an instant classic, broke records all over. This is the saddest song I know, and no one does it like Willie.
  
• 10cc – I’m Not In Love – Sure dude, keep denying it, we all know the truth.
  
• Bee Gees – Jive Talkin’ – I hated it. I really did. I swear. But I’ve decided I don’t anymore, and now I realize it’s actually super-catchy.
  
• Led Zeppelin - Kashmir – Adding an orchestra to a rock song almost always improves it. Strings especially. There’s something so majestic about this song. Have you heard the version The Ordinaires did? It’s pretty good too...
  
• Roxy Music – Love Is The Drug – Bryan Ferry was the suavest thing I’d ever seen. Recently the awesome Greg Proops commented about the ridiculousness of someone so dripping with sex ever having to go looking for it (he has an awful lot of songs about being lonely), and he’s so right.
  

• Vangelis – Heaven & Hell, Movement 3 – In 1980, PBS produced an awesome science show, hosted by Carl Sagan, called Cosmos. It was the first time scientific ideas about evolution, space, memory, etc. were presented in a manner that was easy to understand, and the America responded by making it the most-watched series on public television in history (until Ken Burns and his Civil War program 10 years later). This was the theme music. Do yourself a favour and find it.
  
• Maxine Nightingale – Right Back Where We Started From – Remember this from Slap Shot?

1976

• Heart – Crazy On You – Yes, girls can rock. Observe.
  

• Blue Oyster Cult – (Don’t Fear) The Reaper – There really is a cowbell in there. And, thanks to Saturday Night Live, you will always hear it. Will always remind me of The Stand.
  
• John Sebastian – Welcome Back – they changed the show name from Kotter to Welcome Back, Kotter because the song Sebastian wrote as the theme was just too good.
  
• Paul Simon – 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover – Okay, clearly Simon sold his soul, no one can be this good a writer, can they? Reminds me of Mork & Mindy.
  
• Electric Light Orchestra – Do Ya – well, do ya?

1977

• The Stranglers – Peaches – it’s a dirty little track, it gets under your skin.
  
• Eric Clapton – Lay Down Sally – such a great little song, people don’t seem to remember it. Unassuming. Happy even.
  
• Talking Heads – Psycho Killer – Don’t touch me, I’m a live wire.
  

• Weather Report – Birdland – Everyone knows this piece, and no one knows who did it. Well, it was Weather Report, off Heavy Weather, a great little album. Next time you hear this used as background music for a Sunday magazine radio programme, you’ll know who it was!
  
• Elvis Costello – Watching The Detectives – still my favourite Costello song, had a great little ska backbeat to it.
  
• Iggy Pop – Lust For Life – can’t really ignore this song. Remember when that cruise company used it to sell family holidays? They did know what this song was about, right?
  
• Cheap Trick – I Want You To Want Me – At least he’s honest about it – it’s not that he wants you, it’s that he wants you to want him.

1978

• Rolling Stones – Miss You – Does this count as disco? Not sure. But it was a great single anyway, play it over and over.
  
• Plastic Bertrand – Ça plane pour moi (Jet Boy Jet Girl) – Memories of CFNY in the 80s. How can they say that in a song on the radio?
  

• Devo – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – so so good. Seriously. I mean, Devo are NOT funky, really not, but such awesome musicians, and they really make this their song.
  
• Talking Heads – Take Me To The River – best version of this ever. I know it’s not really soul anymore, but so cool.
  
• Warren Zevon – Werewolves Of London – Huh, I’d like to meet his tailor.
  
• The Who – Who Are You – Apparently a true story – Pete did like his drink. Where would CSI be without it?
  
• Sweet – Love Is Like Oxygen – It’s not ELO folks, it’s Sweet. Yeah, that’s right, the Ballroom Blitz guys. A bit dancey, a bit heartbreak, all ’70s.
  
• The Rezillos – Glad All Over – I love love love this version. The Dave Clark Five were good, sure, but Scottish punks totally bring this song to another level.
  

• 10cc – Dreadlock Holiday – Doesn’t really sound like anything else 10cc ever did, to me. But it’s a great departure. Also, apparently a true story. A lot of true stories on this list...
  
• Cars – Bye Bye Love – The Cars’ first couple of albums were so awesome. Those songs are just as good now as they were then, they’ve never been off the radio.

1979

• Blondie – Dreaming – Deborah Harry was so sexy, every little boy’s dream. And she had an awesome voice. Still does actually.
  
• M – Pop Muzik – another one I hated at the time – I was in denial about that. It’s a great dance song really.
  
• Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough – it took his death to make me come to terms with it – Jackson was friggin’ talented. And I can finally listen to this and like it. Clashing to the nth degree with...
  

• Bauhaus – Bela Lugosi’s Dead – This is it folks, Bauhaus’ first single, the Godfathers of Goth. A good decade or so of my life can be traced back to the influence of this song. I think I was 18 before I heard it though. Remember the opening scene from The Hunger?
  
• Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb – this song used to make me cry, like seriously sob. I’ve gotten better.
  
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Refugee – Tom Petty kinda rocks. Hey, did you know every episode of Cougar Town is named after a Tom Petty song?
  
• Cars – Let’s Go – Remember what I said about the Cars earlier? Still stands.
  

• Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him, Sunday Papers, Fools In Love, It’s Different For Girls, I’m The Man – two great albums (Look Sharp and I’m The Man) in one year, just covered with awesome songs. He really established himself as a master so early, long before Stepping Out...
  
• Clash – Train In Vain – Everybody covers this, I mean EVERYBODY, but come on, this is the best.
  
• Eagles – Disco Strangler – My favourite Eagles song. Remember The Cruising Gourmet? That’s why.
  
• XTC – Making Plans For Nigel; Life Begins At The Hop – the beginning of an awesome run from them, never gets old.
  

• Specials – Message To You Rudy – Their first album was jam-packed with tracks that became the backbone of the British Ska movement, and it’s totally worth having the entire album. Know when I was in shape? When I frequented Ska gigs, as it’s impossible to stay seated. Need that again...
  
• Selecter – On My Radio – More British Ska. Love her voice.
  
• Madness – One Step Beyond – Hey you – don’t watch that, watch this!
  
• Squeeze – Cool For Cats – Why don’t more people know this one? Sang this playing Rock Band a couple of years ago, and I was the only one in the room who knew what it was. Of course, had to be sung with the super thick accent, and in a pretty low register so my throat hurt at the end, but I didn’t care man, it was cooooooool for caaaaaaats...
  
• Boomtown Rats – I Don’t Like Mondays – Really the only song by them I ever got into, but it was so good, so so good...
  
• Simple Minds – Changeling – Best song they ever did, for me. An no one remembers it. Awesome dance song too.

I’ll put some links in there and then turn my mind to the ’80s...

I’ve updated my ’70s playlist combining all the years over on Grooveshark if you want to go over and give it a listen. There’s also individual ones for each year, you can access all of my playlists over there…

Previously: Life Songs: ’70s. Did you miss it?