# Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1972 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252 "2014-09-22T16:38:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/81 "2014-09-24T12:50:19Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > \<\< snipped \>\> > (Hmm, in this thread I’ve written praise or defense of both “Alone Again (Naturally)” and “Brandy”. Which, oddly, says very little about my general tastes in music.) Don’t feel rained on! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/82 "2014-09-24T13:56:56Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’d just like to say it amuses me to no end that almost every single one of these polls I’ve posted so far has a series of posts like this. It amuses me, too. But only one side can be right, and that’s the people that say that this year sucks. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/83 "2014-09-24T16:44:54Z")
The conclusion I draw from these threads is that Top 40 music tends to suck. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/84 "2014-09-24T16:52:00Z")
> [@Subterraneanus](#): > > The conclusion I draw from these threads is that Top 40 music tends to suck. Once we get to the mid-'90s, you won’t be complaining so much about the early '70s. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/85 "2014-09-24T21:55:13Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Hmmm I suspect Gilbert O’Sullivan is the first Irish act. I voted “Heart Of Gold” though. I didn’t even know Gilbert was Irish (sure the name is) but I did know Neil is Canadian, and I voted for him, although he’s lived in the States forever and is kind of a weirdo environmentalist these days. I wonder if Thin Lizzy will make it to the list in a few years/threads? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/86 "2014-09-24T21:58:34Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I wonder if Thin Lizzy will make it to the list in a few years/threads? Afraid not - the highest Thin Lizzy ever made it in the US was #12 with “The Boys are Back in Town”. That song, as well as “Whiskey in the Jar”, were both #1s in Ireland, but the day in which we do the best #1 single of the year retrospective (Irish charts version) is far off. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/87 "2014-09-25T16:30:10Z")
A pretty uninspiring bunch of songs… I voted for **America** - _A Horse With No Name_ because it is kind of… picturesque but it’s far from being one of my favourite songs. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/88 "2014-09-29T02:28:02Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Afraid not - the highest Thin Lizzy ever made it in the US was #12 with “The Boys are Back in Town”. That song, as well as “Whiskey in the Jar”, were both #1s in Ireland, but the day in which we do the best #1 single of the year retrospective (Irish charts version) is far off. 🙂 Even if we could find the data I suspect it wouldn’t differ enough from the US #1s list enough to be a worthwhile endeavour. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/89 "2014-10-05T01:30:57Z")
Got to give it up for Melanie’s sex infused _Brand New Key_. _A Horse With No Name_??? – **“The heat was hot?”** :eek: Worst song lyric ever. Excuse me while I go throw up. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/90 "2014-10-05T01:53:34Z")
Can’t believe I missed this one first time around! I voted for the Chi-Lites, simply because that song pretty much sums up the most intense romance of my life. Which didn’t happen until '75, but still… The only other songs that even come close are “Brandy” and “Alone Again (Naturally).” I’ve always liked Gilbert O’Sullivan, and I know just how whoever wrote those lyrics felt on that particular day. “Brandy” was a song they played for a dancer of the same name every night at The Belmont, a strip joint I used to frequent with my buddies in St Paul after I graduated from high school. :o I remember driving my first car down the highway and listening to it on the radio, too. My senior year, “American Pie” was played pretty much _ad nauseum_, but I still like it today. I have a soft spot for “Candy Man” too, since I remember dancing to it with a hot babe in Leningrad in the summer of '75. Good times! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252/91 "2014-10-06T11:48:45Z")
Big Neil Young fan so easy choice for me. “Papa was a Rollin’ Stone” gets a big thumbs up too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1972/699252.md?page=4)