# Best songs of the seventies: nomination thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982 "2013-01-22T05:16:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/21 "2013-01-22T13:41:15Z")
Some Philly Soul classics… Back Stabbers - O’Jays Love Train - O’Jays For the Love of Money - O’Jays Me and Mr’s Jones - Billy Paul Ooh Child - Dee Dee Sharp One of a Kind Love Affair - Spinners The Rubberband Man - Spinners Surprising lack of disco nominees as well… Last Dance - Donna Summer Good Times - Chic Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmerelda (1977 cover of a song originally released in 1965, so if that disqualifies it, so be it) I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor Funky Town - Lipps Inc Disco Inferno - The Trammps And one I’m surprised not to see yet: Carry On My Wayward Sun - Kansas ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/22 "2013-01-22T13:44:03Z")
“Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” - The Temptations “Levon” - Elton John ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/23 "2013-01-22T14:02:36Z")
“Walk on the Wild Side” - Lou Reed “Search and Destroy” - The Stooges “Wild Horses” - The Rolling Stones ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/24 "2013-01-22T14:16:32Z")
Rock N Roll All Nite - KISS. EVERYONE knows this song. EVERYONE. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/25 "2013-01-22T14:52:46Z")
_[Crazy on You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZuW6BH_Vak)_ - Heart. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/26 "2013-01-22T18:12:08Z")
Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffet (already nominated up-thread but worthy of a second) Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits Shambala - Three Dog Night Someday Never Comes - Creedence Clearwater Revival ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/27 "2013-01-22T18:25:32Z")
“Far Away Eyes” - Stones “Horse With No Name” - America “Muskrat Love” - America “Long Train Runnin” - Doobie Brothers “Peaceful Easy Feeling” - Eagles “And You and I” - Yes “Three Roses” - America ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/28 "2013-01-22T19:37:54Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > “Muskrat Love” - America Nah, it’s gotta be, “You Light up my Life”, by America. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/29 "2013-01-22T19:45:28Z")
Here are the ones already mentioned that I could vote for: Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O’Sullivan American Pie - Don McLean Annie’s Song - John Denver Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty Band on the Run - Wings Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd Deacon Blues - Steely Dan (Don’t Fear) The Reaper by BOC. Yeah, the one with cowbell. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John “Horse With No Name” - America Hotel California - Eagles Imagine - John Lennon Layla - Derek and the Dominos (Eric Clapton) Let it Be - the Beatles Live and Let Die - Wings “Long Train Runnin” - Doobie Brothers Melissa - Allman Brothers Band Piano Man - Billy Joel Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin Superstition - Stevie Wonder Tangled Up in Blue - Bob Dylan Vincent - Don McLean Year of the Cat - Al Stewart Stayin’ Alive - Bee Gees And I’d add these: Stormy Monday – Allman Brothers Band People Gotta Move – Gino Vannelli Riders on the Storm – The Doors Lowdown – Boz Scaggs Just the Way You Are – Billy Joel Copacabana – Barry Manilow ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/30 "2013-01-22T19:47:04Z")
Two of Us - The Beatles Use Me - Bill Withers After the Goldrush - Neil Young Into White - Cat Stevens If You Want Me to Stay - Sly and the Family Stone Pink Moon- Nick Drake Alison - Elvis Costello Carey - Joni Mitchell Living for the City - Stevie Wonder You Can Close Your Eyes- James Taylor Simple Twist of Fate - Bob Dylan ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/31 "2013-01-22T19:47:29Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Nah, it’s gotta be, “You Light up my Life”, by America. 😛 Holy crap, America actually DID a version of _Muskrat Love_!? This knowledge is somehow very disturbing to me. I thought that even the Captain & Tennille version was one too many. 🙂 That’ll teach me for trying to be funny. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/32 "2013-01-22T19:51:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You do realize you’re posting in the thread for nominating songs, right? Of course, mon frère. I was asking why nobody had nominated any song(s) by or off of any of the artists and/or their albums which I listed. I nominated _School Days_, the title (and first) track from that album. I thought my intention was apparent. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/33 "2013-01-22T19:59:18Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Nah, it’s gotta be, “You Light up my Life”, by America. 😛 > [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Holy crap, America actually DID a version of _Muskrat Love_!? This knowledge is somehow very disturbing to me. I thought that even the Captain & Tennille version was one too many. 🙂 > > That’ll teach me for trying to be funny. Holy smokes Wiki just informed me that America _covered_ Muskrat Love. :eek: I thought it was an original. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/34 "2013-01-22T20:27:11Z")
Here are 10 that really need to be included: “Wish You Were Here” - Pink Floyd “American Girl” - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers “Message in a Bottle” - The Police “Just What I Needed” - The Cars “School’s Out” - Alice Cooper “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” - AC/DC “Psycho Killer” - Talking Heads “Sultans of Swing” - Dire Straits “Video Killed the Radio Star” - Buggles “Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)” - Robert Palmer (“Refugee” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is debatable: the album _Damn the Torpedoes_ is from '79, but the “Refugee” single was released in 1980.) ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/35 "2013-01-22T20:33:54Z")
Pancho and Lefty—Townes Van Zandt Some others not already mentioned, that were all [Billboard #1s](http://www.billboard.com/html/1000s/1000s.html) at some point in the 1970s… Mama Told Me (Not to Come)----Three Dog Night War----Edwin Starr Tears of a Clown—Smokey Robinson Me and Bobby McGee—Janis Joplin Heart of Gold----Neil Young Killing Me Softly With His Song----Roberta Flack That’s The Way (I Like It)—K.C. and the Sunshine Band (Hard for me to think of a song that screams the 1970s more than that one. Unless it’s this next one…) Night Fever— The Bee Gees (8 weeks at #1) Tonight’s The Night----Rod Stewart (8 weeks at #1!?) My Sharona—The Knack Bad Girls—Donna Summer Plenty more to choose from at the above link. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/36 "2013-01-22T20:57:48Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Of course, mon frère. I was asking why nobody had nominated any song(s) by or off of any of the artists and/or their albums which I listed. I nominated _School Days_, the title (and first) track from that album. I thought my intention was apparent. Everyone else came here and nominated the songs they thought should be nominated. Why didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/37 "2013-01-22T21:04:00Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > For both songs, I was thinking of Bacharach. Okay. But like “The Look of Love”, “You’ll Never Get to Heaven” was from the sixties not the seventies. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/38 "2013-01-22T21:51:28Z")
Even though they were very localised to an obscure part of the planet, I’d be inclined to include a couple of **Split Enz** songs from the 70s. Like _I See Red_ and _My Mistake_. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/39 "2013-01-22T22:05:14Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > Holy smokes Wiki just informed me that America _covered_ Muskrat Love. :eek: > > I thought it was an original. :smack: HA! Well, at least we learned something today. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982/40 "2013-01-22T22:28:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Everyone else came here and nominated the songs they thought should be nominated. Why didn’t you? Didn’t I? I nominated _School Days_, the title track (from the album of the same name) by Stanley Clarke. It is the first track on the album. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-of-the-seventies-nomination-thread/647982.md?page=3)