# I'm looking for a song from the early 70s... And No It's Not Kansas! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659 "2019-12-10T18:16:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/1 "2019-12-10T18:16:09Z")
The song had a Motown riff… and I can I can only remember part of the chorus, not who performed it. It’s not Kansas, it’s not dash berlin. It was very early 70s. Anyone? . “It’s a Travesty… yeah… such a… Tragedy… yeah… Travesty… It’s such a… Tragedy…” . ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/2 "2019-12-10T18:23:37Z")
You’re not thinking of the Bee Gees’ “Tragedy,” are you? ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/3 "2019-12-10T18:32:31Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > “It’s a Travesty… > yeah… > such a… Tragedy… > yeah… > Travesty… > It’s such a… Tragedy…” With just this to go on, I’m wondering if it could be **Tragedy**. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/4 "2019-12-10T18:43:00Z")
There don;t seem to be a lot of songs that have both tragedy and travesty, especially that old. If it isn’t The Bee Gees, and the word travesty isn’t in it, it could be Bette Midler, Donna Summer, the Fleetwoods, or even The Ventures, who have rarely seen lyrics for Walk Don’t Run that go: You’ve gone from me, whoa, whoa, tragedy Whoa, whoa, whoa tragedy ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/5 "2019-12-10T19:11:41Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > There don;t seem to be a lot of songs that have both tragedy and travesty, especially that old. > > If it isn’t The Bee Gees, and the word travesty isn’t in it, it could be Bette Midler, Donna Summer, the Fleetwoods, or even The Ventures, who have rarely seen lyrics for Walk Don’t Run that go: > > You’ve gone from me, whoa, whoa, tragedy > Whoa, whoa, whoa tragedy Thank you for trying to help, but no. The first line might say something like, “woke up in LA…” ? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/6 "2019-12-10T20:19:14Z")
ELO’s “Waterfall” has the line “it’s a sad affair” sung twice, but it’s probably not what you’re thinking of: [Electric Light Orchestra - Waterfall (Audio) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnaR8NxRebg) ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/7 "2019-12-10T21:55:45Z")
Is it ‘Rio’ by Duran Duran? ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/8 "2019-12-10T22:12:02Z")
Well, here’s a list of all lyrics from [lyrics.com](http://lyrics.com) that contain the word travesty: > **[Lyrics containing the term: travesty](https://www.lyrics.com/lyrics/travesty)** > > A list of lyrics, artists and songs that contain the term "travesty" - from the Lyrics.com website. but I think that trends to fairly modern lyrics. Your song may not be represented, and when I added “tragedy” or “woke” to the search, nothing from before 2000 showed up. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/9 "2019-12-10T22:52:08Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Is it ‘Rio’ by Duran Duran? If it were, it sure would be a travesty. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/10 "2019-12-10T23:08:40Z")
I always thought Driver’s Seat by Sniff ‘n’ the Tears was Travesty. I only recently learned it wasn’t. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/V88yyayq6AY/maxresdefault.jpg "Sniff 'n' the Tears - Driver's Seat (Official Audio)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V88yyayq6AY) ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/11 "2019-12-10T23:35:08Z")
A long shot: [Tragedy](https://youtu.be/Vt-cmi3MdUY) by Argent? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-song-from-the-early-70s-and-no-its-not-kansas/844659/12 "2019-12-11T10:54:56Z")
I feel like this prosody is somehow familiar. The part you quoted… it’s a slowed-down bridge in a more upbeat song, right? My head tells me it’s well-known and I want to say an ELO chart hit, but it’s not that, it’s something that sounds like that.