# What is THE quintessential 70's song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2016, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263 "2016-03-08T06:36:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/21 "2016-03-08T14:05:59Z")
Going to add in some Funky Town YMCA Flashlight Superstition You Light Up My Life Afternoon Delight Slow Ride ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/22 "2016-03-08T14:16:22Z")
Sky Rockets in Flight. It even spawned a cheesy 70s variety show that Letterman wrote for. That song is an avocado green fridge in a leisure suit driving an AMC Pacer. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/23 "2016-03-08T14:17:08Z")
Stayin’ Alive - Bee Gees ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/24 "2016-03-08T14:22:49Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Sky Rockets in Flight. It even spawned a cheesy 70s variety show that Letterman wrote for. That song is an avocado green fridge in a leisure suit driving an AMC Pacer. That’s Afternoon Delight. (Love it). I might have said Baker Street, but the 70’s were really just too much to be encapsulated by one song! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/25 "2016-03-08T14:27:54Z")
From the thread [six years ago,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=557224) I quote myself: > [@What's the "Seventies-est" song?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-seventies-est-song/533777/107): > > I want a singer/songwriter’s semiautobiographical story-song, but make sure to (a) throw in a section with super-high falsetto, and (b) dwell on flying so hiiiiigh when I’m stoned; there’s a wild-man wizard hiding in me, illuminating my mind – oh, and figure the guy doesn’t get the girl in the end, plus kick the whole thing off by mentioning “Frisco”, with bonus points for working in just how far a buck went in the '70s. > > TAXI, by Harry Chapin. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/26 "2016-03-08T14:34:52Z")
“Born to Run” ---
**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:** [March 8, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/27 "2016-03-08T15:11:24Z")
Whatever it is, it absolutely has to feature a Fender Rhodes piano. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/28 "2016-03-08T15:27:28Z")
Remember, the Sixties didn’t end until Nixon resigned in 1974. “Hotel California” and “Stairway to Heaven” would have been from the Decadent Era of the Sixties, as creativity was stagnating and genius was giving way to commercial rock product. I vote for “Don’t Worry About the Government” by Talking Heads. My building has every convenience! It’s gonna make life easy for me! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/29 "2016-03-08T15:28:38Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Whatever it is, it absolutely has to feature a Fender Rhodes piano. Babe by Styx. Unfortunately quintessential. Jeez, it was the Big Slow Song™ at a few high school dances I went to. Argh. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/30 "2016-03-08T15:29:45Z")
Clearly the answer is “Boogie Fever.” We’re done here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/31 "2016-03-08T15:32:42Z")
Layla ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/32 "2016-03-08T15:34:19Z")
I think the 70’s had an awful lot of ‘cringe-y’ songs so I, too, nominate ‘Afternoon Delight’. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/33 "2016-03-08T15:39:03Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > What do you mean by “Think ephemeral”? It’s a strange thing to say. Don’t you mean the opposite? > > I’m trying to figure out what the opposite song is of Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, cause that must be it. No, I understand what he’s saying. He’s looking for an ephemeral song that could only be recorded and chart in the 70s–a disposable song that is tied to the decade and is largely forgotten today but was a hit back then that exemplified the 70s. You know, something like, I don’t know, “Pac Man Fever” for the early 80s, but maybe not quite that much of a novelty song. I wasn’t really around in the 70s, so I don’t have a good answer. Maybe something by Captain and Tenille, but maybe something more obscure. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/34 "2016-03-08T15:43:47Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Clearly the answer is “Boogie Fever.” We’re done here. > > 🙂 Love that fun little pop dance song. Do me a favor, here’s a live version off The Midnight Special: [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YHKCHvpYq\_8](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YHKCHvpYq_8) When the main riff starts, start singing the first verse from The Beatles’ Day Tripper: “Got a good reason, for taking the easy way out”… Totally fits, right? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/35 "2016-03-08T15:59:27Z")
The entire Donna Summer Bad Girls album…especially after some weed and beer. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/36 "2016-03-08T16:56:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > No, I understand what he’s saying. He’s looking for an ephemeral song that could only be recorded and chart in the 70s–a disposable song that is tied to the decade and is largely forgotten today but was a hit back then that exemplified the 70s. You know, something like, I don’t know, “Pac Man Fever” for the early 80s, but maybe not quite that much of a novelty song. Ahhh. Then the answer is clearly [Disco Duck.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97RjuC9YeXg) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/37 "2016-03-08T17:04:13Z")
What was that Chuck Mangione song? You know, the one with the trumpet. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/38 "2016-03-08T17:05:05Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > What was that Chuck Mangione song? You know, the one with the trumpet. Feels So Good. I think he plays Flugelhorn on that one. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/39 "2016-03-08T17:07:21Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Ahhh. Then the answer is clearly [Disco Duck.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97RjuC9YeXg) Or maybe Convoy. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263/40 "2016-03-08T17:10:14Z")
It has to be _Goodbye Yellow Brick Road_. It was the constant background theme music of my senior year in high school. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-70s-song/748263.md?page=3)