OK, I read the OP twice and I can see nothing which disqualifies Long Haired Lover From Liverpool by Little Jimmy Osmond. In which case, why in the name of God has it not been suggested yet? (Not linked to because…basic humanity).
Mull Of Kintyre by Paul McCartney - surely? (NO - no link!)
OK, the worst song of not only the 1970s, but any decade. A song that I accidentally bought in a record jumble, because I was sure there was an obscure reggae band with the same name. A record so bad that later, when I saw another copy in another record jumble, I bought that copy as well (look - they are safe in my possession, out of circulation.) And this time there is a link, because I feel the planet should be warned:
And you have been warned. I tried to listen to that before posting, just for quality control reasons. I lasted less than 10 seconds.
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ETA - sorry Gato, that came out as a reply to you - not quite sure what I did there.
Yes, of course, but the all of the song’s lyrics are a pastiche of “Arabian” exotica, so the cactus has absolutely no business being mentioned at all. And even if it did, “cactus is our friend” is a breathtakingly idiotic line. At least as used in this song. If it was part of a stream of absurd nonsense in a Cake or Pavement song, it might work.
In my university years, I was mainly into grunge, Britpop, jazz and techno - plus the required core curriculum of Bob Marley and assorted classics.
I had a roommate who was very into Chicago’s “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”. It’s not a bad song. But it becomes a bad song when overplayed, as do many others. Another roomie played a lot of Supertramp which was more palatable.
I generally plump for Muskrat Love as the worst song of all time, but if we’re opening things up to the eighties, then it’s My City Was Gone that gives me the acid shits.
Every time I hear that song, I remember eating dinner with my cousins, when that song was popular. One of them* took a forkful of beef in one hand, and a glass of milk in the other – he brought his hands close together, then sang, “Reunited, and it feels so gooooood!”
*- the older brother of the cousin who owned the Jimmy Osmond record.
Here’s my favorite “Copacabana” story, besides the fact that when our grandmother died in 2007, my sister’s blog post started out “Her name was Lola…”: In 1995, I saw R.E.M. at a big amphitheater in the St. Louis area, two consecutive nights, and a nearby hotel where I stayed had a shuttle bus to and from the venue. The radio station was playing 1970s tunes that night, and the opening lines to this started when we arrived at our destination. We wanted to stay until the song was over, but the driver said we had to leave. We kept singing it anyway.
As for Styx, some of their early proggy stuff has to be heard to be believed, and I’m saying that in a good way. Check this out.
In the “weird coincidence” category, I was just able to sit and relax for the first time today, and put some music on. “My City Was Gone” came up first in the shuffle, then I opened SDMB and this was the first post I saw.
