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The 100 Greatest Songs of 1970 #1. Bridge Over Troubled Water (3 Viewers)

76. The Band “Stage Fright” (from Stage Fright) 

https://youtu.be/NZMfZe7OFFk

Written by Robbie Robertson, and story is he wanted Richard Manuel or Levon Helm (the Band’s most prolific singers) to do the vocals, but that Manuel convinced him to let Rick Danko do it. Danko’s tremulous voice is both distinctive and great; had Manuel or Helm sang it would have been a very different tune. 

 
75. Simon & Garfunkel “Cecilia” (from Bridge Over Troubled Water) 

https://youtu.be/a5_QV97eYqM

Simple tune with some rather silly lyrics (when I come back to bed someone’s taking my place!) But the melody is so ####### catchy that people are still singing along 51 years later, and they’re likely to 51 years from now. 

 
timschochet said:
75. Simon & Garfunkel “Cecilia” (from Bridge Over Troubled Water) 

https://youtu.be/a5_QV97eYqM

Simple tune with some rather silly lyrics (when I come back to bed someone’s taking my place!) But the melody is so ####### catchy that people are still singing along 51 years later, and they’re likely to 51 years from now. 
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Jubilation/she loves me again/I fall on the floor and die laughing...

Oooh ooh oh oh 

 
timschochet said:
75. Simon & Garfunkel “Cecilia” (from Bridge Over Troubled Water) 

https://youtu.be/a5_QV97eYqM

Simple tune with some rather silly lyrics (when I come back to bed someone’s taking my place!) But the melody is so ####### catchy that people are still singing along 51 years later, and they’re likely to 51 years from now. 
Click to expand...
Big S&G fan, but this is probably among my least favorite. To each his own though…

 
timschochet said:
75. Simon & Garfunkel “Cecilia” (from Bridge Over Troubled Water) 

https://youtu.be/a5_QV97eYqM

Simple tune with some rather silly lyrics (when I come back to bed someone’s taking my place!) But the melody is so ####### catchy that people are still singing along 51 years later, and they’re likely to 51 years from now. 
Click to expand...
This song is part of our company's muzak playlist, piped in to every office (by order of our owner). I disabled the speakers in my office, but I still end up hearing the song 10 times a day as it bleeds through the walls of the offices surrounding me. :wall:

 
74. The Beatles “The Long and Winding Road” (from Let It Be) 

https://youtu.be/fR4HjTH_fTM

This song was panned by critics when it came out due to the the “overdone” orchestration by Phil Spector. Paul McCartney himself was never satisfied with this version and spent years pushing for a less edited song (which he finally achieved on the album Let It Be Naked). 

….But I like it. I think the lush “wall of sound” is just fine for a ballad, and I also think it sounds a lot like “Good Night” from The White Album which so far as I know never received a similar complaint. 

 
I love the Beatles, but have never cared for The Long and Winding Road (in its original form or in the stripped down one).  I just don't like the melody. 

 
72. Lennon/Ono with the Plastic Ono Band “Instant Karma” (released as single) 

https://youtu.be/7-SSa-D1i-M

Lennon’s first post/Beatles single must have felt liberating to him, and it’s positive message (you’re a superstar! Well right you are!) gave listeners hope that the high quality of his music would continue well into the next decade. Unfortunately it didn’t; though there were some high moments thereafter, overall John Lennon had trouble reaching this level again throughout the rest of his career. 

 
71. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Teach Your Children” (from Deja vu) 

https://youtu.be/EkaKwXddT_I

Is it possible to both love a song and at the same time find it supremely annoying? Because this how I’ve always felt about Graham Nash’s “Teach Your Children”. It’s iconic, an absolute classic of the era, a celebration of love and liberal values and all that goodness. Melodically superb. Anthemic. And so incredibly irritating. 

 
timschochet said:
71. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Teach Your Children” (from Deja vu) 

https://youtu.be/EkaKwXddT_I

Is it possible to both love a song and at the same time find it supremely annoying? Because this how I’ve always felt about Graham Nash’s “Teach Your Children”. It’s iconic, an absolute classic of the era, a celebration of love and liberal values and all that goodness. Melodically superb. Anthemic. And so incredibly irritating. 
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Mawkish. It's a great vocab word. It's also a perfect description of that song. 

 
timschochet said:
71. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Teach Your Children” (from Deja vu) 

https://youtu.be/EkaKwXddT_I

Is it possible to both love a song and at the same time find it supremely annoying? Because this how I’ve always felt about Graham Nash’s “Teach Your Children”. It’s iconic, an absolute classic of the era, a celebration of love and liberal values and all that goodness. Melodically superb. Anthemic. And so incredibly irritating. 
Click to expand...
And yet, orders of magnitude better than Our House. 

 
Never really cared for Teach Your Children.  There are a few songs from that album of which I am a big fan, but that ain't one of them. 

 
timschochet said:
71. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Teach Your Children” (from Deja vu) 

https://youtu.be/EkaKwXddT_I

Is it possible to both love a song and at the same time find it supremely annoying? Because this how I’ve always felt about Graham Nash’s “Teach Your Children”. It’s iconic, an absolute classic of the era, a celebration of love and liberal values and all that goodness. Melodically superb. Anthemic. And so incredibly irritating. 
Click to expand...
Jerry Garcia is rolling - or more likely, rolling one - in his grave due to the omission.

 
Garcia played on TYC because he was the only person who Stephen Stills (who was running the Deja Vu sessions) knew who played pedal steel guitar. And he had only been doing so for a few months. 

 
Pip's Invitation said:
Garcia played on TYC because he was the only person who Stephen Stills (who was running the Deja Vu sessions) knew who played pedal steel guitar. And he had only been doing so for a few months. 
Click to expand...
Yup, learned it during his stint with the New Riders of the Purple Sage.

 
Even weirder is that John Sebastian played harmonica on the title track of Deja Vu despite Nash and Young both being harmonica players themselves. Young wasn't around for much of the sessions and didn't play at all on the title track, but I dunno why they didn't use Nash (who, in CSN live sets I saw, did play that part). 

 
In 2017, after 4 years review, I completed my personal favorite Top 1000  (all genres sans classical, 1888-2017).

My favorite decade is the '60s, and naturally my next favorite is the '70s.  1970 was a spectacular year for music.

So far, you have included only one of my Top 1000 favorite songs, The Beatles, "The Long and Winding Road" is my 23rd favorite song.  Many of the others on your list are also very much appreciated, but some I'm unfamiliar with.  So I look forward to reviewing those. 

My 4th, 5th, and 17th favorite songs are from 1970, so I'm eager to see if/where they fall on your list.

 
69. Black Sabbath “The Wizard” (from Black Sabbath)

https://youtu.be/GKY--qaHWSw
Each of the early Sabbath classics has something distinctive to recommend it. On this one I love Iommi’s guitar work, the harmonica, and Ozzy’s vocals seem more genuine. For me this is clearly the best song on the first album. 

 
68. Van Morrison “And It Stoned Me” (from Moondance)

https://youtu.be/AYqJtqyeilE

Moondance remains, after 51 years, a sublime listening experience, and the opening song is an important part of that as it brings out that jazz infused happiness that permeates the entire album. 
I feel weird writing about Van Morrison and Eric Clapton these days as they have both gone off the deep end, spreading misinformation and outright lies about the covid vaccines and hurting their own fans. Van Morrison has gone further still, subscribing to Qanon conspiracy theories and anti-semitism. Still, it doesn’t affect the quality of the music from so long ago…

 
timschochet said:
The main reason I have “War Pigs” ranked below the other classics is because his singing doesn’t sound real to me. 
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It's not.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/threads/ozzy-osbourne-vocals.14989/

My dilettantish self has heard that it's tracked in the studio, meaning they layer his vocals over his vocals. That's an Ozzy signature. Lots of metal singers used tracking after Ozzy. So goes the legend. I'm not sure what pitch effects, delay, or differing octaves he's using, but his vocals are not natural in the least.

 
"Crazy Train" is a perfect example of that.

That "ai-ai-ai-ai" is massively tracked, with one track being delayed and all that stuff.

 
rockaction said:
It's not.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/threads/ozzy-osbourne-vocals.14989/

My dilettantish self has heard that it's tracked in the studio, meaning they layer his vocals over his vocals. That's an Ozzy signature. Lots of metal singers used tracking after Ozzy. So goes the legend. I'm not sure what pitch effects, delay, or differing octaves he's using, but his vocals are not natural in the least.
Click to expand...
Thanks. 
 

Well I suppose some folks like that and that’s fine; but I prefer a more natural sound. 

 
timschochet said:
Thanks. 
 

Well I suppose some folks like that and that’s fine; but I prefer a more natural sound. 
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No sweat. I've never been a huge Ozzy fan, either, though I think Sabbath has some serious groove if you're smoking weed. Back when I still partook, I listened to some Sabbath. They can get pretty jammy and heavy, actually. "Fairies Wear Boots" was probably my jam of theirs.

 
67. Simon & Garfunkel “The Only Living Boy in New York” (from Bridge Over Troubled Water) 

https://youtu.be/5biEjyXNa2o

Yet another amazing classic from that astonishing musical year of 1970. The story is that Paul was angry about Art delaying the album to work on the film Catch-22. But who really cares what the story is? The song has survived way beyond the reasons for its origins. It’s so so good. 

 
66. Jackson 5 “The Love You Save” (from ABC)

https://youtu.be/C6pLV9xZczM
 
1970 was the year of Jackson 5, with 3 huge #1 songs (following “I Want You Back” from the year before. We will be examining all 3 of these songs on this list, as they all stand the test of time and are now rightfully regarded as legendary pop. 
Like the others, “The Love You Save” is credited to “The Corporation”, a group of four songwriters Motown Records intended to replace Holland/Dozier/Holland. One of the four was Berry Gordy, who therefore retained copyright and control of each of the hits; but it’s unlikely that at this point in his career that Gordy had anything to do with the creative process. 

 
65. Edwin Starr “War” (from War & Peace)

https://youtu.be/dQHUAJTZqF0

Good God y’all! 
Originally written by and for The Temptations, they chickened out, worried about their clean cut image, and that allowed second string Motown artist Edwin Starr to pursue his own vision, which became one of the greatest protest songs ever recorded. 

 
64. The Guess Who “Share the Land” (from Share the Land) 

https://youtu.be/rLQJ4toj-JY

One of the greatest hippie anthems of all time. Randy Bachman had already left the band at this point but they still managed to produce this flower child masterpiece. Burton Cummings had one of rock’s most legendary voices.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
timschochet said:
64. The Guess Who “Share the Land” (from Share the Land) 

https://youtu.be/rLQJ4toj-JY

One of the greatest hippie anthems of all time. Randy Bachman had already left the band at this point but they still managed to produce this flower child masterpiece. Burton Cummings had one of rock’s most legendary voices.
Click to expand...
The first song I played as a DJ at KFMU so I'll always love this tune.

KFMU The Sound Of The Wind, aka The World's Only Wind Powered Radio Station (at that time now they are wind and solar powered and I'm sure other stations are powered with renewable energy).  

 
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