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

23. Free “All Right Now” (from Fire and Water) 

https://youtu.be/lSdBtoIIYT4

Free is largely forgotten now except for this song, but at their best they were up there with all the great British blues-rock bands of the era. Fire and Water is an outstanding album; besides “All Right Now”, “Oh I Wept” and “Heavy Load” are especially great. 
Paul Rodgers of course went on to great success with Bad Company (and even later, was Freddie Mercury’s replacement for Queen), but he never sounded quite as good as he does here as a young man. And the late Paul Kossoff simply shreds on guitar here, inspiring all sorts of classic rock imitators over the next several decades. 

 
timschochet said:
23. Free “All Right Now” (from Fire and Water) 

https://youtu.be/lSdBtoIIYT4

Free is largely forgotten now except for this song, but at their best they were up there with all the great British blues-rock bands of the era. Fire and Water is an outstanding album; besides “All Right Now”, “Oh I Wept” and “Heavy Load” are especially great. 
Paul Rodgers of course went on to great success with Bad Company (and even later, was Freddie Mercury’s replacement for Queen), but he never sounded quite as good as he does here as a young man. And the late Paul Kossoff simply shreds on guitar here, inspiring all sorts of classic rock imitators over the next several decades. 
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IMO their best song overall is also from this album: Mr. Big. Which the cheesy hair metal band of the "80s named itself after.

 
timschochet said:
23. Free “All Right Now” (from Fire and Water) 

https://youtu.be/lSdBtoIIYT4

Free is largely forgotten now except for this song, but at their best they were up there with all the great British blues-rock bands of the era. Fire and Water is an outstanding album; besides “All Right Now”, “Oh I Wept” and “Heavy Load” are especially great. 
Paul Rodgers of course went on to great success with Bad Company (and even later, was Freddie Mercury’s replacement for Queen), but he never sounded quite as good as he does here as a young man. And the late Paul Kossoff simply shreds on guitar here, inspiring all sorts of classic rock imitators over the next several decades. 
Click to expand...


Heard this one for the first time in a while a year or so ago and its been in the rotation since - gets any 50-something within earshot nodding or toe-tapping to the beat immediately.

 
Nigel said:
Heard this one for the first time in a while a year or so ago and its been in the rotation since - gets any 50-something within earshot nodding or toe-tapping to the beat immediately.
Click to expand...


Nigel ...how old are you man?  

I am constantly blown away by the FBGs that haven't heard some of these songs ...crazy.  

 
22. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Helpless” (from Deja vu)

https://youtu.be/C8LYOyqJE7k

Neil Young’s “Helpless” is probably the simplest and most repetitive song on this list: it’s essentially 3 chords all the way through. But that’s deceptive because within those chords there’s a lot of brilliance, and this is one of Young’s all time great songs. My favorite live version is from The Last Waltz, mainly because I love Joni Mitchell’s backstage backup vocals. 

 
rockaction said:
Never been a huge Elton fan, though the hits are fine. I just can't relate to a piano-playin' man, really. Me and singer-songwriters have a long history of not getting along. People find much more in them than I do.

There are exceptions, but it's my general rule.
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No wonder we disagree so often!

 
Mr. Mojo said:
No wonder we disagree so often!
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Yeah, I mean I love two particular guys I won't spotlight and Elliott Smith, actually, but I'm a much bigger fan of groups and the group process of reining in the more self-aggrandizing aspects of the creative individual.

So I don't sound too highfalutin, what I mean to say is I like when one friend or creative genius tells another. "too much, man (or woman, though women tend to do better with self-indulgence than guys do, generally, at least in pop culture the past fifty years) let's move on to something that sounds good."

 
21. Jackson 5 “ABC” (from ABC)

https://youtu.be/ho7796-au8U

There’s not much I can write about this song except that it’s as easy as 123. I say it’s easy as Do Re Me, ABC, 123 baby you and me girl. 

If you need more watch the video, live from American Bandstand. Actually watch it anyhow; it’s historically iconic. 

 
Midnight Rider deserved a lot more chatter. Killer tune. 

I never thought Helpless was anything more than an okay song, but Neil Young is pretty hit or miss for me, so this might be one of those mental block things. 

 
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timschochet said:
I think I’m going to wait until Monday to start the top 20. These songs deserve longer write-ups. 
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Take your time.  First week of NFL action.

Also I won't be doing a follow-up for awhile as fantasy football season is upon us during some great summer type weather.  Too much going on so take your time.

 
20. Van Morrison “Domino” (from His Band and the Street Choir)

https://youtu.be/QOsGA4_Y89c

Taking nothing away from “Brown-Eyed Girl”, “Domino”, Van Morrison’s tribute to Fats Domino, is probably his catchiest song of all time. That opening guitar lick just hooks me in every time. 
His Band and the Street Choir is nowhere near as good as Moondance or Astral Weeks, but it does have its moments, and this song is the highlight. 

 
I hope the next 19 are better. So far I count roughly 15 songs in this list that aren't instant channel changers for me. That''ll tend to happen with Van Morrison and Dead heavy lists though.

 
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Gr00vus said:
I hope the next 19 are better. So far I count roughly 15 songs in this list that aren't instant channel changers for me. That''ll tend to happen with Van Morrison and Dead heavy lists though.
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The eighties called and want their makeup back. 

This list is extraordinary. 

 
rockaction said:
The eighties called and want their makeup back. 

This list is extraordinary. 
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80's has nothing to do with it. A lot of these are songs I've just heard too many times I guess and don't hold my interest anymore. A smaller subset just aren't my cup of tea regardless of how little or how much I've heard them. Also the recording quality sucks for a lot of these too, just limitations of the technology they had at that point, but I don't enjoy it.

 
timschochet said:
28. The Allman Brothers Band “Midnight Rider” (from Idlewild South) 

https://youtu.be/TCRS4DRmf_w

Though The Allman Brothers Band have a well-deserved reputation as one of the greatest southern rock bands of all time, this song, one of their best and most famous, is decidedly a western rock song- I listen to it and envision Clint Eastwood from one of his 60s classics, or Gary Cooper in High Noon. It might be Gregg’s gruff vocals. 
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This created a great gimmick for the American dream

 
Gr00vus said:
80's has nothing to do with it. A lot of these are songs I've just heard too many times I guess and don't hold my interest anymore. A smaller subset just aren't my cup of tea regardless of how little or how much I've heard them. Also the recording quality sucks for a lot of these too, just limitations of the technology they had at that point, but I don't enjoy it.
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the recording quality of 1970s analog is among the best you will find. I was kidding, though. It didn’t come through in the post. 

 
rockaction said:
the recording quality of 1970s analog is among the best you will find. I was kidding, though. It didn’t come through in the post. 
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Didn't come out in the mix then. Just a few years later the production quality of recorded music improved drastically. Most of this stuff is shrill, washed out and tinny.

 
19. Creedence Clearwater Revival “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” (from Pendulum)

https://youtu.be/Gu2pVPWGYMQ

John Fogerty’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”, one of his finest compositions, was written about tensions in the band and the imminent departure of his brother Tom. They had reached success beyond their wildest dreams, and yet they still were unhappy and things seemed to be falling apart. 
There is a yearning, bittersweet sadness to this tune that makes it one of the very best of the year. 

 
timschochet said:
23. Free “All Right Now” (from Fire and Water) 

https://youtu.be/lSdBtoIIYT4

Free is largely forgotten now except for this song, but at their best they were up there with all the great British blues-rock bands of the era. Fire and Water is an outstanding album; besides “All Right Now”, “Oh I Wept” and “Heavy Load” are especially great. 
Paul Rodgers of course went on to great success with Bad Company (and even later, was Freddie Mercury’s replacement for Queen), but he never sounded quite as good as he does here as a young man. And the late Paul Kossoff simply shreds on guitar here, inspiring all sorts of classic rock imitators over the next several decades. 
Click to expand...
Every college marching band plays "All Right Now", but none of them ever play anything beyond the riff and the chorus.

My greatest accomplishment in high school was transcribing the middle section of the song for our pep band, turning this part into a drum/trumpet workout followed by a funky bassline for the tubas and trombones. It kicked ### and got everyone in the stands on their feet.

 
Well the first days are the hardest days, don't you worry anymore
Cause when life looks on easy street, there is danger at your door

Great song. Almost ordered me a Dead tye dye yesterday to go with my mineral wash Dead mumu (it's a huge XL, even on me)

Rock on, Dead.

Rock on, merch.

(The merch is neither here nor there, just thought I'd share a relatable thingy)

 
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17. Black Sabbath “Paranoid” (from Paranoid)

https://youtu.be/0qanF-91aJo

One of the things I really love about this song is that each line of the verse ends in three strong chords- not sure, since I’m not a musician, if I’m expressing exactly what I mean here very clearly: I just like how each line ends. 
In any case, this is obviously one of the monster hard rock/heavy metal songs of all time. 

 
16. James Brown “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” (from Sex Machine) 

https://youtu.be/huZFThnetjo

Get up-uh, get on up! Get up-uh! Get on up! 

With all apologies to Brown’s music with the Flames from earlier in the 60s, I think his stuff with the JB’s is of an even higher quality and the best music he ever did. This is funk at its most raw (and I write that even though Brown has what is essentially an orchestra backing him), and the entertainment level is off the charts. 

 
timschochet said:
16. James Brown “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” (from Sex Machine) 

https://youtu.be/huZFThnetjo

Get up-uh, get on up! Get up-uh! Get on up! 

With all apologies to Brown’s music with the Flames from earlier in the 60s, I think his stuff with the JB’s is of an even higher quality and the best music he ever did. This is funk at its most raw (and I write that even though Brown has what is essentially an orchestra backing him), and the entertainment level is off the charts. 
Click to expand...


He'd been working up to it for a while, but this, to me, is the non-missing link of modern funk, pretty much near the bottom of the trunk of the funk tree. I doubt there's a more influential song from 1970 (or a whole lot of other years for that matter), along with earliest fully formed heavy metal songs from this year.

 
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15. The Velvet Underground “Rock & Roll” (from Loaded)

https://youtu.be/1Dahqz-R49I

“Rock & Roll” is the first Velvet Underground song I was ever aware of hearing. The local southern Cal New Wave station, KROQ, had a Sunday night show where they would concentrate on an “early new wave” influence band and play their music. The first song they played was this one and I was transfixed. I immediately went to Tower Records and bought two of their albums and fell in love. Been a huge fan ever since. 
Per Lou Reed, there is no “Jenny”; it’s him. It was Lou himself who as a child was transported by the radio; this is his story. 

 
timschochet said:
15. The Velvet Underground “Rock & Roll” (from Loaded)

https://youtu.be/1Dahqz-R49I

“Rock & Roll” is the first Velvet Underground song I was ever aware of hearing. The local southern Cal New Wave station, KROQ, had a Sunday night show where they would concentrate on an “early new wave” influence band and play their music. The first song they played was this one and I was transfixed. I immediately went to Tower Records and bought two of their albums and fell in love. Been a huge fan ever since. 
Per Lou Reed, there is no “Jenny”; it’s him. It was Lou himself who as a child was transported by the radio; this is his story. 
Click to expand...
The radio station was supposedly New York's WNEW, which no longer exists because NY radio is garbage.

 
timschochet said:
15. The Velvet Underground “Rock & Roll” (from Loaded)

https://youtu.be/1Dahqz-R49I

“Rock & Roll” is the first Velvet Underground song I was ever aware of hearing. The local southern Cal New Wave station, KROQ, had a Sunday night show where they would concentrate on an “early new wave” influence band and play their music. The first song they played was this one and I was transfixed. I immediately went to Tower Records and bought two of their albums and fell in love. Been a huge fan ever since. 
Per Lou Reed, there is no “Jenny”; it’s him. It was Lou himself who as a child was transported by the radio; this is his story. 
Click to expand...
In the game Civilization IV, they'd play this song after you built the Rock & Roll wonder. That always made me try to build the wonder, even if I didn't really need it.  :nerd:  

 
Gr00vus said:
80's has nothing to do with it. A lot of these are songs I've just heard too many times I guess and don't hold my interest anymore. A smaller subset just aren't my cup of tea regardless of how little or how much I've heard them. Also the recording quality sucks for a lot of these too, just limitations of the technology they had at that point, but I don't enjoy it.
Click to expand...


The "Classic Rock" radio many of us listened to did us no favors by playing the same 500 songs. Guys, there are more than four Who songs. But no, here's "Won't get fooled again", again and again.

 
timschochet said:
15. The Velvet Underground “Rock & Roll” (from Loaded)

https://youtu.be/1Dahqz-R49I

“Rock & Roll” is the first Velvet Underground song I was ever aware of hearing. The local southern Cal New Wave station, KROQ, had a Sunday night show where they would concentrate on an “early new wave” influence band and play their music. The first song they played was this one and I was transfixed. I immediately went to Tower Records and bought two of their albums and fell in love. Been a huge fan ever since. 
Per Lou Reed, there is no “Jenny”; it’s him. It was Lou himself who as a child was transported by the radio; this is his story.
Click to expand...
I don't have much to add to the greatness of this song so I'll just share that it was Jane's Addiction and their "live" album that alerted me to its existence, and through that, the existence of the Velvet Underground. I thought it was a great song when Jane's did it, but it still took me many years to find the Velvet Underground and their music (I was in tenth grade when I heard the Jane's cover, and it would be at least seven more years before the Velvet Underground was a required listen for me. Ten years, even, actually. I didn't get into the Velvet Underground as a band until I was twenty-five, though I always loved the song "Heroin," which was on the Doors soundtrack back then.)

It was weird. I didn't really have cool enough friends to introduce me to them. I was always the one introducing people in my small town to stuff, and even though we had punk rockers in our town and artistic kids, too, the Velvet Underground just didn't resonate in the late eighties, and you didn't have them in high school, really. Our college was all neo-hippie H.O.R.D.E. tour kids and jam bands, and I didn't hang out with the art crowd, so once again, lost on me. So it was post-college and no influence at all, just me staring at The Velvet Underground and Nico album, thinking I should buy it, so I did, and I immediately loved it. Everything about it but Nico, which I got used to pretty quickly.

Loaded came later, as I always thought it was the mellow, "hit" album, and I was partially right, but I still dug it. And still do.

 
14. Neil Young “After the Gold Rush” (from After the Gold Rush)

https://youtu.be/KAOE3ENMGuo

I’ve placed a few Neil Young songs on this list already, including some like “Helpless” and “Ohio” which many consider to be among his finest work. Personally I believe that this piano ballad rises above even those splendid efforts, and if “After the Gold Rush” isn’t Young’s best song ever (I might be even more partial to “Old Man”) it’s damn close. 
The lyrics are more obscure than many of Young’s other songs, but the imagery involved is so beautiful that it matches some of the best of Bob Dylan. And the stark but hauntingly beautiful piano melody reminds one of the best of Joni Mitchell. Yet neither of them could have written and performed this classic; it’s vintage Neil. 

 
13. Derek and the Dominos “Layla” (from Layla and Assorted Love Songs)

https://youtu.be/TngViNw2pOo

I always get a creepy feeling whenever I hear this classic song. Not the first half; that’s just straight up rock and roll, one of Clapton’s very best efforts (his VH1 acoustic solo version from the early 90s is very good as well.) 

No it’s the second half that unnerves me. It’s a beautiful piano and guitar instrumental which was featured in several movies, most famously (and bloody) in Goodfellas- some damn fine movie making there. This second half of the song was written by Jim Gordon, the drummer of the band and a paranoid schizophrenic. Only a few years after composing this masterpiece, Gordon began to hear voices in his head that urged him to murder his own mother. So he did so, first poisoning her and then decapitating her. Jim Gordon was promptly locked up in a mental institution in Northern California, where he has remained ever since. Is there a piano there? Does Gordon ever sit down and play the instrumental part of “Layla”? That’s just speculation on my part. But it’s why I get the creeps listening to it. 

 
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