Category Archives: 1970s songs

The best 500 songs from the 1970s. Meanings, lyrics and interpretations from your favorite seventies artists. Fleetwood, The Eagles, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Queen and all your favorite 70s artists ranked.

1970s songs, depression

Rainy Days & Mondays-The Carpenters

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Nothin’ to do but frown/
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

Mental health is no joke. Watch this performance of The Carpenters playing Rainy Days and Mondays and see what a beautiful, strong, fun, talented woman Karen Carpenter is. In less than ten years she would be dead. She didn’t see herself the way others did. We see her as the beautiful singer and talented drummer with the beautiful voice. And she didn’t see that beauty in herself. She died at 32 of Anorexia.

This song is an introduction to depression or “the blues”. You know how Mondays always make you feel down even when technically you could be having a really good day? Depression is like that too. Only worse. For someone with depression, most days are rainy and Mondays. Speaking openly about depression wasn’t really done back then.

Rainy Days and Mondays Meaning
Richard & Karen Carpenter

Karen’s voice is at times deep and her vibrato is elongated and slow and used minimally. Every note she chooses is perfect. And she does it while drumming! She is simply a stud. This is a live performance! She has great range and control.

Richard and the band really show their chops in this song. The introduction of a background harmonica to simulate a lazy, rainy Monday is a brilliant choice. The other thing to notice is how amazing and layered their harmonies are. The Carpenter’s harmonies are A-level, but they use them judiciously-as they have the best lead singer in the world.

Karen has the most beautiful voice- male or female- that I have ever heard. The Carpenters are continually under-supported by the critical music press for reasons that are suspicious at best. They belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Keeping them out is just ignorant.

The Rock Hall has a lot of things it needs to fix before it is taken seriously but The Carpenters are the most egregious omission. If there is room in the Hall for Nina Simone and Joan Baez, (both deserving) and all the hip hop artists, there is a place for The Carpenters. Rainy Days and Mondays demonstrates this.

More by The Carpenters. And Here. Watch the live performance above if you have not seen it.

Rainy Days & Mondays Lyrics

Talkin’ to myself and feelin’ old
Sometimes I’d like to quit
Nothin’ ever seems to fit
Hangin’ around
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

What I’ve got they used to call the blues
Nothin’ is really wrong
Feelin’ like I don’t belong
Walkin’ around
Some kind of lonely clown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with you
Nice to know somebody loves me
Funny, but it seems that it’s the only thing to do
Run and find the one who loves me (the one who loves me)

What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out (talk it out)
We know what it’s all about
Hangin’ around (hangin’ around)
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Funny, but it seems that it’s the only thing to do (only thing to do)
Run and find the one who loves me (ooh)

What I feel has come and gone before
No need to talk it out (to talk it out)
We know what it’s all about
Hangin’ around (hangin’ around)
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
Hangin’ around (hangin’ around)
Nothin’ to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get
Me down

Written by Paul Williams & Roger Nichols

1970s songs, death

Everything I Own- Bread

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I would give everything I own/
Just to have you back again…

“Everything I Own” was written by David Gates specifically about his father—that he presumably lost. He mentioned that in a concert. Don’t let that stop you from letting the song mean something different to you. The song works on several levels.

Don’t we all have someone in our past who is gone—someone we wish we could have done things differently with? Whether they are gone due to death, a breakup, or circumstance–we can all relate to this sentiment. That is one of the reasons this song is a classic.

Everything I Own Meaning
The 70s had the best fashion

Taking a particular experience and making a song about a universal experience is a good way to connect with many people. Here, the catalyst for writing the song may have been a particular event—(the loss of his father) but he wrote a song about feelings of loss in general. This is a recipe for success in pop and rock music.

Everything I Own Bread
Bread

The melody of the both the verse and the chorus are so great—especially the chorus. It sounds timeless, in the same way that a classic folk song does or Yesterday. The way the lyrics and melody combine with the orchestration to build to a crescendo and the quick dénouement is quite the emotional rollercoaster.

But it is earned. The raw expression of love, gratitude and loss in the lyrics are quite touching and fit the song perfectly. Bread has many great songs you might want to check out.

Everything I Own Lyrics

You sheltered me from harm;
Kept me warm, kept me warm.
You gave my life to me,
Set me free, set me free.
The finest years I ever knew
Were all the years I had with you.

And I would give anything I own.
I’d give up my life, my heart, my home;
I would give everything I own.
Just to have you back again.

You taught me how to love.
What it’s of, what it’s of.
You never said too much
But still you showed the way.
And I knew from watching you.

Nobody else could ever know
The part of me that can’t let go.

And I would give anything I own.
I’d give up my life, my heart, my home;
I would give everything I own.
Just to have you back again.

Is there someone you know?
Your loving them so
But taking them all for granted?
You may lose them one day.
Someone takes them away
And they don’t hear the words you long to say.

I would give anything I own.
I’d give up my life, my heart, my home;
I would give everything I own.
Just to have you back again.

written by David Gates of Bread

1970s songs, life is hard

I’m So Afraid- Fleetwood Mac

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I’m so afraid of the way I feel…

In “I’m So Afraid”, Lindsey Buckingham is featured almost exclusively, so we really get to see his music ability. His most obvious skill is his guitar playing. He uses a very unique finger-style with his right hand. I’m So Afraid might be confused as a “jam song”. It is not. Though it does have several memorable guitar solos, they are all rehearsed; he is not improvising over a set of chords. Lindsey has this all mapped out. He fits so many motifs into one solo.

The fact that he can sing over that complicated guitar playing is amazing too. Singing complicated vocals on top of complicated guitar parts is just silly. And he has a great voice. We always know what he was feeling when he wrote a song, because he delivers his performances with emotion and energy.

I'm So Afraid meaning
Lindsey Buckingham

Christine McVie’s organ is the perfect accompanying instrument. It gives off the vibe of a haunted house. It is like we are looking inside Lindsey’s haunted soul and we see he is just an angry, frightened young man.

The original album-release was slightly overproduced and it sounds too slick. His live performances are where we truly capture the greatness of this work. That would happen to him again with what is perhaps his best performance of all-time.  As such, this is a deeper cut of Fleetwood Mac, but a great song nonetheless.

I'm so Afraid
Fleetwood

Everyone knows about Fleetwood Mac’s inter-band problems and relationship dramas. That is part of the reason their music is so interesting and fun. A small part. One of my favorite squabbles was when they fired Lindsey Buckingham.  Lindsey Buckingham is Fleetwood Mac. That would be like the Police firing Sting or CSR firing John Fogerty. (They had to hire two guitarists to replace Lindsey).

The casual Fleetwood mac fan might think I am crazy– clearly Stevie Nicks is the draw. She’s fantastic but this is Lindsey’s band. He produced the sound, played guitar like a god and could sing and write…and was one of Stevie’s favorites muses. And for those who still doubt…it was Christine McVie who called it Lindsey’s band.

I’m So Afraid Lyrics

I been alone
All the years
So many ways to count the tears

I never change
I never will
I’m so afraid the way I feel

Days when the rain and the sun are gone
Black as night
Agony’s torn at my heart too long
So afraid
Slip and I fall and I die

I been alone
Always down
No one cared to stay around

I never change
I never will
I’m so afraid the way I feel

Days when the rain and the sun are gone
Black as night
Agony’s torn at my heart too long
So afraid
Slip and I fall and I die

How I feel
Days when the rain and the sun are gone
Black as night
Agony’s torn at my heart too long
So afraid
Slip and I fall and I die

Written by Lindsey Buckingham