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, friendship

#244 You’ve Got A Friend- Carole King/James Taylor

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You just call out my name/
And you know wherever I am/
I’ll come running.

Carole King and James Taylor’s “You’ve Got A Friend” both produced huge successes.  King and Taylor were lovers, and released their songs around the same time. Their versions sound very similar. If there is anything negative against Taylor’s version, it is that he does not deviate at all from King’s original—though I do not see many obvious opportunities for variation.

You've Got a friend Meaning
Carole King and James Taylor

Of course, Taylor plays the guitar and King’s version is on the piano; and Taylor is a male voice and King is female, so perhaps that is more than enough to make two satisfyingly unique versions.

The meaning of “You’ve Got a Friend” is simple, but often those are the ones that become timeless. Interestingly Taylor sings backup on Kings version. I believe they were an item at the time. King released this on her Tapestry album. If you are a fan of female singer-songwriters, you must check out that album. It might be the best of all-time!

You’ve Got a Friend Lyrics

When you’re down and troubled
And you need some love and care
And nothing, nothing is going right
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest night

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come running, to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there
You’ve got a friend

If the sky above you
Grows dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind begins to blow
Keep your head together
And call my name out loud
Soon you’ll hear me knocking at your door

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come running, running, yeah, yeah, to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there, yes, I will

Now, ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend
When people can be so cold?
They’ll hurt you, yes, and desert you
And take your soul if you let them, oh, but don’t you let them

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I’ll come running, running, yeah, yeah, to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there, yes, I will
You’ve got a friend
You’ve got a friend
Ain’t it good to know you’ve got a friend?
Ain’t it good to know, ain’t it good to know, ain’t it good to know
You’ve got a friend?
Oh yeah now, you’ve got a friend
Yeah baby, you’ve got a friend
Oh yeah, you’ve got a friend

Songwriters: Carole King

1970s songs, community

#243 Woodstock- Joni Mitchell/ CSNY

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We are stardust, We are golden/
And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.

In “Woodstock”, we hear a similar theme that Joni Mitchell introduced in Big Yellow Taxi. She contrasts the planes and the smog of the city to the gardens and nature of Woodstock. She believes the values of Woodstock are something we need to “go back to”. The seventies produced most of the environmentalist music—and certainly the best. Its main advocates were Mitchell, John Denver, Neil Young, James Taylor and Jackson Browne.

Woodstock greatest song alltime Meaning
Joni Mitchell

The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover of “Woodstock” is interesting in that it is one of the furthest deviations from the original source material that I have heard. They almost make it a completely different song.

The lyrics are the only thing that ties the two versions together. And each version is great in its own way. Mitchell’s version is tender and CSNYs version is rough and rocking. Between the two versions there is something for everyone interested in pro-Earth music.

Woodstock Meaning
CSNY

Woodstock Lyrics

I came upon a child of god,
He was walking along the road,
And i asked him, “where are you going?”
And this he told me:

“I’m going on down to yasgur’s farm,
I’m going to join in a rock ‘n’ roll band.
I’m going to camp out on the land,
I’m going to try an’ get my soul free.”

We are stardust.
We are golden,
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.

Then can i walk beside you?
I have come here to lose the smog,
And i feel to be a cog in something turning.
Well maybe it is just the time of year,
Or maybe it’s the time of man
I don’t know who l am,
But you know life is for learning.

We are stardust.
We are golden,
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.

By the time we got to Woodstock,
We were half a million strong.
And everywhere there was song and celebration.

And i dreamed i saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky,
And they were turning into butterflies,
Above our nation.

We are stardust.
Billion year old carbon.
We are golden,
Caught in the devil’s bargain,
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.

Songwriters: Joni Mitchell

1970s songs, breakup songs

#239 Baby I’m Gonna Leave You- Led Zeppelin

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I’ve got to quit you, yeah…
Don’t you hear it callin’ me?

Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” has an interesting history. It was originally written by Anne Bredon as a folk song and covered by Joan Baez. Jimmy Page supposedly heard it and turned into something different. Baez’ version is not that similar to Led Zeppelin’s at all, but it is interesting to see the influence.

Led Zeppelin did this on a lot of their songs. Sometimes they credited the original artist and sometimes they didn’t. This is the one thing that keeps them from being in the all-time greatest band discussion. Some of their hits seem to be derived from other people’s music.

Babe I'm Gonna Leave You Meaning
Led Zeppelin

“Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” is about a man who loves a woman but who has an urge to leave because “it” is calling him away. He is vague about what it is. The road? Adventure? Home? Maybe he is just restless.

Nonetheless, he is leaving. The song alternates between tender and hard rock in a way unique to Led Zeppelin. They seem to pull this off the best. Both the acoustic and electric guitar parts are great. Plant’s vocals are great as always. He sounds broken up yet oddly certain about the fact that he must leave this woman who he loves. It’s a very interesting song.

Babe I’m Gonna Leave You Lyrics

Babe, baby, baby, I’m gonna leave you
I said baby, you know I’m gonna leave you

I’ll leave you when the summertime
Leave you when the summer comes a rollin’
Leave you when the summer comes along

Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, baby, baby
I don’t want to leave you
I ain’t jokin’ woman, I got to ramble
Oh yeah
Baby, baby, babe, I believin’
We really got to ramble
I can hear it callin’ me the way it used to do
I can hear it callin’ me back home

Babe, I’m gonna leave you
Oh, baby, you know, I’ve really got to leave you
Oh I can hear it callin ‘me
I said don’t you hear it callin’ me the way it used to do?
Oh

I know, I know
I know I never never never never never gonna leave your babe
But I got to go away from this place

I’ve got to quit you, yeah
Ooh, baby baby baby baby baby baby ooh
Don’t you hear it callin’ me?
Woman, woman, I know, I know
It feels good to have you back again
And I know that one day baby, it’s really gonna grow, yes it is
We gonna go walkin’ through the park every day

Come what may, every day
Oh, mama baby
I’m gonna leave you go away

It was really, really good
You made me happy every single day
But now
I’ve got to go away

Baby, baby, baby
That’s when it’s callin’ me
I said that’s when it’s callin’ me back home

Songwriters: Jimmy Page / Robert Plant / Anne Bredon