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, heroes

#150 Rocket Man- Elton John

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I’m not the man they think I am at home/
Oh no no no I’m a rocket man.

There is a lot of confusion over the meaning of Elton John’s “Rocket man”. I think a lot of the clue can be found in the above lyric. Rocket man is literally about an astronaut talking about how he is a different man at work than he is at home. But this could be anyone who does a job. Weren’t all our fathers rocketmen? Who knows what they went out and did, but their work life was probably different than their home life just like ours is.

A “rocketman” is a great symbol of this, a sort of rockstar at work. He takes his family and raises them wherever the job demands, even unforgiving places like South Dakota or Mars. We are all Rocketmen and Rocketwomen.

John uses a full band, with backup singers and overdubbing to achieve the “Rocket Man” sound. Of course, the featured instrument is the piano—and it sounds great, but it is featured less than in other classics of his. There is a lot of experimentation in the production. Check out the simulated blast off sounds coming from the various instruments. A synthesizer and slide guitar help to add that outer-space-like vibe to the sound.

Rocket Man Lyrics

She packed my bags last night pre-flight.
Zero hour nine AM.
And I’m gonna be high as a kite by then.

I miss the earth so much I miss my wife.
It’s lonely out in space.
On such a timeless flight.

And I think it’s gonna be a long long time,
‘Till touch down brings me round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home,
Oh no no no I’m a rocket man.
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone.

Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.
In fact it’s cold as hell.
And there’s no one there to raise them if you did.

And all this science I don’t understand.
It’s just my job five days a week:
A rocket man, a rocket man.

And I think it’s gonna be a long long time,
‘Till touch down brings me round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home.
Oh no no no I’m a rocket man.
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone.

written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin

1970s songs, songs about exes

#147 Operator- Jim Croce

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There’s something in my eyes, you know it happens every time/
I think about a love that I thought would save me.

Jim Croce’s “Operator” might sound dated to some. It mentions a phone operator, payphones and a matchbook, which are not things that we really use that much these days. But the sentiment is the same as today. Croce is thinking about dialing up an ex. He found out his ex is dating his ex-best-friend. His roller-coaster of emotions is similar to what any of us today would experience.

Also, didn’t his ex hate his friend? Now she’s with him?

As he talks to the operator, he begins to tear up remembering the love that they once had. Midway through the call he begins to get second thoughts. What is he going to say to her anyways that doesn’t sound desperate? In the end he decides against it. He doesn’t call her.

Croce’s voice is smooth and comforting, and he effortlessly conveys humor and pain in the same song. The song is also a lovely example of a cross between folk and soft rock. Notice the dual guitars—both of which are finger picking. That is an amazing amount of sound coming mostly from two guitars and one voice. He is another singer that we lost way too young. It is sad to imagine all the music we missed out on.

Operator Lyrics

Operator, well could you help me place this call?
See, the number on the matchbook is old and faded.
She’s living in L.A. with my best old ex-friend Ray.
A guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated.

Isn’t that the way they say it goes? Well, let’s forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it.
So I can call just to tell ’em I’m fine and to show.
I’ve overcome the blow, I’ve learned to take it well.
I only wish my words could just convince myself.
That it just wasn’t real, but that’s not the way it feels.

Operator, well could you help me place this call?
Well, I can’t read the number that you just gave me.
There’s something in my eyes, you know it happens every time.
I think about a love that I thought would save me.

Isn’t that the way they say it goes? Well, let’s forget all that.
And give me the number if you can find it.
So I can call just to tell ’em I’m fine and to show.
I’ve overcome the blow, I’ve learned to take it well.
I only wish my words could just convince myself.
That it just wasn’t real, but that’s not the way it feels.

No, no, no, no – that’s not the way it feels.
Operator, well let’s forget about this call.
There’s no one there I really wanted to talk to.
Thank you for your time, ah, you’ve been so much more than kind.
And you can keep the dime.

written by Jim Croce

1970s songs, death

#144 Dust in the Wind- Kansas

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All the money won’t another minute buy.
Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind.

Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” is a departure from the rest of Kansas’ catalog, but this is easily their best song. “Dust in the Wind” has to be the leading candidate for most depressing song of all time: if there were such an award. The acoustic guitar riff along with the vocals and powerful message combine to create one of the most powerful songs of the seventies.

The guitar picking is a standard Travis-style finger-picking pattern, but this combination of chord progressions accentuates the guitar work and the music from the guitar. We hear how sad the song sounds—apart from the lyrics. Once the lyrics come in…boom. This song is not subtle in its message. People are really nothing in the greater scheme of the universe, they’re really only dust in the wind.

Everything that seems so important to you; from the perspective of eternity it really is nothing. This can be both very depressing, but this realization can have the opposite effect as well. Understanding that I am a small piece of a large, infinite world can make my everyday problems seem not worth worrying about. It sounds Taoist or Buddhist.

“Dust in the Wind’s” melody combined with the chord progressions really makes for a beautiful—though haunting—song. Not many songs ask us to consider our own mortality. It is a bit experimental and a bit of a risk for a mainstream band like Kansas to put it out, but it remains their most well-known song. It is also a great song to learn on guitar when you are first starting.

Dust in the Wind Lyrics

I close my eyes,
Only for a moment, and the moment’s gone.
All my dreams,
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity.

Dust in the wind.
All they are is dust in the wind.

Same old song,
Just a drop of water in an endless sea.
All we do-
Crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see.

Dust in the wind.
All we are is dust in the wind.
Oh, ho, ho

Now, don’t hang on,
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky.
It slips away,
And all your money won’t another minute buy.

Dust in the wind,
All we are is dust in the wind.
All we are is dust in the wind.

Dust in the wind,
Everything is dust in the wind.
Everything is dust in the wind.
The wind.

written by Kerry Livgren of Kansas

Top 500 Greatest Rock Songs of All-time