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, anthem

#97 We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions- Queen

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And bad mistakes/
I’ve made a few.

If you ever wonder about the power of a good chorus, wonder no more. It is amazing that two songs by sung by Freddy Mercury are the top songs at played at football games. When I was young, I thought these songs were like “Take me out to the Ballgame”, in that they were just stadium songs. That’s how ubiquitous they were at the games.

However, as I have grown, I have grown to appreciate the musicianship and amazing vocals on “We Will Rock You” and “We are the Champions”. Each musician has highlights throughout the two songs. You can hear nuanced piano playing in “We are the Champions”. Both songs have great guitar solos by Brian May.

We Are the Champions Meaning
Queen

Apart from the choruses, the lyrics are a bit lacking, but perhaps any lyrics would be when you compare them to these standards. You can also hear a bit of Queen’s great harmonies, especially in “We are the champions”.

The notes/chords they harmonize on are quite complex—not many bands could pull that off. Mercury sounds great, and his theatrical delivery works great for two anthems. I suppose this is the greatest anthem of all time. One contender might be “Hey Jude”. Will it finish higher on this list?

More great songs by Queen.

We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions Lyrics

I’ve paid my dues
Time after time
I’ve done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I’ve made a few
I’ve had my share of sand kicked in my face
But I’ve come through

We are the champions, my friends
And we’ll keep on fighting ’til the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the champions of the world

I’ve taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it
I thank you all

But it’s been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race
And I ain’t gonna lose

We are the champions, my friends
And we’ll keep on fighting ’til the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the champions of the world

We are the champions, my friends
And we’ll keep on fighting ’til the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the champions

written by Freddie Mercury and Brian May

1970s songs, story songs

#87 Wuthering Heights- Kate Bush

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Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home, I’m so cold

Kate Bush was never big in the states. “Wuthering Heights” was her greatest work and she wrote it at the age of eighteen. If you couldn’t tell, she was a big Emily Bronte fan. The lyrics tell some of the basics of the story of Wuthering Heights, but mostly it introduces the characters Heathcliff and Cathy. You don’t hear many rock songs with “Heathcliff” in them.

Wuthering Heights Meaning
Kate Bush

The chorus is the best part of “Wuthering Heights”, and luckily, she repeats it often. We can hear Bush delight in pretending to be Cathy calling out for Heathcliff in the chorus. She creates a lot of the drama of the book in the way she uses her language throughout the song. She changes her voice a bit for the different characters—but not too much.

She also manages to capture the language of the Bronte era without overdoing it. That is, without making the language too opaque. No normal 20th century woman would say “Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy, I’ve come home.” But the actual language Bronte used in the book would sound incomprehensible in a rock song. So, we understand that she’s trying to convey to us “Old English”. Very clever.

Her vocals aren’t for everyone. Some people just can’t get past them.  But she was extremely influential and she sounds great.

Wuthering Heights Lyrics
Out on the wiley, windy moors
We’d roll and fall in green
You had a temper like my jealousy
Too hot, too greedy
How could you leave me
When I needed to possess you?
I hated you, I loved you, too

Bad dreams in the night
They told me I was going to lose the fight
Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering
Wuthering Heights

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home, I’m so cold
Let me in through your window

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home, I’m so cold
Let me in through your window

Ooh, it gets dark, it gets lonely
On the other side from you
I pine a lot, I find the lot
Falls through without you
I’m coming back, love
Cruel Heathcliff, my one dream
My only master

Too long I roam in the night
I’m coming back to his side, to put it right
I’m coming home to wuthering, wuthering
Wuthering Heights

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home, I’m so cold
Let me in through your window

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home, I’m so cold
Let me in through your window

Ooh, let me have it
Let me grab your soul away
Ooh, let me have it
Let me grab your soul away
You know it’s me, Cathy

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home, I’m so cold
Let me in through your window

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home, I’m so cold
Let me in through your window

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home, I’m so cold.

written by Kate Bush

1970s songs, conservation

#83 Cortez the Killer- Neil Young

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And they built up with their bare hands/
What we still can’t do today.

Put aside the historical accuracy debate for a minute, Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer” is just a kick-ass song. The riffs and solos and all the guitar work are legendary. Any guitar aficionado has to love this song.

Cortez The Killer Meaning
Neil Young

The gist of the message has been expressed in different ways before. The Aztecs were a great civilization that was doing just fine before the Europeans came along and spread their diseases and religion and slavery. Sure, Aztecs did do human sacrificing to appease the gods. Not every religion is perfect. Young’s point is that it was better before we got there. For a great piece of historical fiction about this time period check out Aztec by Gary Jennings.

There is not a large selection of jam band songs on this list, because I find most of them indulgent. “Cortez the Killer” is perfect. If every jam had this many motifs, I could go along with it. While the lyrics might seem out there, they are not. They are in the tradition of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi. We should leave nature alone; it is better without us. This song is in that tradition.

Cortez The Killer Lyrics

He came dancing across the water
With his galleons and guns.
Looking for the new world
In that palace in the sun.

On the shore lay Montezuma
With his coca leaves and pearls.
In his halls he often wandered
With the secrets of the worlds.

And his subjects gathered ’round him,
Like the leaves around a tree.
In their clothes of many colors,
For the angry gods to see.

And the women all were beautiful,
And the men stood straight and strong.
They offered life in sacrifice
So that others could go on.

Hate was just a legend,
And war was never known.
The people worked together,
And they lifted many stones.

And they carried them to the flatlands,
But they died along the way.
And they built up with their bare hands
What we still can’t do today.

And I know she’s living there.
And she loves me to this day.
I still can’t remember when,
Or how I lost my way.

He came dancing across the water,
Cortez, Cortez.
What a killer.

written by Neil Young