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, love songs

#44 Annie’s Song- John Denver

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You fill up my senses/
Like a night in a forest.

The first line of John Denver’s “Annie’s Song” is iconic. It really captures the spirit of John Denver’s music and sets the stage and scene for this beautiful love song. Denver was a country boy, and nothing could express his sense of awe like the outdoors. You won’t hear lyrics like this from other artists. Pure. Delicate. Unashamed.

John Denver’s description of how Annie fills up his senses is a very apt way to describe the infatuation and initial honeymoon phase of a relationship. Everything feels alive. It feels like you remember things more acutely…it is almost like you see the world through rose colored glasses.

Annie's Song Meaning
John Denver

Denver was a crossover star: he appealed to both country music fans and rock fans and I think that is truly hard to accomplish. The arrangement is relatively simple and is relies on the solid finger-picking of an acoustic guitar. The first verse—when it is just Denver and his guitar—is especially compelling. Denver’s voice is unspectacular but underrated. It is pleasant, but in a positive way.

Somehow Denver isn’t in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. I suppose it could be argued that he is closer to a country artist. However, if hip hop artists can get in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, John Denver deserves to be there.

More John Denver Songs.

Annie’s Song Lyrics

You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest.
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain.
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean.
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again.

Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you.
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms.
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you.
Come let me love you
Come love me again.

You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest.
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain.
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean.
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again.

written by John Denver

1970s songs, secular hymn

#42 Morning Has Broken- Cat Stevens

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Mine is the sunlight/
Mine is the mornings.

“Morning Has Broken” might be Cat Stevens most famous song, but did you know it is actually a Christian song that he added different words to?

In college I was speaking to a religion professor about Cat Stevens (I don’t know how the topic came up)…I think he was talking about how “Peace Train” had evangelical overtones…it was a long time ago. I told him that “Morning Has Broken” was one of my favorite Cat Stevens songs and he told me that he sings that at church. I was incredulous. “You sing Cat Stevens at church?” “Nope, it was a Christian song first.”

Well, I refused to believe it. The next lecture he brings me a folded-up piece of paper and delivers it to me in front of the whole class. It was a xerox copy of the original song with the copyright. I was stunned. Everyone in class was looking at me as neither of us said a word.

Morning Has Broken Meaning
Cat Stevens

While that discovery was a bit disappointing, you can’t argue that Stevens re-worked “Morning has Broken” made the song into a beautiful, inspired, universal song with corresponding arrangement. The piano part is one of the best, and most recognizable in rock/pop history. Coupled with Steven’s smooth voice and you have an all-time great song. The background singers are used perfectly. Compare their use here compared to a song like Sympathy for the Devil. Sometimes, with background singers, less is more.

Lyrics Morning Has Broken
Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word

Sweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dew fall on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass

Mine is the sunlight
Mine is the morning
Born of the One Light Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God’s recreation of the new day

Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word
by Cat Stevens & Eleanor Farjeon

1970s songs, memories

#40 Time in a Bottle- Jim Croce

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If I had a box just for wishes/
And dreams that had never come true/
The box would be empty…

Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle”  deals with mortality in a way that few other successful songs do. Tragically, the song would not be a hit until after Jim Croce’s death in a plane crash in the early 70s. The one bright side can be seen in the lyric above. It speaks about how all of his dreams had basically come true. It is a fantastic concept for a song.

Time in A Bottle Meaning
Croce

Unfortunately, Croce did not get to enjoy them for long. He says, “There never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do once you find them.” Very prescient. Croce is one of the more underrated singer/songwriters of his generation. He wrote great love songs, but also wrote those fun “bar songs” (for lack of a better term) like Leroy Brown and You Don’t Mess Around With Jim.

The sound on “Time in a Bottle” is haunting. The combination of the finger-picking, the minor chords and Croce’s voice…and the subject matter make the song overwhelming at times. Notice how he weaves between the serious verses and the lighter choruses (“There never seems to be enough time..”). This is Croce’s fourth song on the top 500 list which means he should be a shoe-in for Rock n Roll Hall of Fame consideration. It doesn’t seem particularly controversial, and I am surprised it hasn’t happened.

Time in a Bottle Lyrics

If I could save time in a bottle,
The first thing that I’d like to do-
Is to save every day
‘Til eternity passes away.
Just to spend them with you.

If I could make days last forever,
If words could make wishes come true.
I’d save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you.

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them.
I’ve looked around enough to know,
That you’re the one I want to go
Through time with.

If I had a box just for wishes,
And dreams that had never come true;
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you.

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them.
I’ve looked around enough to know
That you’re the one I want to go
Through time with.

written by Jim Croce