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, new love

#39 For All We Know- Bread/ The Carpenters

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Love, look at the two of us/
Strangers in many ways.

You’ve heard The Carpenters version of “For All We Know”. It is great, but did you know it was written by Bread? Their version is superior. It was only released on one of their box sets and it is almost impossible to find. It is also incredibly short at 1:23. The Carpenters fixed this by singing the verse twice. It appears that Bread never had any intention of releasing the song, so the only recording is just the one-time run-through of the verse. However, it is so captivating it is extremely worthy of this spot.

For All We Know Meaning Bread
Bread

“For All We Know” is not sung by the usual lead singer of Bread, David Gates, it is sung by guitarist James Griffin. The song’s theme is unique. It talks about the excitement of meeting someone new, but in the context of getting to take a lifetime to get to know everything about them. This seems to be one of the truer expressions of love that we find in all of music.

For All We Know Meaning Carpenters
The Carpenters

Bread’s sound is very different here, but it shows how versatile the band is.  With “For All We Know”, and If, we see that they are very much in the singer-songwriter vein of the great artists of the 70s in addition to the hits machine that delivered ten top ten radio hits. I love the subtle sound of the guitar and Griffin’s voice. There are no accouterments, just a singer and his guitar (and another guitar). This song is a diamond in the rough and I encourage you to give it a listen.

For what it is worth, The Carpenter’s version on its own would also appear on this list, but together, the two versions push them into the top 50.

For more great songs by Bread.

For All We Know Lyrics

Love, look at the two of us-
Strangers in many ways.
We’ve got a lifetime to share,
So much to say,
And as we go
From day to day.
I’ll feel you close to me.
But time alone will tell.
Let’s take a lifetime to say,
“I knew you well”
For only time will tell us so,
And love may grow
For all we know.

Love, look at the two of us-
Strangers in many ways.
Let’s take a lifetime to say,
“I knew you well”.
For only time will tell us so,
And love may grow
For all we know.

written by Bread

1970s songs, secular hymn

#37 The Kiss- Judee Sill

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Shimmering memory, come and hold me/
While you show me how to fly.

Judee Sill’s “The Kiss” is similar to Morning Has Broken or Bridge Over Troubled Water in that it sounds like a hymn rather than a rock song. The theme of the song is how a kiss can be like a religious experience. It almost sounds too cheesy to express it like that. Sill says it is like “communion”—when we become one with God. Still describes a kiss: it is like a “Holy Breath”, a “Wind Song” that can teach one to fly.

The Kiss judee sill Meaning
Judee Sill

Take a minute and think about the last time you heard an artist use such unique descriptions for a common, everyday experience? But a kiss is not common at all—that’s her point.

The production on “The Kiss” highlights Sill’s voice perfectly. The piano coupled with the symphony in the background create a secular hymn. And again…her voice! Wow. Perhaps this song brings a kiss the proper reverence it deserves.

“The Kiss” is Sill’s masterpiece. She sings like an angel and writes all her own songs. She has several great songs. Not famous songs, but great songs. Somehow fame slipped past her. She died young and in obscurity.

You may also like this cover by the Fleet Foxes:

The Kiss Lyrics

Over rising from the mists,
Promise me this and only this:
Holy breath touching me, like a wind song.
Sweet communion of a kiss.

Sun sifting through the grey,
Enter in, reach me with a ray.
Silently swooping down, just to show me
How to give my heart away.

Once a crystal choir
Appeared while I was sleeping
And called my name.
And when they came down nearer
Saying, dying is done.
Then a new song was sung,
Until somewhere we breathed as one,
And still I hear their whisper.

Stars bursting in the sky,
Hear the sad nova’s dying cry.
Shimmering memory, come and hold me
While you show me how to fly.

Sun sifting through the grey,
Enter in, reach me with a ray.
Silently swooping down, just to show me
How to give my heart away.

Lately sparkling hosts
Come fill my dreams, descending
On fiery beams.
I’ve seen ’em come clear down
Where our poor bodies lay.
Soothe us gently and say,
Gonna wipe all your tears away.
And still I hear their whisper.

Love, rising from the mists,
Promise me this and only this:
Holy breath touching me, like a wind song
Sweet communion of a kiss.

written by Judee Sill
1970s songs, story songs

#36 The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down- The Band

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“Virgil, quick, come see/
There goes the Robert E. Lee”

Just like The Eagles started as the backup band to Linda Ronstadt, The Band started as the backup band to Bob Dylan. It turns out they were great too. “The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down” is a great song about the South’s perspective on the Civil War. (“Dixie” is another term for the Confederate South.)

The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down Meaning
The Band

The story is told by every-man Virgil Caine who recalls the conflict from his perspective. I really like this song and books like Gone With The Wind because it helps humanize the south. Note there is no mention of slavery. What there is is a devout love of home, tradition, family and their side. It is very unlikely Virgil owned slaves. Like almost every other war in history, he is just an average citizen who is caught up in circumstances that have been determined by people more powerful than him.

“The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down” sounds old. That is purposeful. The idea was to make it sound like it was a civil war era song. They mostly accomplish this. The song was written by guitarist Robbie Robertson and sung by drummer Levon Helm (the namesake for Elton John’s Levon). Their relationship was very acrimonious, but that almost seems to be true of all bands. This song is an unlikely hit. More than anything, I think it shows that a great song can be about any topic, and there are lots of areas still to be explored.

The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down Lyrics

Virgil Caine is the name
And I served on the Danville train
‘Til Stoneman’s cavalry came
And tore up the tracks again
In the winter of ’65, we were hungry, just barely alive
By May the tenth, Richmond had fell
It’s a time I remember, oh so well

The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing
They went, “Na, la, la, la, na, na
La la, na, na, la, la, la, la, la”

Back with my wife in Tennessee
When one day she called to me
“Virgil, quick, come see
There goes the Robert E. Lee”
Now I don’t mind choppin’ wood
And I don’t care if the money’s no good
You take what you need and you leave the rest
But they should never have taken the very best

The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singing
They went, “Na, la, la, la, na, na
La la, na, na, la, la, la, la, la”

They went, “Na, la, la, la, na, na
La la, na, na, la, la, la, la, la”

The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing
They went, “Na, la, la, la, na, na
La la, na, na, la, la, la, la, la”.

written by Robbie Robertson