50 Best Songs of 1975

by Julian Spivey
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Photos: Asylum Records, RCA Victor & Columbia Records

50. “Rock and Roll All Nite” by KISS
I’ve never really understood the appeal of KISS. The group has always felt more like a theatrical act than a serious musical one. That being said, “Rock and Roll All Nite,” probably the song the group is most known for, is still a fun little number – even if there’s unsurprisingly not a whole lot of substance to it. The studio version of the song barely cracked the top 70 on the Billboard Hot 100, but a quickly released live version, which captured more of what the group was about, would reach No. 12 in early 1976. 

49. “Science Fiction Double Feature” by Richard O'Brien
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” might be a cult classic movie now, and for much of the last half-century, but when it was first released in September of 1975, it was mostly panned, flew under the radar, or was viewed as weird. I’m fully aware there are more popular songs from the soundtrack, especially “Time Warp,” but my favorite is the one that opens the film and its soundtrack, “Science Fiction/Double Feature,” written and performed by Richard O’Brien (with Richard Hartley as co-composer). The opening song is a tribute to science-fiction B movies of the past, which inspired and served as a source of parody for the film.   

48. “Boulder to Birmingham” by Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris came up in the music business as a partner and mentee of country-rock musician Gram Parsons, who died of a drug and alcohol overdose in 1973 at just 26. Harris poured her grief into “Boulder to Birmingham,” which she co-wrote with Bill Danoff. The song, off her second studio album Pieces of the Sky, includes the beautifully written line: “I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham if I thought I could see, I could see your face.” Harris wouldn’t directly write about Parsons again for nearly 40 years. 

47. “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)” by Gary Stewart
When you see the question of “most underrated country artist” online, you’ll almost always see Gary Stewart’s name in the responses. His most notable song was 1975’s “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles),” which would be his only career No. 1 country hit. Stewart was a bit too honky tonk for country music in a time when the genre was either too glossy or too outlaw for that old barroom jukebox style to really connect with fans, but he sure inspired many acts to come. It’s classic honky tonk, with crying steel guitar and weeper lyrics about a woman who’s running around on a man, and he drowns his feelings at the bar. 

46. “I’m Not Lisa” by Jessi Colter
Today, Jesi Colter is primarily known as the late Waylon Jennings's wife, but in 1975, she had one of the biggest hits in country music, so big it crossed over to the pop charts. “I’m Not Lisa,” written by Colter, is a devastating tune about dating a man who hasn’t gotten over a past love, and seemingly never will. “I’m Not Lisa” was a No. 1 country hit but crossed over to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

45. “Linda on My Mind” by Conway Twitty
To be frank, Conway Twitty’s “Linda on My Mind” sounds a bit old-school country, even for 1975. It’s not quite as hip as most of the country songs that made the cut on this list. But if there was one thing Conway Twitty could do among the best in country music was heartbreak, cheating songs and “Linda on My Mind,” which tells of the narrator thinking of this Linda, while beside his wife in bed, is one of the best of his career. It was a No. 1 country hit in 1975. 

44. "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” by Paul Simon
Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” the second single off his 1975 album Still Crazy After All These Years, started as a way to teach his son, Harper, about rhyming. The basic rhyming in the song, like “slip out the back, Jack” and “hop on the bus, Gus” has certainly annoyed some listeners over the years, but it’s not so much a cutesy, rhyming song as one about the end of a relationship – as Simon makes plain to see in his wryly written verses. “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” topped the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1976.   

43. “Evil Woman” by Electric Light Orchestra
“Evil Woman” would become one of Electric Light Orchestra’s biggest hits, going to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, and is generally considered one of the band’s greatest hits. It was also a last-second addition to the band’s 1975 album, Face the Music. The band needed one more song for the album, so while his bandmates were out of the studio, Jeff Lynne sat down at a piano and knocked out “Evil Woman,” which he claims is based on a real woman but has never revealed who, in a matter of minutes. Face the Music saw ELO transform to more of a radio-friendly, pop-rock sound, and “Evil Woman” would be the first of a string of hits that would include “Mr. Blue Sky” and “Don’t Bring Me Down.” 

42. ​“Feel Like Makin’ Love” by Bad Company
Bad Company, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, had arguably it’s biggest hit (it wasn’t chart wise, but probably more remembered than “Can’t Get Enough”) in 1975 with the No. 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit, “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” off the band’s sophomore album, Straight Shooter. An early example of a “power ballad,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love” is just simple lyrics – written by Paul Rodgers and Mick Ralphs – about wanting to make love to a woman, with a kickass riff by Ralphs and drummer Simon Kirke wailing on drums throughout the chorus. 

41. “Lady Marmalade” by Labelle
"Lady Marmalade” doesn’t sound like it could’ve or even should’ve been written by two white dudes, but that’s exactly who Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, who wrote it after Crewe took a trip to New Orleans, are. It was first recorded in 1974 by a band called Eleventh Hour to no success. Afterward, Crewe showed the tune to producer Allen Toussaint, who decided to record it with the soul girl group Labelle, led by Patti LaBelle. Labelle had been around a long time, but hadn’t done much on the charts; one of their biggest songs had been a cover of the Irish standard, “Danny Boy,” a decade earlier. Doing a funk-soul number about a prostitute propositioning a customer in French was quite a bit different – and it was just different enough to become a No. 1 hit. It was memorably covered for the “Moulin Rouge!” soundtrack in 2001 with Christina Aguilera, Mya, Pink and Lil’ Kim. 

40. "Waymore's Blues" by Waylon Jennings
Non-single album tracks becoming popular in country music just isn’t something that happens often. Country music has always been a singles and radio-driven genre. But “Waymore’s Blues,” a non-single off Waylon Jennings’ 1975 album Dreaming My Dreams, has always been a well-respected track in Jennings’ repertoire, as it served as something of a personal anthem blending country, rock and blues with themes of rebelliousness and his rambling lifestyle. 

39. "Turn Out the Light And (Love Me Tonight)" by Don Williams 
Nobody throughout the history of country music has likely ever had a more soothing voice than the silky-smooth vocals of Don Williams. Williams’ voice was perfect for suave love songs like Bob McDill’s “(Turn Out the Light And) Love Me Tonight,” which he took to No. 1 on the country chart (his third No. 1). The song will instantly make you want to cuddle up with your significant other. 

38. "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender hit it big in 1975 when two of the songs off his 1974 debut album, Before the Next Teardrop Falls, hit No. 1 on the country charts. The biggest of these was the title track, which didn’t just top the country chart, but also the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, a rare occurrence of a country song crossing over and going all the way to the top. “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” written by Vivian Keith and Ben Peters, had been recorded many times before Fender got hold of it, but it was Fender’s vocal on the tender, heartbreak ballad that took it to No. 1. In the song, the narrator tells a woman he has feelings for, but loves another man, that he wishes her well but will be there for her if things fall through. Fender recorded the first verse in English and the second in Spanish, making it another rare hit with its bilingual nature. 

37. "Sister Golden Hair" by America
America’s most popular song is, without a doubt, its 1972 No. 1 hit, “A Horse with No Name,” but I’ve always found their second No. 1, 1975’s “Sister Golden Hair,” to be the folk-rock group’s best song. Written by Gerry Beckley, the song, which opens with this wonderfully whiny slide guitar by Beckley on a lap steel guitar, was surprisingly not inspired by any actual woman, but by the works of Jackson Browne. The song finds the narrator, who’s in love with a woman, but isn’t ready to settle down and get married, contemplating his predicament. 

36. "Shelter from the Storm" by Bob Dylan 
“Shelter from the Storm,” off Bob Dylan’s 1975 album Blood on the Tracks, sees Dylan back to folk-rock basics on the instrumentation side: it’s just him playing a simple three-chord guitar tune with his harmonica at the end, and bassist Tony Brown as the only other musician on the track. The lyrics tell the story of a man, coming from nothing, who finds salvation in the form of a relationship – some suspect Dylan’s first wife, Sara Lownds – only to see it fall apart by the song’s end. 

35. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by Elton John 
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight” is probably one of the most emotional, personal and revealing songs Elton John has ever recorded, which is interesting because his lyrics have always been written by Bernie Taupin. The bond between Taupin and Elton John was close enough for Taupin to understand the complex emotions his friend and collaborator was feeling when he seemingly felt trapped in a relationship with a woman, many years before Elton would come out as gay, and even went as far as attempting a half-hearted suicide attempt. The “Sugar Bear” in the song is musician Long John Baldry, who took Elton under his wing and ultimately convinced him to stop living the charade of the relationship he was in.   

34. "Have a Cigar" by Pink Floyd 
Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar,” written by Roger Waters, is essentially the follow-up to “Money,” which appeared on the band’s previous album, The Dark Side of the Moon, in that it continues the theme of corporate greed, this time focusing on it within the music industry. The opening verse sees a record executive having a conversation with the band: “Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar, you’re gonna go far/you’re gonna fly/you’re never gonna die.” My favorite line is the sarcastic ending to the verse, “Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink,” showing the absolute cluelessness of the suits trying to make money out of art. The fact that the band brought in a vocalist not actually in the band, Roy Harper, for lead vocals, adds to the cynicism of the whole thing, though that was likely more happenstance than anything, as neither Waters nor David Gilmour liked their own vocals when they attempted to take the lead. The opening melding of electric guitar by Gilmour, bass by Waters and synthesizer by Richard Wright is a chef’s kiss of classic rock instrumental.

33. "Low Rider" by War 
War’s “Low Rider” was one of the coolest-sounding songs of 1975, and half a century later, it’s still one of the coolest-sounding songs you’re ever going to hear. Everything about this song is just cool, from the opening cowbell to B.B. Dickerson’s driving bass line to the alto saxophone by Charles Miller. If this were an instrumental, it would still likely be on this list, but the lead vocals, also by Miller in a talk-singing style, convey the laidback image of a “lowrider,” a customized car with a lowered body that was popular in Chicano culture in Southern California. 

32. "Texas 1947" by Guy Clark 
I’ve always loved a good train song, and Guy Clark’s “Texas 1947,” off his incredible debut Old No. 1, is one of the best there has ever been. The song recounts a moment in Clark’s childhood when he and damn near everyone in his little hometown encountered a streamline train passing through for the first time. Though just six years old at the time, Clark claimed to remember the event vividly, and those details sure come to life in a song with an appropriately chugging chorus given its inspiration. 

31. "Lyin' Eyes" by Eagles 
The Eagles were the most successful band of the ‘70s when it came to melding country and rock music, and 1975’s “Lyin’ Eyes” is probably the countriest of their country-rock numbers. The song, written by Don Henley and Glenn Frey with Frey on lead vocals, is about a woman who is so obviously cheating on her significant other that she can’t even hide her lyin’ eyes. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and would be the band’s biggest country hit, peaking at No. 8 on that chart. “Lyin’ Eyes” would be nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards, losing to Captain & Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” (barf). 

30. "Beautiful Loser"/"Travelin' Man" by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
OK, so “Beautiful Loser” and “Travelin’ Man” are actually two songs by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, so forgive me if you consider this cheating, but those songs from his 1975 album Beautiful Loser were paired together for 1976’s ‘Live’ Bullet live album and often played together on classic rock format radio stations, so they belong together in my mind. “Travelin’ Man” is pretty straightforward about a man who could never be happy staying in one place,” while “Beautiful Loser,” which was inspired by a novel by fellow songwriter Leonard Cohen, is about people who don’t dream big enough and seem fine with a life without achievement. Together, they make for nearly nine minutes of rock music perfect for windows-down summer drives. 

29. "Gloria" by Patti Smith
​Has anybody ever debuted with a more stirring lyric than: “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine”? The song combined Patti Smith’s poetry about sexual liberation and freedom from her restrictive Jehovah’s Witness upbringing with the raucous garage rock of Them’s “Gloria,” written by its leader Van Morrison. The result of combining this garage rock sound and personal poetry with Smith’s overall look and performance style led to one of the earliest punk rock staples. 

28. "Diamonds & Rust" by Joan Baez
Joan Baez and Bob Dylan were in a romantic partnership in the early ‘60s when Baez was already a folk star, and Dylan was just an up-and-comer. But Baez, who mostly covered traditional folk songs, as was customary at the time, didn’t have the songwriting talent that Dylan did, and Dylan often cruelly reminded her of it. “Diamonds & Rust,” off Baez’s 1975 album of the same name, recalls her relationship a decade prior with Dylan and did so beautifully and poetically that it must have felt truly triumphant, with lines like the opening verse which recounts some of that cruelty: “Well, I’ll be damned, here comes your ghost again/But that’s not unusual/it’s just that the moon is full, and you happened to call/And here I sit, hand on the telephone, hearing a voice I’d known a couple of light years ago/heading straight for a fall/As I remember, your eyes were bluer than robin’s eggs/my poetry was lousy, you said, ‘Where are you calling from?” It’s amazing that Baez laid it all out there bare for everyone to hear, but initially, she couldn’t bring herself to admit to Dylan that it was about him, so she lied, saying it was about another ex.    

27. "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian 
Few songs have likely ever captured what it's like to be a teenage girl, especially a social outcast, like Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen,” which, frankly, was a surprising top-five hit in 1975. Ian, who wrote “At Seventeen” at 23, was inspired to write the song after reading a New York Times article about a young woman who thought her life would improve after a debutante ball and was disappointed when that didn’t happen. It’s an intensely honest look at life for teen girls who aren’t exactly the popular, prom queen types with devastating lyrics like: “to those of us who knew the pain/of valentines that never came” and the opening: “I learned the truth at seventeen/that love was meant for beauty queens/and high school girls with clear-skinned smiles/who married young and then retired.” 

26. "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell 
Glen Campbell certainly had better songs in his career, like his ‘60s output of “Galveston,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” and “Wichita Lineman,” but there was perhaps no song more synonymous with his career than his 1975 country smash and crossover pop hit, “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Written by Larry Weiss, who recorded it without much fanfare the previous year, “Rhinestone Cowboy” is about a performer who’s been around the block, putting in his dues and hoping to see the big time one day. Campbell had, obviously, already seen the big time, but this song was sort of a new chapter for him after years without a huge hit. 

25. "Fire on the Mountain" by The Marshall Tucker Band 
George McCorkle of The Marshall Tucker Band had written “Fire on the Mountain” in hopes that his friend, Charlie Daniels, would record it on the Charlie Daniels Band’s album, which shared a name with the song. Daniels passed on it, which turned out to be to the benefit of The Marshall Tucker Band, which included the fantastic story song of a Southerner who moves his family to California during the Gold Rush in hopes of providing a better life for them, only to wind up murdered for a worthless claim, on their own Searchin’ for a Rainbow. It would become the band’s first top-40 hit, reaching No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, and would be one of their most recognized songs. 

24. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out by Bruce Springsteen
“Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” off 1975’s Born to Run, is the origin story of the E Steet Band and the great friendship and musical companionship between the group, especially between Bruce Springsteen and saxophonist Clarence Clemons. “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” is a great song to pump you up. I don’t think I could possibly explain it better than author Jim Beviglia did in his book Counting Down Bruce Springsteen: His 100 Finest Songs when he said: “Every superhero worth a damn needs a great origin story. Spiderman was bitten by a radioactive insect. Superman crash landed from another planet and gained inhuman strength from Earth’s sun. Bruce Springsteen was hit by a saxophone blast from Clarence Clemons and made it his mission to save rock and roll.” You nerds can have Superman and Spiderman. Bruce Springsteen is my superhero, and God bless the big man, Clarence Clemons. 

23. "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith 
“Sweet Emotion,” off Aerosmith’s third studio album, Toys in the Attic, would become the group’s first top 40 hit, when it peaked at No. 36 in the summer of 1975. It seems much of “Sweet Emotion” was an account of inner turmoil between frontman Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry’s then-wife, Elyssa. Some of the lyrics like: “you talk about things that nobody cares/you’re wearing out things that nobody wears” are a kiss off to his bandmate’s spouse. 

22. Wasted Days and Wasted Nights by Freddy Fender
“Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” was a smash country hit for Freddy Fender in 1975 and even crossed over to the pop charts, reaching the top 10, but the story of how it wound up there was more than a decade-and-a-half in the making. Fender had written and recorded the song initially in 1959, as a blues ballad, but while his career was starting to take off, he was arrested and convicted on charges of possession of marijuana. This stunted his career, but in the mid-‘70s, when “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” became a huge hit for Fender, it gave him the chance to re-record “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” and riding the new wave of popularity, it became a hit too. 

21. "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin
I’ve never been the biggest Led Zeppelin fan. I can’t really identify much with their lyrics, a bit too whimsical for me, but there’s no denying their sound – and they’re at the top of their game with “Kashmir,” off 1975’s Physical Graffiti, with that propulsive “duh, duh, duh/duh, duh, duh” sound via Jimmy Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass and John Bonham on drums becoming one of the most recognizable sounds in rock music. “Kashmir” was inspired by a drive vocalist Robert Plant took through a desolate portion of the Moroccan desert, with the name “Kashmir” taking the place in the title. It became a staple of the band's live concerts. 

20. "Black Water" by The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers’ No. 1 hit “Black Water,” off the band’s 1974 album What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits, has one of the coolest acapella, polyphonic moments in the history of popular music where lead vocalist Patrick Simmons sings one part of the song, while his bandmates Tom Johnston and Tiran Porter are singing other parts at the same time. This section, which really showcases the Doobies' great harmonization, led to it becoming one of the biggest roots-rock/Southern rock jams of all time. 

19. "One of These Nights" by Eagles
One of These Nights, the fourth studio album for the Eagles, was the big breakthrough album for the band. I think a lot of that has to do with the title track, the first single off the album, having more of a pop-rock sound to it than the country-rock singles the band had been releasing prior. It was a conscious idea by the band. Don Henley told Rolling Stone magazine at the time: “We wanted to get away from the ball syndrome with ‘One of These Nights’. With Don Felder in the band now, we can really rock. Felder’s addition gave the title track a nice bluesy guitar feel, and Henley’s vocals, with Randy Meisner’s high harmony on the chorus, gave the track a more soulful vibe. 

18. "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith
“Walk This Way,” like many of Aerosmith’s biggest and best hits, is 100% pure sex. Opening with a great drum part by Joey Kramer that leads into an epic guitar riff by Joe Perry, the song, written by frontman Steven Tyler and Perry, tells the story of a high school boy losing his virginity. Initially, Tyler just scatted nonsensical words over the music, and then, according to Perry, “The words have to tell a story, but for Steven, they also have to have a bouncy feel for flow. Then he searches for words that have a double entendre, which comes out of the blues tradition.” Well, the words to “Walk This Way” are certainly bouncy and certainly include double entendre. 

​17. "When Will I Be Loved" by Linda Ronstadt 
Some artists can take awesome, notable songs and do them so well that they become the best or most recognized versions of those songs. That’s what Linda Ronstadt did in 1975 with her cover of The Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved.” The Everlys took their version, written by Phil Everly, to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1960. Fifteen years later, Ronstadt took her version to No. 2. The song would be a crossover hit for Ronstadt, going all the way to No. 1 on the country chart. 

16. "Young Americans" by David Bowie
For many years, “Young Americans” was my favorite David Bowie song. It’s been surpassed by “Changes,” and probably some tracks off ‘Ziggy Stardust,’ but it still ranks very high for me. It was a change in tone for Bowie after the massive success of his Ziggy Stardust era, going from the highly theatrical glam rock to a soulful, R&B style that would eventually become known as “blue-eyed soul,” or essentially white folks performing soul music. “Fame” is, no doubt, the most popular and famous song off the Young Americans album, but I’ve always preferred the title track more, with its quick-paced lyrics, which were reportedly influenced by the early albums of Bruce Springsteen, its danceable groove and the great backing vocals, which were arranged by a then-unknown Luther Vandross. It’s just a blast. 

15. "Saturday Night Special" by Lynyrd Skynyrd 
“Saturday Night Special” by Lynyrd Skynyrd has always been a curiosity for me, as you wouldn’t really expect a song that could be considered “anti-gun” from a Southern Rock band. And certainly, the band wasn’t always “anti-gun”; after all, “Gimme Back My Bullets” is another one of their best songs. However, “Saturday Night Special,” off Nuthin’ Fancy, has a rather obvious point to make with lines like: “ain’t good for nothin’/but put a man six feet in a hole” and “handguns are made for killin’/ain’t no good for nothin’ else.” 

14. "L.A. Freeway" by Guy Clark
Guy Clark’s 1975 debut album Old No. 1 is both one of the most underrated and most influential country albums of all time, with his songwriting taking on a more personal narrative and his sound different from what mainstream Nashville acts were doing at the time. It’s country music done the Texan way. One of the album’s most personal tracks is “L.A. Freeway,” which recounts Clark and his wife, Susanna, getting out of Los Angeles and heading east to Nashville to make more of a go at recording music. Texas country brethren Jerry Jeff Walker was the first to cut the song in 1972, but Clark’s version is the definitive one. 

13. "Take It to the Limit" by Eagles 
1975 was a killer year for the Eagles, as you can tell by all three of the band’s singles from that year’s One of These Nights, making this list. The best of those singles is “Take It to the Limit,” released in late 1975, which proved to be Randy Meisner’s greatest contribution to the group, as he was the primary songwriter (he would seek help from Glenn Frey and Don Henley to finish it) and the lead vocalist on the track. The song would also reportedly be part of the reason for Meisner’s departure from the band, as it was an audience favorite, and fights over his reluctance to perform it ultimately led to his ouster. Frey would assume lead vocals on the track about never giving up in life and always trying your best when the band performed it following Meisner’s departure. 

12. "My Little Town" by Simon & Garfunkel 
It’s probably not the greatest tourism tagline for my hometown, but every time I hear Simon & Garfunkel’s “My Little Town,” their first song together since the duo broke up in the early ‘70s, I think of my hometown. Written by Paul Simon, “My Little Town,” which found a place on Simon’s 1975 album, Still Crazy After All These Years and Art Garfunkel’s 1975 album, Breakaway, is about hating where one comes from and, longing to break free of and, as per typical, Simon & Garfunkel classics has more of a bright sound than the lyrics would suggest. Simon began writing it for Garfunkel, whom he thought was singing too many happy songs, and it wound up being a revival for the duo and the last of their greatest hits. 

11. "Backstreets" by Bruce Springsteen
Roy Bittan’s minute-plus-long piano intro in “Backstreets,” which ends side one of Born to Run, is his most beautiful composition of the many beauties he performed with the E Street Band. In his review of Born to Run for Rolling Stone magazine, journalist Greil Marcus said: “[Roy Bittan’s piano intro] might be the prelude to a rock & roll version of The Iliad.” Listening to this intro makes me think of James Cagney’s gangster crossing the street in the rain, walking directly toward the camera with this menacing look on his face in “The Public Enemy.” But the song itself doesn’t have quite as violent a story. It’s Springsteen reminiscing about the good old days of a relationship that burned bright but seemingly fast. Born to Run is an album filled with cinematic songs that could all be their own little movies, and “Backstreets” is one that might make you smile until you cry. 

10. "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train" by Guy Clark
Guy Clark’s “Desperados Waiting for a Train” is one of the greatest tributes ever written to a loved one, written about the boyfriend of Clark’s grandmother, who served as a father figure to him. In the song, Clark regales listeners with all the things he and Jack used to do and the life lessons he learned from the relationship. It’s also a devastating story about getting old and seeing the ones you love age and fade away. Clark wrote about real-life stuff in a matter of fact yet poetic way, which made him a father figure to many country, folk and Americana singer-songwriters for generations to come. 

9. "Tangled Up in Blue" by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue” has always been one of those story songs that I’ve never quite understood its inspiration – though I’ve never really read into it – but I’ve always loved how it sounded anyway. The sole single from 1975’s Blood on the Tracks, the song is about a relationship that goes its separate ways, but I don’t know if it came just from Dylan’s mind or if there were specific inspirations. Novelist Ron Rosenbaum has said that Dylan told him he'd written “Tangled Up in Blue” after spending a weekend listening to Joni Mitchell’s 1971 classic album Blue, which would be a terrific recording to get “tangled up in.” 

8. "Dreaming My Dreams with You" by Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings was a tough-talking, brash outlaw country singer, but he could also record some of the sweetest ballads you’ve ever heard. His sweetest performance is “Dreaming My Dreams With You,” off 1975’s Dreaming My Dreams, which recalls a lost love so fondly and lovely it’ll bring a tear to your eyes. Substituting his Texan growl for a gentle whisper, Jennings wrings so much emotion out of the Allen Reynolds-penned tune.  

7. "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” arguably the band’s greatest hit, is the unlikely story of a hit song that became a bigger hit years after the fact. It was a top-10 hit in America in 1975 and a No. 1 hit in the band’s home country of the United Kingdom, but following its use in the 1992 film “Wayne’s World,” it had another resurgence and went to No. 2 in America, the rare case of a song becoming a top-10 hit multiple times. It had actually topped the U.K. charts again in 1991, following frontman Freddie Mercury’s death. Mercury referred to the song as a “mock opera,” as it was actually the melding of three different songs he had written, which is why parts of it seem drastically different. It worked, though, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” became one of the greatest and most famous songs of all time. In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it as the 17th greatest song of all time. 

6. "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" by Waylon Jennings
Only Waylon Jennings could take a song criticizing mainstream country music and its system and make it one of the greatest country songs of all time. That’s exactly what he did with “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?,” off 1975’s Dreaming My Dreams. The song takes aim at country music’s “Nashville sound” and the control record companies held over their artists, to the point of dictating how they sounded, virtually stripping them of their personal artistry. Jennings knew it wasn’t the way country started, it wasn’t the way it was meant to be, and it damn sure wasn’t going to be how he made records. Rolling Stone magazine called the song the “closest thing outlaw country has to a mission statement.”  

5. "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd
“Wish You Were Here” has always been my favorite Pink Floyd song. The title track off the band’s 1975 album saw guitarist David Gilmour and bassist Roger Waters collaborating on writing, with Gilmour taking the lead vocals. Over the years, many have described the lyrics as a tribute to former band member Syd Barrett, but in the documentary “The Story of Wish You Were Here,” the co-songwriters disagree with that assessment. Waters felt the lyrics were directed at himself, about being present in his own life. Gilmour did say, however, that he never plays the song without remembering Barrett. One of the band’s simpler, straightforward songs, compared to much of their repertoire, it’s interesting how it often ranks near the top of lists of their greatest songs, and Billboard has ranked it as their best.  

4. "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" by Willie Nelson
I’ve always found it remarkable that Willie Nelson is one of the greatest songwriters of all time, but his finest recording (honestly, a few of his finest recordings) was a cover song. “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” was written by Fred Rose in the mid-‘40s, nearly three decades before Nelson cut it, and had been recorded by famous names like Roy Acuff, Hank Williams and Elvis Presley, but nobody was able to wring as much emotion out of the lyrics as Nelson in his No. 1 country hit, that Rolling Stone magazine called “the beating heart” of his 1975 concept album classic Red Headed Stranger. 

3. "Jungleland" by Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen wrote a good many epics in the ‘70s, but none were as grand in scale as the Born to Run album's closing track, “Jungleland.” World-building isn’t something you see a whole lot in songwriting – there isn’t enough time, as most songs are two to four minutes long – but there’s an entire community built in “Jungleland,” the most cinematic of Springsteen’s output. We’re introduced at the beginning to our main characters: Magic Rat and the barefoot girl. We follow them through this glorious New York City night where everywhere you see and feel a mixture of love, desperation, violence, despair, danger, longing, escapism and so many other words that describe Springsteen’s entire ethos. All of this culminates in Clarence Clemons’s greatest saxophone solo of all time, which was actually a studio creation by Springsteen himself, editing bits and pieces of multiple takes together in what Clemons said in his memoir Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales: “To me, that solo sounds like love.” The sax solo might sound like love – between Springsteen and Clemons, between Magic Rat and the barefoot girl – but the song quickly turns tragic in its finale, which finishes out the epic in a way that truly makes Springsteen New Jersey’s Shakespeare.  

2. "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen
After Bruce Springsteen’s first two albums, both released in 1973, failed to burst through to the mainstream despite critical acclaim, he knew he had to break through in a major way or else that might be the end of his promising career at its beginning. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Springsteen said: “I had these enormous ambitions for it. I wanted to make the greatest rock record that I’d ever heard. I wanted it to sound enormous, to grab you by your throat and insist that you take the ride, insist that you pay attention – not just to the music, but to live, to being alive.” Springsteen succeeded. “Born to Run” may very well be the greatest rock record ever recorded, and it certainly grabbed us, listeners, by the throat and made us pay attention. Having truly become a Springsteen fan around the time I was leaving my hometown for a new world of college and adulthood, I think it was the escapism of his music – trying to break free and find your way in the world – that worked its way into my mind, body and soul and has never left my bloodstream in the nearly two decades since. Born to Run, both the song and album, was my entry into this wondrous world of hope, and I haven’t stopped running since because, as the man says, “Someday, I don’t know when, we’re gonna get to that place where we really wanna go and we’ll walk in the sun.” 

1. "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen
The opening harmonica, played by Bruce Springsteen, on “Thunder Road,” mixed with the beauty of Roy Bittan's piano piece, just sets the stage perfectly for the beginning of both my favorite Springsteen album, Born to Run, and its opening track, my favorite Springsteen song. It sounds so tragic, setting the stage for this young man ready to bust loose from his “town full of losers” with the girl of his dreams, but magic happens about a quarter of the way through the track when the whole E Street Band comes in, and this tragedy turns into a world full of hopefulness. This is their one chance to make it out of this place, and they’re going to take it. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Springsteen was sure the Born to Run album would begin with its title track until he wrote “Thunder Road.” Springsteen said, “’Thunder Road’ was just so obviously an opening, due to its intro. It just set the scene. There is something about the melody of ‘Thunder Road’ that suggests a new day, it suggests morning, it suggests something opening up.” For me, it suggested a new beginning – not only in life but with a brother in music – and like the song’s narrator and Mary, I’ve never turned back to what was left behind. Springsteen may have had two truly good albums under his belt by the time Born to Run came along, but with this opening track and statement, his career truly took off, and he hasn’t looked back in half a century since.