3 Classic Rock Songs From the 1970s That Are More Like Poetry

When it comes to rock music, lyrics are often essential to the success of a song. Sometimes they rouse an audience. Sometimes they give keen insight. Other times, the lyrics can paint a picture in your mind that seemingly never goes away.

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Here below, we wanted to highlight three classic rock tracks from the past that give fans a batch of lyrics that flow almost like verses from the gods. Indeed, these are three classic rock songs from the 1970s that are more like poetry.

“The Battle Of Evermore” by Led Zeppelin from ‘Led Zeppelin IV’ (1971)

Sometimes the British-born rock band Led Zeppelin wrote simple songs that got you out of your seat and playing air guitar around your living room. Other times, they looked to literature for inspiration so that lead singer Robert Plant could create tomes of tracks. And this song takes inspiration from J. R. R. Tolkien’s famous novel The Lord of the Rings. Plant, an avid fan of the work, would often put bits and pieces from the work into his music. For other examples, check out “Ramble On” and “”Misty Mountain Hop”. Indeed, in this tune, Plant sings, “The pain of war cannot exceed / The woe of aftermath / The drums will shake the castle wall / The ring wraiths ride in black, ride on.“

“Hotel California” by Eagles from ‘Hotel California’ (1977)

This is a song that puts you in the middle of a scene. The language is so vivid, the characters so sharply drawn. From the first spark of the song, we’re on a highway. We’re travelers. We’re headed somewhere risky. Then the song unfolds and we find out where we are. Not only is the location seemingly haunted by new, unthinkable spirits. But the drama in the song seems to ratchet up and heighten with every syllable. Sings Don Henley, “There she stood in the doorway / I heard the mission bell / And I was thinking to myself / ‘This could be heaven or this could be hell’.”

“Coyote” by Joni Mitchell from ‘Hejira’ (1977)

Joni Mitchell was a poet hiding in plain sight. And on this song, she presents a story and a character study so vivid, it sticks in your mind forever. The song is about a possibly predatory man. The experience the singer has with the person, who she says has a woman at home, is intense. Indeed, Mitchell sings, “He pins me in a corner, and he won’t take ‘no’ / He drags me out on the dance floor / And we’re dancing close and slow / Now he’s got a woman at home / He’s got another woman down the hall / He seems to want me anyway.” Dark, scary—but the drama has you on the edge of your seat.

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