3 Nostalgic Songs From 1973 That Will Never Get Old

Truly, 1973 in country music was a pivotal year. The year saw new artists emerging, along with veteran artists releasing some of their best and most nostalgic songs. We found three nostalgic songs from 1973 that will never get old.

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“If We Make It Through December” by Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard first released “If We Make It Through December” on his Merle Haggard’s Christmas Present album, out in October of 1973, with his band, the Strangers. But he liked the song so much, he also made it the title track of another album, released four months later.

“If We Make It Through December” says, “If we make it through December / Got plans to be in a warmer town come summertime / Maybe even California / If we make it through December, we’ll be fine.”

60 years later, Cody Johnson performed “If We Make It Through December” as part of his Cody Johnson Christmas TV special. Johnson recalls being very broke one December, married to his wife, Brandi, and wondering how they were going to pay their bills. At the time, he had $20 to his name.

“We were very young, very fresh in our marriage, and that hit me hard,” Johnson recalls to CMT. “‘If We Make It Through December’ came on the radio on the way home, and I was biting my cheek trying not to cry.”

When Johnson got home, he found a check for $2500, his first income as a songwriter.

“I walked back in the house, hit my knees and showed her the checks,” Johnson recounts. “We sat there and cried and ate leftovers from my parents’ house. I’ll never forget that song for that reason.”

“Jolene” by Dolly Parton

There might not be a more iconic song in country music, from any point in the 70s, than Dolly Parton’s “Jolene“. Parton wrote the song by herself, making it the title track of her 13th record.

In a now well-known story, “Jolene” was inspired by a bank teller who was flirting with Parton’s husband, Carl Dean.

“With ‘Jolene,’ I remember hearing so many people say, ‘That’s such a humble song. It’s a true song,’” Parton tells Vulture. “For a woman to say, ‘I can’t compete with you. I’m not as beautiful as you; I’m never going to be that beautiful. Your beauty is beyond compare, but I don’t have all that going for me.’ It was unusual at the time in songwriting.”

“The Most Beautiful Girl” by Charlie Rich

Now this is one of the finest and most nostalgic songs from 1973. Any even moderate country music fan can likely sing along to at least the chorus of Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl”. A No. 1 hit in country, pop, and adult contemporary, the song is on Rich’s 1973 Behind Closed Doors album.

The song says in part, “So, hey, did you happen to see / The most beautiful girl in the world? / And if you did, was she crying, crying?” The song was written by Rory Bourke, Norro Wilson, and Billy Sherrill. Both Sherrill and Rich were initially hesitant to record it.

“As I understand it, the girls over at Columbia at the time just ragged on him until, finally, he put it out,” Sherrill recalls (via Songfacts). “And the rest is history.”

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