3 Now-Beloved Rock Songs From the 1970s That Took Years To Write Before Becoming Hits

Some killer rock songs from the 1970s came to their makers in a matter of seconds. Others, though, were slow burns that took musicians years to write. That’s the case for these three legendary and beloved classic rock songs from the 1970s. Each of these tunes took a little more time than most to be completed. Let’s take a look, shall we?

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“Life On Mars?” by David Bowie (1973)

The origins of “Life On Mars?” can be traced all the way back to 1968. After being tasked with writing English lyrics to the French tune “Comme d’habitude”. His version was rejected by publishers because of his obscurity at the time, and Paul Anka would later rewrite the song as “My Way”, made famous by Frank Sinatra. Bowie decided to write “Life On Mars?” as a parody of Sinatra’s version of the song, as he was quite raw about being rejected. While the actual writing process likely didn’t take years, the origin of “Life On Mars?” can be traced to a vendetta that Bowie had been harboring for a little over three years until he recorded the song for Hunky Dory in 1971.

“Tangled Up In Blue” by Bob Dylan (1975)

“Tangled Up In Blue” by Bob Dylan dropped in 1975 off Blood On The Tracks. However, according to Dylan, it wasn’t written shortly before the album was recorded. Rather, “Tangled Up In Blue” took “ten years to live and two years to write.” It was well worth the wait, it seems. This track and the whole of its album were pretty substantial hits back in the 1970s. “Tangled Up In Blue” hit No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Blood On The Tracks topped the Billboard 200.

“Let It Be” by The Beatles (1970)

This legendary song has some pretty murky origins. But it’s worth including on this list of rock songs from the 1970s that took years to write. 

There are two conflicting stories behind the origin of “Let It Be”, written by Paul McCartney. McCartney himself said that the song came to him when he had a dream about his late mother, in which she quite literally told him to “just let it be.” The different explanation came from Malcom Evans, The Beatles’ road manager. He said that “Let It Be” came into existence after McCartney had a vision of Evans during an intense meditation session in India around March 1968. Either way, we know for sure that McCartney was still playing around with the song in late 1968 during sessions for The White Album, so we know it took a while to write.

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