3 Rock Songs From 1974 That Make Me Want To Travel Back in Time

The year 1974 saw the release of some pretty impressive hits, songs that fans still enjoy singing today. These are three of the best rock songs from 1974, which are so good that I wish I could travel back in time to listen to them again.

“Help Me” by Joni Mitchell 

On Joni Mitchell’s Court And Spark album is “Help Me”. One of her most successful songs, Mitchell wrote “Help Me” by herself.

A song about a relationship that seems doomed to fail before it begins, “Help Me” says, “Help me / I think I’m falling / In love too fast / It’s got me hoping for the future / And worrying about the past / ‘Cause I’ve seen some hot, hot blazes / Come down to smoke and ash / We love our loving / But not like we love our freedom.”

“Please Come To Boston” by Dave Loggins

Dave Loggins’ first and only No.1 single as a solo artist is “Please Come To Boston”. Written by Loggins, “Please Come To Boston” is on his sophomore record, Apprentice (In A Musical Workshop).

“Please Come To Boston” is a tragic song about a man who wants his significant other to travel with him, while she wants him to come home to her. The lyrics begin with, “Please, come to Boston for the springtime / I’m staying here with some friends, and they’ve got lots of room / And you can sell your paintings on the sidewalk / By a cafe where I hope to be working soon. Please, come to Boston / She said, ‘No, would you come home to me?’”

Loggins did have a No. 1 country single ten years after “Please Come To Boston”. In 1984, he joined Anne Murray on “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do”. The song became a massive crossover hit for them.

“Best Of My Love” by the Eagles

The Eagles’ first No. 1 hit is “Best Of My Love”, from their On The Border record. “Best Of My Love” is written by band members Glenn Frey and Don Henley, along with JD Souther.

“Best Of My Love” is a song about the aching regret of a relationship that didn’t work. It says, “You know we always had each other baby / I guess that wasn’t enough / Oh, but here in my heart / I give you the best of my love / Oh, sweet darlin’ / You get the best of my love.”

Ironically, the Eagles have Mitchell to thank for creating “Best Of My Love”. 

“I was playing acoustic guitar one afternoon in Laurel Canyon, and I was trying to figure out a tuning that Joni Mitchell had shown me a couple of days earlier,” Frey recalls. “I got lost and ended up with the guitar tuning for what would later turn out to be ‘The Best of My Love.’”

Photo by Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images