3 Songs From the 1970s You Haven’t Heard in a While (or You’re Hearing for the First Time)

The 1970s are responsible for many iconic songs. So it’s easy to overlook or even forget about some real gems. This list looks at three songs from the 1970s you haven’t heard in a while, or if you’re lucky, you’re hearing them for the first time. While each distills the spirit of the decade, they are often overshadowed by much bigger hits.

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“I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” by Richard and Linda Thompson

In 1974, Nick Drake, whom Linda Thompson (then Linda Peters) once dated, was found dead after overdosing on antidepressants. But Drake had been drifting into the void for years as his music was largely ignored during his lifetime. Years earlier, Martin Lamble, who played drums in Richard Thompson’s former group Fairport Convention, died in the band’s van accident. A crash that also killed Richard’s then-girlfriend, Jeannie Franklyn.

These losses accumulate in the undercurrent of grief on I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight. On the title track, Linda sings dispassionately about a desire to go out. She wants to escape her job, her anxieties, and nothing more than that. Just a night out and an experience, like people, here and then gone. Better see the lights before they turn off.

“Home Is Where The Hatred Is” by Gil Scott-Heron

Gil Scott-Heron describes addiction in uncomfortable ways. He comments on the ease of judgment: “You keep saying kick it, quit it, kick it, quit it / God, but did you ever try?” But the most devastating line happens when onlookers and well-wishers clutching rosary beads watch the victim die.

“Home Is Where The Hatred Is” appears on Scott-Heron’s jazz-funk classic, Pieces Of A Man. It reveals the political and social upheaval fueling the evolution of funk and soul music in the 1970s. Scott-Heron’s studio debut became a crucial piece of that evolution.

“The Pretender” by Jackson Browne

“The Pretender” follows a narrator who’s traded the ideals of youth for financial stability and life in the suburbs. It’s also the title track to Jackson Browne’s fourth studio album. The following decade, Don Henley addressed a similar theme in “The Boys Of Summer” and with that song’s most famous lyric: “Out on the road today, I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac.”

While Browne’s tune offers a cynical view of adulthood, it must have spoken to many from his generation who ultimately felt like sellouts. Yet, for those “happy idiots” chasing money, perhaps they expose how reality often yanks dreams down to earth. Which can then lead to a different kind of cynicism. In “The Pretender”, Browne attempts to grapple with some uncomfortable truths about fleeting youth.

Photo by Ian Dickson