From the sound of pedal steel to the jukebox vocals, classic runs through these No. 1 hits from 1975. Here are a few songs that really feel like good, old country music.
“She’s Acting Single (I’m Drinking Doubles)” by Gary Stewart
The honky-tonk sound on this song just feels so classic. Not to mention, the way Gary Stewart sings that chorus hook is just infectious.
Videos by American Songwriter
She’s actin’ single
I’m drinkin’ doubles
I hide my pain
I drown my troubles
My heart is breaking
Like the tiny bubbles
She’s actin’ single
I’m drinkin’ doubles.
“Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell
This Glen Campbell hit song tells of a country singer’s struggle to make it in the music business. As Campbell revealed in an interview, he took much of the inspiration for this song from his own experiences of trying to make it.
“The idea for the song was also a crying out of myself,” he explained. “It was the spirit of a bunch of us on Broadway where I started out—Neil Diamond, Tony Orlando—we all had dreams of making it.”
“Thank God I’m A Country Boy” by John Denver
In this two-stepping tune, John Denver sings about life on the farm, which is a little ironic, especially because he actually grew up in the southwest.
“Well, a simple kinda life never did me no harm / A raisin’ me a family and workin’ on the farm / My days are all filled with an easy country charm / Thank God I’m a country boy.”
“The Door” by George Jones
“The Door” is sung from the perspective of an ex-soldier, who reveals that nothing he’s ever experienced is quite as hurtful as the sound of “the closing of the door” when his love left him. This song was a No. 1, of course. But as Billy Sherrill, one of the song’s writers, shared, it probably could have been even bigger than it was.
“I don’t think it quite got to the whole entire public because of the type of song that it was,” he admitted in the liner notes of Jones’ Anniversary – 10 Years Of Hits. “It was a number one song, but…a lot of it was about the [Vietnam] war… It was the type of song people didn’t wanna really talk about that much.”
Photo by: David Redfern/Redferns
More The List
-
CIRCA 1966: Singer Mick Jagger of the rock and roll band "The Rolling Stones" performs onstage in circa 1966. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
Aerosmith Aerosmith, Steven Tyler, Vorst-Nationaal, Brussels, Belgium, 31st October 1993. (Photo by Goedefroit Music/Getty Images) -
UNSPECIFIED – JANUARY 01: John LENNON between 1970 and 1973. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images) -
1972: (L-R) Jim Hodder, David Palmer, Denny Dias, Donald Fagen, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Walter Becker of the rock band "Steely Dan" pose for a portrait in 1972. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images -
Kyu Sakamoto. (1941-1985) Japanese singer, best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Aruko" (known as "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached number one in the United States Billboard Hot 100 in June 1963, making Sakamoto the first Asian recording artist to have a number one song on the chart. (Photo by Sjöberg Bildbyrå/ullstein bild via Getty Images) -
Picture taken in 1974 in Stockholm shows the Swedish pop group Abba with its members (L-R) Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus posing after winning the Swedish branch of the Eurovision Song Contest with their song "Waterloo". – Sweden's legendary disco group ABBA announced on April 27, 2018 that they have reunited to record two new songs, 35 years after their last single. The quartet split up in 1982 after dominating the disco scene for more than a decade with hits like "Waterloo", "Dancing Queen", "Mamma Mia" and "Super Trouper". (Photo by Olle LINDEBORG / TT News Agency / AFP) / Sweden OUT (Photo credit should read OLLE LINDEBORG/AFP via Getty Images)
