3 Emotional Lyrics From 1975 That Still Hit Just As Hard Today

Emotional lyrics endure because even when they’re sung in 1975, the feelings never expire with time. They connect us across generations, as you’ll notice in these classic songs below. These tracks, released 50 years ago, travel from New York City to Aspen to Nashville. But I imagine they still hit you the same today, no matter where you are.

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“Idiot Wind” by Bob Dylan

If you’ve never felt like an idiot, you likely haven’t been paying attention to things you’ve done or said. Humans, myself very much included, are proficient at messing things up. We say the wrong thing, write the wrong thing, and consistently behave in miserable ways toward each other. Then we convince ourselves otherwise with self-deception and personal myths, all viewed through the foggy and unfocused lens of nostalgia.

In “Idiot Wind”, Bob Dylan grapples with fame and a failing marriage. However, Dylan has always been good at throwing interpreters off the track. And the following verse says as much about our collective experience today as it did in 1975.

Idiot wind, blowing through the buttons of our coats,
Blowing through the letters that we wrote.
Idiot wind, blowing through the dust upon our shelves.
We’re idiots, babe,
It’s a wonder we can even feed ourselves.  

“Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac

Stevie Nicks uses an avalanche metaphor to describe the shaky ground one stands on at any given moment. Though she writes in first person, the “I” could easily be you. Relationships, friendships, families, careers, and health teeter constantly. The wobbly reality of life. The fleeting moments of joy followed by grief. Nicks sings about climbing a mountain, like a kind of conquering. Yet her reflection in the snowy hills is all that remains before everything crashes. The reflection is an image. An image can be a semblance, a reproduction, but it’s never the real thing. And it always represents the past.

And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills,
Well, the landslide will bring it down.
Oh-oh, the landslide will bring it down.

“Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell

One doesn’t need to be an aspiring country star, rock star, or any kind of star to get the sentiment of this tune. We’re all taught we must “pay our dues” to succeed. It’s how we earn success. But paying dues also implies pain. Circling back to the arts, any struggling musician, especially here in Nashville, is well aware of the humiliating reality of dues paid. And often, dues—not cash—are the only thing you’re ever paid. Campbell mentions Broadway, Nashville’s main drag of honky tonks, drunk tourists, pedal taverns, and dreams. Yet, the hustle continues.

I’ve been walking these streets so long,
Singing the same old song,
I know every crack in the dirty sidewalks of Broadway.
Where hustle’s the name of the game,
And nice guys get washed away like the snow in the rain.

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