"What Were They Thinking?"

70s songs that are wrong on so many levels but we still love anyway.

The opening lines of this song are so absolutely horrifying, it’s ridiculous. It does redeem itself as it goes along, but those opening lines sound like all the horrible things we have been reading about in “the files” lately. That being said, this song kicks ass. The Ides of March were incredibly talented. Don’t believe me, look them up and see what their members got up to from the time they split up in 1973 until they reunited in 1990.

I have always loved and will always love this song. Go ahead, judge me. It’s gonna get worse. Stop reading if you are easily triggered by songs that are politically incorrect or may not have aged well (debatable). This post is for the rebels, the adventurous, the ones with a sense of humor, and the ones that can understand these were products of a different time.

Now, I could do a whole post covering all the songs that reference underage girls, but that’s been done before. We all know them. We still listen to many of them. Have the aged well? Some better than others. If you looking for a list of things that were wildly inappropriate, I found this in my research. It’s not comprehensive but it gives you a good idea.

Moving on from creepy sexual innuendo to cultural appropriation on steroids.

Now, before you get too hysterical, this song was written by John Loudermilk and first recorded by Marvin Rainwater in 1959. Marvin was one quarter Cherokee. It was then recorded by Don Fardon in 1967, which went to #3 on the UK charts, which was total appropriation. Mark Lindsay, the lead singer of Paul Revere And The Raiders was apparently of Cherokee descent as well. So, there is slightly less cultural appropriation here than there appears on the surface. This was a No. 1 hit song in 1971. I was 5 years old and it’s one of my first memories of AM radio. I loved this song from the moment I heard it. Is it filled with stereotypes? You betcha. Does it still, somehow, have a positive message? Yes. When you think about it, it’s actually pretty “woke” for 1959.

Continuing in a similar vain, from the same year (1971) - no, I am not making this up. WTAF? Teenage pregnancy, Romani stereotypes, gambling, and prostitution landed at No. 1 and received two Grammy nominations. Another song that 5 year old me was singing along to, completely oblivious. Yes, I still enjoy it. I confess.

Then we have the anthem for body shaming and naughty nannies. A sentence that surely should never have been written. I don’t even know where to start with this one. Does it hold the same nostalgia for me as the previous songs? Nope, but do I still sing along to it when it comes on the radio? Yes. Heavy sigh.

What about Mr. Eric Clapton’s Cocaine (written by JJ Cale)? Now, I don’t know about you, but I have never been one for drugs. There are tons of great songs about drugs: White Rabbit, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Last Dance With Mary Jane, Pusherman, One Toke Over The Line, Mother’s Little Helper, Eight Miles High, Gold Dust Woman, etc. All of these are amazing tunes. Just because we don’t partake, doesn’t mean we can’t relate. However, all these other songs have the decency to try and be coy about their meaning. Metaphor abounds, except in Cocaine. It has the audacity to just lay it all out there and we don’t care.

How this became the theme song of a top grossing movie and one of the longest running tv shows of all time is still bewildering. Again, it was a different time. Skip this one if you are triggered by such things. The original from the film is a little odd honestly, syrupy delivery of the vocals, but the music, oh the music. I still love this song.

The songs about sexism are also too numerous to list. Sadly, misogyny is a go-to since, well, forever. However, once in a while there is one that still rises above its baser roots and is so damn groovy, we can’t help but love it. For me, this is one of those songs.

The 70’s were also notorious for novelty songs. Most of them are terrible, total cringe. But, there are two that I absolutely love. Both share a common theme. The first one is from the movie Smokey and The Bandit. This song just makes you want to haul ass and perhaps, take up bootlegging. It is another great example of a perfect composition written for the movie, harkening back to my post about sync music. Jerry Reed played one of the more lovable characters in the movie, which was also a nice touch. Of course, Fred - the Bassett Hound is the one that stole every scene.

The other one is Convoy. To call this a song, is perhaps generous. Whatever it is, it is timeless as far as I am concerned; and it contains one of the greatest lines ever written:

Well, we shot the line
We went for broke
With a thousand screamin' trucks
And eleven long haired Friends of Jesus
In a Chartreuse microbus”

Next up, we have a song about an “upstart” with “interesting” ethics. This musical actually started as a rock opera in 1976. The musical Evita had its first opening in 1978. Sinead O’Connor covered Don’t Cry For Me Argentina in 1992 and Madonna brought it back again in the 1996 film. It get’s covered a lot. Here is a more recent cover that I think is quite good. Eva Peron’s life was filled with contradictions. While she was very publicly supportive of the poor, healthcare, women’s voting rights and other worthy causes, she chose to live in luxury, supported her husband’s autocratic rule and was believed to have harbored fascist fugitives. She remains a polarizing figure in Argentina to this day. Love her or hate her, the song immortalized her.

I will leave you with this one. Come on, you knew a post like this could only end one way. This is another song that is morbidly depressing. It spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Top 100. Critics have panned the song since its release, but the people spoke. Do I still sing along when it comes on, yeah, I confess, I do.

Regular readers will know that I am a devoted fan of 70s music. I felt like a look back at some of the more bizarre yet iconic songs of that decade would be fun. There are songs from every generation that have not aged well, been cancelled or altered to be more PC, or have been relegated to the dusty bins of thrift stores, garages, attics or flea markets.

Stealing a page out of The Twelve Inch (Disco/80s) playbook, I am going to guess you might want a few more. So here you go. A murder ballad from Vicki Lawrence from 1972. Another one that I can remember singing along to at the tender age of 6. Reba McEntire brought this one back in 1991.

Another one that is controversial is Fancy. Here’s an amazing version from the Carol Burnette show. Bobbie wrote this and performed it originally. It charted fairly well and crossed over on the country and adult contemporary charts.

Wikipedia has this little interesting tidbit about the song that I find fascinating:

“Much of the fictional Fancy story had parallels in Gentry's own life: she too had grown up in poverty in the South, and a month after the song was released, she married the casino magnate Bill Harrah in a marriage that would last four months. She also cited the film Ruby Gentry, from which she took her stage surname, as an inspiration for both the song and her personal life.”

Reba also brought this one back to life in 1990. And Kelly Clarkson sang it at the Kennedy Center, when Reba was honored. But for me, this will always be Bobbie’s song. I was too young to remember this one when it first came out, but ever since I discovered it, I have loved it.

I could keep going… Chris Bro - I am having a rabbit hole moment. Send help.

For the young folks in the audience - did you know any of these songs? Are you shocked and appalled? Or, are you intrigued by some of these?

For the crowd in my age group - did you love these too? Or did you hate them? What questionable songs do you still love even if you hear them differently now?

Trust me, there were many more that I could have featured but I tried to exercise a little restraint.

Controversial? Timeless? Horrific? Jump in the comments and let’s rumble.

Have a great weekend.

Taz