Favorite Songs of 1974

The year 1974 had so many great songs that I am going to have to resort to simply listing some of them. But I'll write a little about the top ones of this special year. Cat Stevens still had his musical and lyrical magic together with his Oh Very Young. Maria Muldaur's sultry Midnight at the Oasis made we wish for more hits from her. The Spanish group Mocedades had one of my all-time favorite Spanish-language hits with the beautiful Eres Tu. Jim Stafford came out with two memorable songs: the thought-provoking My Girl Bill and the thoroughly hilarious Wildwood Weed. Elton John's The Bitch is Back celebrated survival and revival. Billy Joel's sparkling career took off nationwide with his Piano Man and its fast-paced follow-up Travelin' Prayer. Seals and Crofts had We May Never Pass This Way Again (picked by many high schools as their theme song for 1974) and the introspective King of Nothing. I heard my first Electric Light Orchestra song in '74: Can't Get It Out of My Head. Although it was originally a hit in 1973, Marvin Gaye's slow masterpiece Let's Get It On grew on me the next year. John Denver's Back Home Again was a pleasant, cozy-sounding tune, but his Sunshine On My Shoulders was impressive enough back then for me to make it my #5 favorite song of 1974. The late Jim Croce had a posthumous hit with his sweet love song Time in a Bottle, #4 for me that year. The Japanese electronic musician Isao Tomita produced an album interpreting several of the French composer Claude Debussy's pieces, including my #3 favorite 1974 piece, Arabesque #1. If you've ever watched PBS's star-gazing show, Star Hustler (with Jack Horkhimer), you would recognize Arabesque as its theme music. My #2 song was by the dynamic new group Bachman-Turner Overdrive: their stuttering success You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet. And #1? None other than the great, late John Lennon's infectious, mysterious Number Nine Dream. And now, here are some other great tunes from 1974:

Ruby Red Dress (Helen Reddy)
Taxi (Harry Chapin)
The Way We Were (Barbara Streisand)
Until You Come Back to Me (Aretha Franklin)
Star (Stealer's Wheel)
Mockingbird (Carly Simon & James Taylor)
Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield)
Rock Your Baby (George McCrae)
You and Me Against the World (Helen Reddy)
Nothing From Nothing (Billy Preston)
Beach Baby (First Class)
Do It 'Til You're Satisfied (B.T. Express)
I Can Help (Billy Swan)
Life Is a Rock (Reunion)
When Will I See You Again (The Three Degrees)
Laughter in the Rain (Neil Sedaka)
The Air That I Breathe (Hollies)
The Show Must Go On (Three Dog Night)
Band on the Run (Paul McCartney & Wings)
Taking Care of Business (Bachman-Turner Overdrive)
I'll Have to Say I Love You In a Song (Jim Croce)
I've Been Searching For So Long (Chicago)
Longfellow Serenade (Neil Diamond)
Ride 'Em Cowboy (Paul Davis)
Boogie On Reggae Woman (Stevie Wonder)
Don't You Worry About a Thing (Stevie Wonder)
I Love (Tom T. Hall)
Jazzman (Carole King)

Yes, 1974 was a very exceptional year musically!