20 Songs Released in 1977 You Must Hear

My rules:

• Only one song per artist/group
• The song must be released that specific year
• Songs from live albums not allowed
• Restricted to only 20 songs

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A lot of exciting music was released in 1977, here are my 20 chosen songs.

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• Like a Hurricane – Neil Young

  Written by Neil Young in 1975 and first released on the album American Stars ‘n Bars in 1977.
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  Once I thought I saw you
  in a crowded hazy bar,
  Dancing on the light
  from star to star.
  Far across the moonbeam
  I know that’s who you are,
  I saw your brown eyes
  turning once to fire.
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  Check out:

  • Neil Young released “Like A Hurricane” in 1977, 5 great live versions

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• Mannish Boy – Muddy Waters

  From his brilliant album Hard Again (1977) which was produced by Johnny Winter.
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  Everything gonna be alright this mornin’
  Now, when I was a young boy
  At the age of five
  My mother said I was gonna be
  The greatest man alive
  But now I’m a man
  I’m age twenty-one
  I want you to believe me, honey
  We having lots of fun
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  Check out:

  • 20 Songs Released in 1970 You Must Hear

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• “Heroes” – David Bowie

  Written by Brian Eno and Bowie. Produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, it was recorded in July and August 1977, and released on 23 September 1977. A product of Bowie’s “Berlin” period, the track was not a huge hit in the UK or US at the time, but has gone on to become one of Bowie’s signature songs. In January 2016, following Bowie’s death, the song reached a new peak of number 12 in the UK Singles Chart. “‘Heroes'” has been cited as Bowie’s second-most covered song after “Rebel Rebel”.
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  I, I will be king
  And you, you will be queen
  Though nothing, will drive them away
  We can beat them, just for one day
  We can be heroes, just for one day
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• Burma Shave – Tom Waits

  From “Foreign Affairs”, his fourth studio album, released in 1977 on Elektra Entertainment. It was produced by Bones Howe.
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  Licorice tattoo turned a gun metal blue
  Scrawled across the shoulders of a dying town
  Took the one eyed Jacks across the railroad tracks
  And the scar on its belly pulled a stranger passing through
  He’s a juvenile delinquent, never learned how to behave
  But the cops’d never think to look in Burma-Shave
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• Less Than Zero – Elvis Costello

  From his debut album “My Aim Is True”, and the first Costello single that Stiff Records released.
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  Calling Mister Oswald with the swastika tattoo
  There is a vacancy waiting in the English voodoo
  Carving “v” for vandal on the guilty boy’s head
  When he’s had enough of that, maybe you’ll take him to bed
  To teach him he’s alive before he wishes he was dead
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  Check out:

  • 20 Songs you Must hear from 1976

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• White Riot – The Clash

  Released as the band’s first single in March 1977 and also featured on their debut album.
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  White riot – I want to riot
  White riot – a riot of my own
  White riot – I want to riot
  White riot – a riot of my own
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• God Save the Queen – Sex Pistols

  It was released as the band’s second single and was later included on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. The record’s lyrics, as well as the cover, were controversial at the time, and both the BBC and the Independent Broadcasting Authority refused to play the song. The song is an attack on the treatment of working-class people in England in the 1970s by the government.
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  God save the queen
  The fascist regime
  They made you a moron
  A potential H bomb
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• The Passenger – Iggy Pop

  Recorded and released by Iggy Pop on the Lust for Life album in 1977. It was also released as the B-side of the album’s only single, “Success”. It was released as a single in its own right in March 1998, reaching number 22 in the UK Charts.
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  I am a passenger
  And I ride and I ride
  I ride through the city’s backside
  I see the stars come out of the sky
  Yeah, they’re bright in a hollow sky
  You know it looks so good tonight
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  Check out:

  • 20 songs released in 1966 you must hear

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• That Smell – Lynyrd Skynyrd

  Written by Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Allen Collins, it was released in 1977 on the album Street Survivors.
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  Whiskey bottles, and brand new cars
  Oak tree you’re in my way
  There’s too much coke and too much smoke
  Look what’s going on inside you
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• Psycho Killer – Taliking Heads

  Written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth and first played by their band the Artistic in 1974,[4] and as Talking Heads in 1975, with a later version recorded for their 1977 album Talking Heads: 77
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  I can’t seem to face up to the facts
  I’m tense and nervous and I can’t relax
  I can’t sleep ’cause my bed’s on fire
  Don’t touch me I’m a real live wire
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• Blank Generation – Richard Hell and the Voidoids

  Released on “Blank Generation”, the debut studio album by American punk rock band Richard Hell and the Voidoids. It was produced by Richard Gottehrer and released in September 1977 on Sire Records.
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  I was sayin’ let me out of here before I was
  Even born, it’s such a gamble when you get a face
  It’s fascinatin’ to observe what the mirror does
  But when I dine it’s for the wall that I set a place
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  Check out:

  • 21 Songs Released in 1972 You Must Hear

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• Pledging My Love – Elvis Presley

  Released on “Moody Blue” by RCA Records the month before his death in August 1977.
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  Forever my darling our love will be true
  Always and forever I´ll love only you

  Just promise me darling
  Your love in return
  May this fire in my soul dear
  Forever burn
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• Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac

  Released as a single in December 1976. Written and sung by Lindsey Buckingham, it was the first single from the group’s 1977 album Rumours.
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  Loving you
  Isn’t the right thing to do
  How can I ever change things
  That I feel
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• The Eternal Kansas City – Van Morrison

  This was the key song on the 1977 album A Period of Transition, and was his first single released since “Gloria” in 1974.
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  Excuse me do you know the way to Kansas City?
  Excuse me do you know the way to Kansas City?
  Excuse me do you know the way to Kansas City?
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  • 20 songs released in 1973 you must hear

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• True Love Leaves No Traces – Leonard Cohen

  Released on “Death of a Ladies’ Man”, his the fifth studio album. Produced and co-written by Phil Spector, the voice of typically minimalist Cohen was surrounded by Spector’s Wall of Sound, which included multiple tracks of instrument overdubs.
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  As the mist leaves no scar
  On the dark green hill
  So my body leaves no scar
  On you and never will
  Through windows in the dark
  The children come, the children go
  Like arrows with no targets
  Like shackles made of snow
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• Sheena Is a Punk Rocker – Ramones

  Written by Joey Ramone, it is one of the Ramones’ most popular songs, evidence of Joey’s early 1960s surf rock and bubblegum pop influences. It first appeared in May 1977 as a single in the UK where it charted at #22.
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  Well the kids are all hopped up and ready to go
  They’re ready to go now they got their surfboards
  And they’re going to the discotheque Au Go Go
  But she just couldn’t stay she had to break away
  Well New York City really has is all oh yeah, oh yeah
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• Solsbury Hill – Peter Gabriel

  A song about a spiritual experience atop Solsbury Hill in Somerset, England. Gabriel wrote the song after his departure from the progressive rock band Genesis, of which he had been the lead singer since its inception. The song was his debut single.
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  Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
  I could see the city light
  Wind was blowing, time stood still
  Eagle flew out of the night
  He was something to observe
  Came in close, I heard a voice
  Standing, stretching every nerve
  I had to listen had no choice
  I did not believe the information
  I just had to trust imagination
  My heart going boom, boom, boom
  Son, he said, grab your things I’ve come to take you home
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• Belle – Al Green

  From “The Belle Album”, the 12th studio album by soul musician Al Green. It was his first album recorded without longtime producer Willie Mitchell, owner of Green’s former label, Hi Records
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  Belle…
  The Lord and I have been friends for a mighty long time
  Belle…
  Leaving him has never ever really crossed my mind
  Let me say just one thing…
  I’d never go so far
  cause it’s Him no matter who you are
  Belle…
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• In The City – The Jam

  Bilde

  The debut single by English mod revival band The Jam from their album of the same title. It was released on 29 April 1977 and reached No. 40 on the UK Singles Chart in May 1977, making it their first Top 40 single and the beginning of their streak of 18 consecutive Top 40 singles.
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  In the city there’s a thousand things I want to say to you
  But whenever I approach you, you make me look a fool
  I wanna say, I wanna tell you
  About the young ideas
  But you turn them into fears
  In the city there’s a thousand faces, all shining bright
  And those golden faces are under twenty-five
  They wanna say, they gonna tell ya
  About the young idea
  You better listen now you’ve said your bit-a, go!
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• Dancing in the Moonlight (It’s Caught Me in Its Spotlight) – Thin Lizzy

  From “Bad Reputation”, the eighth studio album by the Irish band Thin Lizzy, released in 1977.
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  When I passed you in the doorway
  You took me with a glance
  I should have took that last bus home
  But I asked you for a dance
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These came close:

• Trans-Europe Express – Kraftwerk
• Roadrunner – The Modern Lovers
• By This River – Brian Eno
• Funkentelechy – Parliament
• I Wanna Pick You Up – Beach Boys
• Peaches – The Stranglers
• Deacon Blues – Steely Dan
• Frankie Teardrop – Suicide
• We Will Rock You – Queen
• Take This Job and Shove It – Johnny Paycheck
• Paradise by the Dashboard Light – Meat Loaf

Spotify Playlist:

Inspiration:

• My OCD Brain
• Wikipedia
• Heartaches by the Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles,  written in 2003 by David Cantwell and Bill Friskics-Warren
• The Heart of Rock and Soul – The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, by Dave Marsh, 1989
• 1001 Songs: You Must Hear Before You Die, by Robert Dimery, 2015
• 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, by Robert Dimery, 2010
• robertchristgau.com – Lists (Robert Christgau website)

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• Songs You MUST Hear (by year)

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-Egil