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 wonderful music was released in 1979, here are my 20 chosen songs.

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• And the Healing Has Begun – Van Morrison

  

  Released on his 1979 album, Into the Music.
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  And we’ll walk down the avenue again
  And we’ll sing all the songs from way back when
  And we’ll walk down the avenue again and the healing has begun
  And we’ll walk down the avenue in style
  And we’ll walk down the avenue and we’ll smile
  And we’ll say “baby, ain’t it all worthwhile?” when the healing has begun
  I want you to put on your pretty summer dress
  You can wear your Easter bonnet and all the rest
  And I want to make love to you yes, yes, yes, when the healing has begun
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• London Calling – The Clash

  

  Released as a single from the band’s 1979 double album London Calling. This apocalyptic, politically charged rant features the band’s famous combination of reggae basslines and punk electric guitar and vocals.
  –
  London calling to the faraway towns
  Now war is declared and battle come down
  London calling to the underworld
  Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls
  London calling, now don’t look to us
  Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust
  London calling, see we ain’t got no swing
  ‘Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing
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  Check out:

  • 20 Songs Released in 1977 You Must Hear

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• My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) – Neil Young & Crazy Horse

  

  I´m kind of bending my rules a bit on this one…

  Released on “Rust Never Sleeps” – July 2, 1979, by Reprise Records. Most of the album was recorded live, then overdubbed in the studio.
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  My my, hey hey
  Rock and roll is here to stay
  It’s better to burn out
  Than to fade away
  My my, hey hey.

  Out of the blue
  and into the black
  They give you this,
  but you pay for that
  And once you’re gone,
  you can never come back
  When you’re out of the blue
  and into the black.
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• Slow Train – Bob Dylan

  

  The song first appeared on his 1979 album Slow Train Coming. In the United States, it was released as the follow up single to “Gotta Serve Somebody.” It was also released as the lead song from Dylan’s 1989 live album with the Grateful Dead, Dylan & the Dead. Music critic Paul Williams has called it “the one track [on Slow Train Coming] that must be listened to again and again and again, inexhaustible, essential.” Rolling Stone Magazine editor Jann Wenner has called it “nothing less than Dylan’s most mature and profound song about America.”
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  Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted
  Can’t help but wonder what’s happenin’ to my companions
  Are they lost or are they found
  Have they counted the cost it’ll take to bring down
  All their earthly principles they’re gonna have to abandon?
  There’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend
  –
  Spotify:
  
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  Live in Toronton 1980:
  
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• Dancing Barefoot – Patti Smith

  

  Wriitten by Patti Smith and Ivan Kral, and released as a second single from the Patti Smith Group’s 1979 album Wave.According to the album sleeve, the song was dedicated to women such as Amedeo Modigliani’s mistress Jeanne Hébuterne.
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  She is benediction
  She is addicted to thee
  She is the root connection
  She is connecting with he
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  Check out:

  • 20 songs released in 1974 you must hear

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• Oliver’s Army – Elvis Costello and the Attractions

  

  Written by Elvis Costello, originally performed by Elvis Costello and The Attractions, and appearing on the album Armed Forces in 1979. It remains his most successful single, spending three weeks at number 2 in the UK Singles Chart.
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  Don’t start that talking
  I could talk all night
  My mind goes sleepwalking
  While I’m putting the world to right
  Call careers information
  Have you got yourself an occupation?
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• Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd

  

  The song first appears on the 1979 double album The Wall. It was also released as a single in 1980 with “Hey You” as the B-side. It is one of only three songs on the album for which writing credits are shared between guitarist David Gilmour and bassist Roger Waters. The chorus music and guitar solos were written by Gilmour while Waters contributed the lyrics and the music for the verses. An early version of the song was included under the working title on the “Immersion Box Set” of The Wall, released in 2012.
  –
  Is there anybody in there?
  Just nod if you can hear me
  Is there anyone at home?
  Come on now
  I hear you’re feeling down
  Well I can ease your pain
  Get you on your feet again
  Relax
  I’ll need some information first
  Just the basic facts
  Can you show me where it hurts?
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• Boys Don’t Cry – The Cure

  

  Released in the UK as a stand-alone single in June 1979, and was included as the title track on Boys Don’t Cry, the American equivalent to Three Imaginary Boys.
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  I would say I’m sorry
  If I thought that it would change your mind
  But I know that this time
  I have said too much
  Been too unkind
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  Check out:

  • 20 songs released in 1966 you must hear

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• The Gypsy’s Wife – Leonard Cohen

  

  First released on his sixth studio album Recent Songs (1979). Live recordings of it appear as the fourth track on Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979 (2001) and as the thirteenth track on Cohen’s Live in London (2009). It continued to feature regularly in his stage performances until his death.
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  And where, where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight
  I’ve heard all the wild reports, they can’t be right
  But whose head is this she’s dancing with on the threshing floor
  whose darkness deepens in her arms a little more
  And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?
  Where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?
  –
  
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• Passion Is No Ordinary Word – Graham Parker & the Rumour

  

  From Squeezing Out Sparks, the fourth studio album by English musician Graham Parker and his band the Rumour. It was voted album of the year in the 1979 Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics Poll and later ranked number 334 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
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  It worked much better in a fantasy
  Imagination’s one thing that comes easy to me
  Cause this is nothing else if not unreal
  When I pretend to touch you, you pretend to feel
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• Brass in Pocket – Pretenders

  

  A single by The Pretenders released in November 1979. It was written by Chrissie Hynde and James Honeyman-Scott, and produced by Chris Thomas.
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  Got brass in pocket
  Got bottle I’m gonna use it
  Intention I feel inventive
  Gonna make you, make you, make you notice
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  Check out:

  • 21 Songs Released in 1972 You Must Hear

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• Cruel to Be Kind – Nick Lowe

  

  A 1979 single by Nick Lowe, co-written by Lowe and his former Brinsley Schwarz bandmate Ian Gomm, that peaked at No. 12 in both the UK and U.S. charts that summer. It also peaked at No.12 in both Canada and New Zealand.
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  Oh I can’t take another heartache
  Though you say you’re my friend, I’m at my wit’s end
  You say your love is bonafide, but that don’t coincide
  With the things that you do
  And when I ask you to be nice, you say
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• Heaven – Talking Heads

  

  From their 1979 album Fear of Music.
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  Everyone is trying
  To get to the bar
  The name of the bar
  The bar is called heaven
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  Check out:

  • Songs You Must Hear (by year)

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• Disorder – Joy Division

  

  From Unknown Pleasures their debut studio album, released on 15 June 1979 on Tony Wilson’s Factory Records label.
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  I’ve been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand,
  Could these sensations make me feel the pleasures of a normal man?
  These sensations barely interest me for another day,
  I’ve got the spirit, lose the feeling, take the shock away.
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  Check out:

  • 20 songs released in 1973 you must hear

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• Highway To Hell – AC/DC

  

  The opening track of AC/DC’s 1979 album Highway to Hell. It was initially released as a single in 1979.
  The song was written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon Scott, with Angus Young credited for writing the guitar riff which became an instant classic
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  Living easy, living free
  Season ticket on a one-way ride
  Asking nothing, leave me be
  Taking everything in my stride
  Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme
  Ain’t nothing I would rather do
  Going down, party time
  My friends are gonna be there too
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• Atomic – Blondie

  

  Written by Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri and produced by Mike Chapman. It was released as the third single from the band’s Platinum-selling 1979 album Eat to the Beat.
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  Uh huh make me tonight
  Tonight make it right
  Uh huh make me tonight
  Tonight, tonight
  Oh, your hair is beautiful
  Oh, tonight, atomic
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• Broken English – Marianne Faithfull

  

  From Broken English, her seventh studio album. It was released on 2 November 1979 by Island Records. The album marked a major comeback for Faithfull after years of drug abuse, homelessness, and suffering from anorexia. It is often regarded as her “definitive recording” and Faithfull herself described it as her “masterpiece”.
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  Cold lonely, puritan
  What are you fighting for?
  It’s not my security
  It’s just an old war
  Not even a cold war
  Don’t say it in Russian
  Don’t say it in German
  Say it in broken English
  Say it in broken English
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• Boys Keep Swinging – David Bowie

  

  Released as a single from the album Lodger on 27 April 1979.
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  Heaven loves ya
  The clouds part for ya
  Nothing stands in your way
  When you’re a boy
  Clothes always fit ya
  Life is a pop of the cherry
  When you’re a boy
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  Spotify:
  
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• Amanda – Waylon Jennings

  

  Written by Bob McDill and recorded by Waylon Jennings in 1974, but was not released as a single at that time. More than 4½ years later, new overdubs were added to the original track and placed on his first greatest hits album. In April 1979 the song was issued as a single, and it soon became one of the biggest country hits of 1979.
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  I’ve held it all inward, God knows, I’ve tried
  But it’s an awful awakening in a country boy’s life
  To look in the mirror in total surprise
  At the hair on my shoulders and the age in my eyes
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• Farewell Party – Gene Watson

  

  Written by Lawton Williams. Lawton also had the original recording in 1960. Little Jimmy Dickens recorded the song in 1961. It was also recorded by American country music artist Gene Watson. His cover was released in February 1979 as the second single from the album Reflections. The song reached #5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.
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  When the last, breath of life
  Is gone from, my body
  And my lips, are as cold as the sea
  When my friends gather ’round
  For my farewell party
  Won’t you, pretend you love me
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These came close:

• The Eton Rifles – The Jam
• Rapper’s Delight – The Sugarhill Gang (single)
• California Über Alles – Dead Kennedys (single)
• Cruisin’ – Smokey Robinson
• Message in a Bottle – The Police
• Low Budget – The Kinks
• Just Like Real People – Kendalls
• A Message to You, Rudy – The Specials
• Good Times – CHIC
• In The Evening – Led Zeppelin
• Jimmy Jimmy – The Undertones
• Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson
• Love Song – The Damned
• Ring My Bell – Anita Ward
• Funkytown – Lipps Inc.
• Human Fly – The Cramps
• Lost In Music – Sister Sledge

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)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_btn title=”Alldylan / Borntolisten @ Facebook” color=”blue” i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-facebook-official” add_icon=”true” link=”url:https://www.facebook.com/JohannasVisions/||target: _blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_style=”outline” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-link” css_animation=”bounceIn”]Check out:

• Songs You MUST Hear (by year)

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-Egil