1972: 21 Songs Released in 1972 You Must Hear

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• Songs You MUST Hear (by year)

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First: Historical events

from: infoplease.com

• President Nixon makes unprecedented eight-day visit to Communist China and meets with Mao Zedong (Feb. 17).
• Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland in bid for peace (March 24).
• Eleven Israeli athletes at Olympic Games in Munich are killed after eight members of an Arab terrorist group invades Olympic Village; five guerrillas and one policeman are also killed (Sept. 5).
• Nixon orders “Christmas bombing” of North Vietnam (Dec)
• Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama is shot by Arthur H. Bremer at Laurel, Md., political rally (May 15)
• US Supreme Court rules that death penalty is unconstitutional (June 29)

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My rules:

• Only one song per artist/group
• The song must be released that specific year
• Songs from live albums not allowed (that’s another & more complicated list)

Please feel free to publish your own favorite songs from 1972 in the comments section…

AND lists like this are supposed to be fun! Don’t take it too seriously.
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Here we go…

• Shine A Light – The Rolling Stones

  Released on “Exile on Main St.” – a double album by English rock band The Rolling Stones. It was released on 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records. The album’s music incorporates rock and roll, blues, soul, country, and gospel genres.
  In 2003, the album was ranked 7th on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

  Saw you stretched out in Room Ten O Nine
  With a smile on your face and a tear right in your eye.
  Oh, couldn’t see to get a line on you, my sweet honey love. 

  Berber jew’lry jangling down the street,
  Make you shut your eyes at ev’ry woman that you meet.
  Could not seem to get a high on you, my sweet honey love. 

  May the good Lord shine a light on you,
  Make every song (you sing) your favorite tune.
  May the good Lord shine a light on you,
  Warm like the evening sun.

  
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• Sail Away – Randy Newman

  
  Released on his brilliant album “Sail Away” (1972).

  In America, you get food to eat
  Won’t have to run through the jungle and scuff up your feet
  You just sing about Jesus, drink wine all day
  It’s great to be an American

  
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• Always On My Mind – Elvis Presley

  
  Recorded on March 29, 1972, a few weeks after his February separation from wife Priscilla.
  Released as a single November 1972.

  Maybe I didn’t treat you
  Quite as good as I should have
  Maybe I didn’t love you
  Quite as often as I could have
  Little things I should have said and done
  I just never took the timeYou were always on my mind
  You were always on my mind

  
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• Walk on the Wild Side – Lou Reed

  
  Released as a single November 8, 1972 – from the album “Transformer”.

  Holly came from Miami, F.L.A.
  Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.
  Plucked her eyebrows on the way
  Shaved her legs and then he was a she
  She says, “Hey, babe,
  Take a walk on the wild side.”
  Said, “Hey, honey,
  Take a walk on the wild side.
  





• Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard – Paul Simon

  
  Released on “Paul Simon” – the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon as a solo artist. It was released in January 1972, nearly two years after he split up with longtime musical partner Art Garfunkel. The album represented the definitive announcement of the breakup of Simon & Garfunkel. Originally released on Columbia Records, it was then issued under the Warner Bros. label and is now back with Columbia through Sony. It was ranked No. 266 on the list of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
  The Song was also released as a single in May 1972.

  The mama pajama rolled out a bed
  And she ran to the police station
  When the papa found out he began to shout

  
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• Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone – The Temptations

  
  A psychedelic soul song, written by Motown songwriters Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong as a single for Motown act The Undisputed Truth in 1971. “Papa” was released as a single September 28, 1972, and peaked at number 63 on the pop charts and number 24 on the R&B charts.

  It was the third of September
  That day I’ll always remember, yes I will
  ‘Cause that was the day, that my daddy died
  I never got a chance to see him
  Never heard nothin’ but bad things about him
  Momma I’m depending on you, to tell me the truth
  Momma just hung her head and said, son
  

  There are different versions, BUT you need to hear the full album version:
  
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• Thirteen – Big Star

  Written by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell.
  Rolling Stone describes it “one of rock’s most beautiful celebrations of adolescence”, and rated it #406 a list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

  Won’t you let me walk you home from school?
  Won’t you let me meet you at the pool?
  Maybe Friday I can
  Get tickets for the dance
  And I’ll take you, ooh ooh
  

  
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• Spain – Chick Corea

  An instrumental jazz fusion composition by jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea. It is probably Corea’s most prominent piece, and some would consider it a modern jazz standard.
  Spain was composed in 1971 and appeared in its original (and most well-known) rendition on the album Light as a Feather (released in 1972).
  _
  
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• Willin’ – Little Feat

  Released on the album “Sailin Shoes” (1972)

  [vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]A trucker’s lament written and sung by Lowell George, “Willin'” is the tune so nice, Little Feat did it twice: notably different versions of the song appear on both of the group’s first two albums, Little Feat and Sailin’ Shoes. The first is nearly a solo performance by George, accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar and Ry Cooder’s bottleneck slide, which at times overpowers George’s gruff, flat vocals. Sailin’ Shoes was produced by Ted Templeman, who gives the band a bit more of a pop polish, and in the remade version, Cooder’s bottleneck slide is replaced by Sneaky Pete Kleinow’s pedal steel and the rest of the band step into the arrangement, with Bill Payne’s piano adding a particularly welcome country element. George jumbles the lyrics around a bit this time, and sings them with a bit more sweetness. While the starkness of the original is perhaps a bit more thematically appropriate (and Cooder’s guitar absolutely makes it), there’s little question that the remake is a better-sounding song.
  -Stewart Mason (allmusic.com)[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  –
  I been warped by the rain, driven by the snow
  I’m drunk and dirty don’t ya know, and I’m still, willin’
  Out on the road late at night, Seen my pretty Alice in every head light
  Alice, Dallas Alice
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• Joe Turner Blues – Mississippi John Hurt

  Released on Last Sessions in 1972

  Joe Turner, he’s the man I do despise
  Joe Turner the man I do despise
  Goin’ around trying to take men’s wives

  
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• All the Young Dudes – Mott The Hoople

  Written by David Bowie, originally recorded and released as a single by Mott the Hoople in 1972. NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray have described the track as “one of that rare breed: rock songs which hymn the solidarity of the disaffected without distress or sentimentality”. In 2004, Rolling Stone rated “All the Young Dudes” No. 253 in its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and on its 2010 update was ranked at number 256. It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
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  How he kick it in the head when he was 25
  Don’t wanna stay alive
  When you’re 25
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• Day Dreaming – Aretha Franklin

  Released from her album Young, Gifted and Black, it spent two weeks at the top of the Hot Soul Singles chart in April 1972 and peaked at number five on theBillboard Hot 100.
  –
  He’s the kind of guy that would say
  Hey, baby let’s get away
  Let’s go some place, huh
  Well I don’t care
  He’s the kind of guy that you give your everything
  You trust your heart, share all of your love
  Till death do you part
  –
  
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• You Are the Sunshine of My Life – Stevie Wonder

  The song became Wonder’s third #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and his first #1 on the Easy Listening chart. It won Wonder a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. This song was the second single released from the 1972 album entitled Talking Book.
  –
  You are the sunshine of my life
  That’s why I’ll always be around
  You are the apple of my eye
  Forever you’ll stay in my heart
  –
  
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• You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio – Joni Mitchell

  Written and originally recorded by Canadian folk artist Joni Mitchell – released as a single in Nov 1972. It was released on her fifth studio album entitled For the Roses.
  –
  If you’re driving into town
  With a dark cloud above you
  Dial in the number
  Who’s bound to love you
  Oh honey you turn me on
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• Rock and Roll – Led Zeppelin

  First released as the second track from the band’s fourth album in 1971, with a guest appearance by The Rolling Stones pianist Ian Stewart. Released as a single 21 February 1972.
  –
  It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled,
  It’s been a long time since I did the Stroll.
  Ooh, let me get it back, let me get it back,
  Let me get it back, baby, where I come from.
  It’s been a long time, been a long time,
  Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time. Yes it has.
  –
  
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• I’ll Take You There – The Staple Singers

  A number-one single written and produced by Al Bell and performed by soul/gospel family band The Staple Singers, released on Stax Records in February 1972. The song spent a total of fifteen weeks on the charts and reached number one on the Hot 100.
  –
  Oh, mmm, I know a place
  Ain’t nobody cryin’, ain’t nobody worried
  Ain’t no smilin’ faces, mmm, no no
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• Rock and Roll Lullaby – B. J. Thomas

  Written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
  Released as a single in 1972.
  –
  She was just sixteen
  And all alone when I came to be
  So we grew up together
  Our mama child and me
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• Garden Party – Rick Nelson

  Single released in 1972.
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  I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends
  A chance to share old memories and play our songs again
  When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name
  No one recognized me, I didn’t look the same
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• If You Don’t Know Me by Now – Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes

  Written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and recorded by the Philly soul musical group Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, which became their first hit after being released as a single in 1972 topping the US R&B chart and peaking at number three on the US Pop chart.
  –
  (If you don’t know me by now)
  You will never, never, never know me, Whooooa
  All the things that we’ve been through
  You should understand me
  Like I understand you
  Now baby, I know the difference
  Between right and wrong
  I ain’t gonna do nothin’
  To upset our happy home
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• Rocket Man – Elton John

  Released as a single 14 April 1972.
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  She packed my bags last night pre-flight
  Zero hour nine a.m.
  And I’m gonna be high as a kite by then
  I miss the earth so much I miss my wife
  It’s lonely out in space
  On such a timeless flight
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• Virginia Plain – Roxy Music

  Released as their debut single in August 1972. Written by Roxy frontman Bryan Ferry, “Virginia Plain” was recorded by his band in July 1972 at London’s Command Studios.
  –
  Make me a deal and make it straight
  All signed and sealed, I’ll take it
  To Robert E. Lee I’ll show it
  I hope and pray he don’t blow it ’cause
  We’ve been around a long time just try try try tryin’ to
  Make the big time
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Spotify Playlist:

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• Songs You MUST Hear (by year)

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-Egil