Every Friday, I’m publishing my top ten songs from a single year and this week it’s the turn of 1970.
For previous top ten tunes, please click on the year: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
The first Glastonbury Festival
In 1970, the half crown coin ceased to be legal tender, the grave of Karl Marx was vandalised by anti-Germanic racists at Highgate, London, four years after the declaration of independence Rhodesia is finally declared a republic and severs ties with the British Crown, 18 victims of Thalidomide are awarded £370,00 in compensation, Paul McCartney announces that he has left the Beatles and files a lawsuit against the other members of the band- effectively ending the band, Tonga became independent from the UK, the World Cup takes place in Mexico, the bodies of two children are discovered in shallow graves in woodlands in Essex and they form the Babes in the Woods case, the first General Election takes place where 18 year-olds can vote– the Conservatives win and Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister, British Army officers battle with the IRA in Belfast and 3 civilians are killed & 10 officers injured, 112 people are killed when a Manchester to Barcelona plane crashes into mountains in Spain- no one survives, dockers vote to strike which led to a state of emergency as food supplies become short, the Commonwealth Games take place in Edinburgh, riots take place in Notting Hill, Jimi Hendrix dies in London from a suspected drug-induced heart attack, the first Glastonbury Festival is held, the Gay Liberation Front arranged it’s first march in London, the Apollo 13 mission has a problem, the world’s first Jumbo Jet has its first commercial flight from New York to London, the US invades Cambodia, a cyclone in Bangladesh kills 500,000, 100,000 gallons of oil are spilled into the English Channel creating a huge oil slick, a fire at a nightclub in France leaves 142 teenage clubbers dead, Janis Joplin dies of a heroin overdose and the films Kelly’s Heroes, MASH, Catch-22, Airport, The Railway Children and Let It Be are released.
Welcome to the 70s! As bereft as I was to wave goodbye to the 60s, the 70s start off strong. Here’s all my favourites, in no particular order. Spotify playlist at the end as always.
1. Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine by James Brown
2. Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) by Stevie Wonder (we played this at our wedding as we signed the register. Terribly tacky, I know, but we cared very little)
3. Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell
4. (They Long to Be) Close to You by Carpenters
5. Cecilia by Simon and Garfunkel (controversial that I picked this instead of Bridge Over Troubled Waters?)
6. ABC by the Jackson 5 (Interestingly, I have featured The Jackson 5/The Jacksons more than I ever did with Michael Jackson as a soloist in these lists)
7. Band of Gold by Freda Payne (the dancing in this video is sublime)
8. Lola by the Kinks
9. Your Song by Elton John
10. Let It Be by the Beatles (the last time the lads will feature in these lists *sniff*)
Some people may be sick of hearing this song, but I think my favourite this week is Elton. Pray tell me, WHICH ONE IS YOURS?
See you next week for 1971!
Just Another Blog From a Woman 
Apollo 13 had us on the edge of our seats for as long as it lasted. I’d forgotten the Railway Children was that old. It’s always a surprise to be reminded that Jenny Agutter isn’t that much older than me, since she seemed so grown up and capable in that film.
I remember Big Yellow Taxi, mainly because I had no idea what a parking lot was. If you’d included Bridge over Troubled Water, that would have been my favourite.
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I can only imagine how gripping Apollo 13 must’ve been. Railway Children is such a lovely film. Ah yes, I used to love Bridge Over Troubled Water, but I think I over played it. It doesn’t quite have the same effect on me these days.
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I guess 1970 just wasn’t my year–I’m not a huge fan of any of these, although I’m a huge fan of your blog:-)
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Aah Fanks babez 👍🏻
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😊
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I LOVE Your Song. Definitely my absolutely favorite on this list. Though the Carpenters are hard to beat. We’re getting into the era when I was alive and my parents would play some of these songs on road trips. Not a lot of them, because they weren’t exactly music people. But it’s a comforting thing to remember being a kid, safe in the back seat of the Buick Sedan heading somewhere with Elton John singing to me.
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Aah I’m so glad you love Your Song too and that it also evokes memories. So many of these songs from the 60s and now the 70s remind me of my childhood. Not because I was alive when they were first released, but because my parents also played them when I was child. The Beatles, the Carpenters and Simon & Garfunkel are all ones that bring back childhood memories.
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Oh yes. I know we grew up thousands of miles away–but look how music connects us.
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Stevie Wonder for me this time 🙂
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It’s such a joyful, feel-good tune 😀
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Let it be.
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Lovely song. No more Beatles now- whaaaaaaaa 😩
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So sad.
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Such great songs! I think I will plump for Big Yellow Taxi! I thought the Call the Midwife Thalidomide story line was brilliant as it wasn’t something I was aware of.
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The Thalidomide thing was horrific. So scary. Big Yellow Taxi- great choice 👍🏻
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Another tough one. I think Band of Gold because I loved it when I was a kid.
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Yes! So glad there’s a vote for Freda. I love that song so much.
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