Listen to this man. Seven years of college, you know. Trying to reason with 2020 and, now, 2022.

Monday, May 17, 2021

The Songs of 1970-- Part 1: 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'

Of course, any song from 1970 is going to be real special to me.  I find that the songs from when I was in junior high, high school and college are my favorites for some reason.  1970 was a college year for me at NIU.

From the August 2, 2020 Parade Magazine "The songs of 1970" by Jim Farber.

You can learn a lot about any given year by listening to its most popular songs.  In 1970, the No. 1-selling single was Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," an ode to everlasting hope and unwavering faith.  (That song always reminds me of NIU's Tune Room (also called Tomb Room) at the University Center.  If I heard it once there, I heard it lots.  Make sure you listen to Aretha Franklin's version which came out a year later.)

Nearly as popular were the Beatles' "Let It Be,"  "O-o-h Child" by the Five Stairsteps and B.J. Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head."  All of these are meant to soothe and uplift.

These singles, and I'm sure you remember everyone of them, wound up defining life in 1970, a turbulent year in American history and beyond.  "It was a time of the Vietnam War, riots in the cities and [following] the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy," says Keni Burke, who crooned the Five Stairsteps' calming anthem "O-o-h Child," which assured us that "things are gonna get easier."

--RoadBridge

TEENAGERS AND CATS:  Cats and teenagers can lie on the living room sofa for hours on end without moving, barely breathing.


No comments: