20 pop classics from the 1970s that should not be called soft-rock

“Crocodile Rock” by Elton John (1972)

“I remember when rock was young – Me and Susie had so much fun…” That lyric meant something extra if you knew a girl named Susie. Even if you didn’t, it was among the catchiest odes to nostalgia the rock era produced. It came out at a time when Elton John was the biggest recording artist in the world and was his first number-one hit in the USA. It was also his best.

The song was simple. Elton’s piano and organ open with a quick, hummable phrase. The light verse gives way to a slightly heavier chorus with the electric guitar briefly coming to the fore. Then, just repeat. Borderline cheesy organ mixing with borderline rocking guitar. The thing gets in your head and good luck getting it out.

“Killing Me Softly With His Song” by Roberta Flack (1973)

If you’re under fifty, you probably know this as a Fugees song. If you’re a bit older, you remember the Roberta Flack version. That’s the one that hit number one in the Winter of 1973 and was still at the top when Spring arrived five weeks later. It finished the year as Billboard’s third-ranked tune for 1973. What I certainly didn’t know until much later was that Flack’s version was a cover.

A young singer/songwriter named Lori Lieberman had released the original a year earlier. She may or may not have written the song in response to seeing Don McLean perform. There is some rather ugly controversy over who really wrote it. I tend to think Lieberman is primarily responsible, but her one-time mentors, Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, are the officially credited songwriters.

Lieberman’s vocals aren’t anywhere close to Flack’s, who gives the song an easy charm without sacrificing one bit of the intensely intimate feeling. Her previous hit, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” always felt overwrought to me. “Killing Me Softly…” solves that problem. It gets a full-scale production, but that production never overwhelms the beauty of Flack’s vocals.