10. “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” by Three Dog Night (11th)
Remember how I said “Long & Winding Road” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” were better in their simpler forms? Just to prove that isn’t always the case, Three Dog Night took a cool Randy Newman piano song and turned it into a minor epic about an amateur at an orgy. I can still hear Jimmy Greenspoon’s electric piano in my dreams.
9. “I’ll Be There” by the Jackson 5 (7th)
“I’ll Be There” and “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” are the two songs that I have ranked almost exactly where Billboard had them ranked. But there’s a major difference with this one. In less than one year, from December 1969 to October 1970, this band of brothers from Indiana released four albums for Motown. This song came from the third, creatively titled Third Album.
It was something of a change from their earlier singles and showed two things. First, Berry Gordy was going to milk these boys for everything he could. Second, and more significantly, Michael Jackson, at eleven years old, was the greatest singer pop music had to offer. In “I’ll Be There,” he did the seemingly impossible. He sold a big-time romantic ballad … at eleven years old.
8. “Cracklin’ Rosie” by Neil Diamond (17th)
Fine, I’m allowed a guilty pleasure, right? And don’t say I already played that card with the Partridge Family. That was middle of the pack. “Crackin’ Rosie” is everything that Neil Diamond does best, including the tilt toward schmaltz. I love the galloping verse. I love the simmering bridge that doesn’t even lead to a chorus. I love the lyrical ambiguity. Is Rosie a woman or a wine? This song probably shouldn’t have worked. And it did. How can you not love that?
7. “American Woman” by The Guess Who (3rd)
Lenny Kravitz covered this in 1999, and his version is even better. But that should not detract from the marvelous blend of swamp and psychedelia that the Guess Who achieved, built on Burton Cummings' tough vocals and Randy Bachman’s sinewy guitar.
Like Edwin Starr’s “War,” this had major political implications in 1970. A Canadian band rejecting an American woman was a metaphor for neighbors to the north rejecting a controversial American foreign policy.
6. “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5 (28th)
Wow – a second Jackson 5 song in the top ten? We’re just getting started. This was the song that introduced them. It was their first hit – their first number one – the only major hit from the debut album. Written by the “Corporation,” Motown’s hit-making creators, and featuring the very best studio players money could buy. It begins with a descending piano roll followed by a jangly guitar. Pretty soon, every instrument in the building is playing with Michael soaring above them all.
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