Saddest Song of 70s??

No list of bad story-songs is complete without "Billy, Don't Be A Hero."

 

There had to be a conversion while they were writing it that basically went
"Is this song missing something?"
"I don't know. Al Capone. Dead cops. Momma crying. Dad coming home. Feels like we got it all ..."
"Nah it's missing something. ... I've got it! Yakety Sax! "
"Yakety Sax? Brilliant!"

 

Similar to the South Detroit reference in "Don't Stop Believing."

 

Otherwise known as "Lake Erie."

Or Windsor.

 

And "Indiana Wants Me" too.

 

The Grateful Dead have a whole sub-section of sad/melancholy songs: Black Peter, Stella Blue, Brokedown Palace to name a few. But the saddest/melancholiest of them all was Wharf Rat, about an old dockyard bum, "blind and dirty; asked me for a dime, a dime for a cup of coffee." At the end, it seems likely that the narrator, who seemingly hears his story, actually is August West, the wharf rat in question. IMO, it's the best song Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter ever wrote.

And, yes, Taxi is easily in the Top 5. Such a sad song of longing and regret.

Also, I saw someone mention John Prine earlier, and one of his songs about death doesn't play like it. Please Don't Bury Me has a jaunty, uptempo rhythm in a major key. Basically, the guy dies suddenly ("you slipped upon the floor and hit yo' head,") and his final thoughts are for everyone to, "cut me up and pass me all around." And for everyone to kiss his ass on his way out the door. Classic Prine.

 

For anyone who has either lost a father or is father to a growing son, Cat's in the Cradle.
Also a model of great lyrical storytelling.

 

I never knew there was a sequel to "Taxi", looked it up on YouTube, didn't do much for me.

Of course, Mason Reese didn't think much of "Cat's in the Cradle"....(you gotta be at least 50 to get that reference)

 

Indeed. Also deserving mention are Cher's trifecta of #1 songs - Gypsies Tramps and Thieves, Half Breed, and Dark Lady. I read somewhere that The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia was written for her as well, but she passed on it and it was offered to Vicki Lawrence.

 

Closing theme to Good Times. Repeats many of the same lyrics from the open, but in a far less cheerful tone. Plus this opening ...

Just looking out of the window
Watching the asphalt grow
Thinking how it all looks hand-me-down