My Favourite 45s of the Year: 1970 Quiz

Answer: The Byrds

The first time I heard "Chestnut Mare" by the Byrds I thought "that's from Peer Gynt, surely" - and I was right! Roger McGuinn, in collaboration with psychologist and Broadway impresario Jacques Levy, had written a country rock musical called "Gene Tryp" based upon Ibsen's "Peer Gynt". While the musical was never completed, half-a-dozen songs - including "Chestnut Mare" - appeared on the Byrds' "(Untitled)" and "Byrdmaniax" albums.

And what a wonderful song it is, with McGuinn's lush 12-string Rickenbacker guitar driving it on. The lyrics deal with the narrator attempting - and failing - to catch the eponymous mare, and benefit from Ibsen's romantic imagery. Despite the record company savagely editing the UK release by removing the two-minute middle section of the song it got to number 19 in the UK Singles Chart, while the unedited five-minute version only managed to get to number 121 on the US Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. I still love it.

Answer: Cat Stevens

One of the finest "end of a relationship" songs ever recorded, "Wild World" by Cat Stevens has proved to be eternal with a list of cover versions as long as your arm. It went to number 11 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, but for some reason it wasn't released in the UK.

However a cover version by Jimmy Cliff reached number eight in the UK Singles Chart later that year, while in 1988 a version by Maxi Priest reached number five in the UK Singles Chart and number 25 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

It's still a lovely song, and Cat Steven's rendition of it at the Glastonbury Festival in 2023 was a delight.

Answer: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

"Our House" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is an absolute gem of a song! Graham Nash related how he came to write it, which was just a simple account of a day spent with his then-partner Joni Mitchell; it took him about an hour to write. Some critics, however, have described it as "trite", pointing out the invidious comparison with Neil Young's song "Ohio" from the same album

It went to number 30 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart but didn't chart in the UK. I was shocked when I checked that, I could've sworn it got much higher.

My girlfriend brought the CSN&Y album "Déjà Vu" back to Uni with her after the Easter vac and we played it a lot, especially this beautiful, simple song.

Answer: Bobby Bloom

Bobby Bloom was a one-hit-wonder with this sparkling, happy song, "Montego Bay". A kind of Jamaican "feel", along with a great melody and interesting instrumentation with odd percussion helped. It's one of those songs that just make you feel happy! It went to number eight in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number three in the UK Singles Chart. Sadly, Bobby Bloom died in a shooting incident only a few years later.

I have precious memories of this song. At the end of the Uni Summer Vac I went on a two-week Marine Biology field course on the Isles of Scilly, a little archipelago about 25 miles west of Land's End. Every day we would go out to a different island to explore and look at the wildlife - it was a wonderful and educative experience. The Scillies are beautiful, with clear blue water, sunshine and boats - it was like being in the Caribbean but without the palm trees! And everywhere we went we heard this song, and it was just so appropriate.

Answer: Joni Mitchell

A lot of my friends had been playing Join Mitchell albums during various gatherings in halls of residence rooms, bedsits, flats, etc. I have to say I disliked both her songs and her way of singing until I heard "Big Yellow Taxi", which was for me was a "Saul on the road to Damascus" moment. Set to a cheerful, jaunty tune, the song tells of her flying to Hawaii, looking out at the beautiful distant mountains from her hotel room - and then looking down at a seemingly endless car parking lot. And she also had to pay to go in the tree and plant collection at the Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu! It got to number 11 in the UK Singles Chart but only to number 67 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, although a live version released in 1974 got to number 24.

Over the years I've come to appreciate Joni Mitchell a lot more and now she's my second favourite female artist, topped only by the wonderful, immortal Judee Sill (listen to "The Kiss").

Answer: Free

There was a titanic struggle for the title of "Best Summer Hit of 1970" between the execrable novelty-pop of "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry and one of the all-time great records, "All Right Now" by Free. Sadly Free had to settle for second place behind Mungo Jerry, but it went to number four in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number two in the UK Singles Chart. It was also ranked at number 155 in the 2004 "Rolling Stone" list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

The song came about after the band played a poorly-received gig in Durham. In their dressing room after the show they realised they needed a real banger of a song with which to close their set, so bassist Andy Fraser just sat down and wrote "All Right Now" in ten minutes. Easy, isn't it? It's a great record in every way - the riff, Fraser's bass playing (especially just before Paul Kossoff's guitar solo) and Paul Rodgers vocals all excite, and the chorus is a real sing-along.

At the start of the Uni Summer Vac I went on a two-week terrestrial ecology field course, camping out in South Devon. We used to bop around to this song, incurring the wrath of one of the lecturers who'd insist on singing it in a dreadful mournful voice. Well, you had to be there...

Answer: Chicago

I've always had a penchant for punchy horn sections, and Chicago's on "25 or 6 to 4" have that in spades - also a great riff and an excellent wah-wah guitar solo (sadly omitted from the 45rpm single). It went to number four in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number seven in the UK Singles Chart. However I have to say that it's the only record by them that I've really liked - and I hated the mawkish "If You Leave Me Now".

And in case you're wondering what the title means - the band's keyboards player, Robert Lamm, said that it was about writing a song in the middle of the night, i.e. at 25 or 26 minutes before 4am - twenty-five or [twenty-]six [minutes] to four [o'clock].

In the Uni Summer Vac I got a temporary job as a bread roundsman for the local Co-op, driving an electric bread van around Romford delivering bakery products to customers (you have to be pretty old to remember that kind of thing - it was on its way out even then). Halfway round my daily circuit I'd always stop at a little cafe for a cup of tea and a bun, and I remember this record being played almost every day - I loved it, it gave me a real boost every morning.

Answer: James Taylor

A lovely song, reflective without being overly sentimental, "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor looks back at his life and career so far and the suicide of Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend. It went to number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 42 in the UK Singles Chart. It was ranked at number 227 in the 2011 "Rolling Stone" lists of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Carole King provides a nicely-played piano part.

I find the line "I always thought that I'd see you again" almost unbearably sad; now that I'm in my mid-70s there are countless people who have been vital in my life but who I'll never see again.

Answer: Melanie

Melanie Safka made a name for herself at the Woodstock Festival with her quirky and often emotional songs. My girlfriend brought her "Candles in the Rain" album back to Uni with her after the Easter Vac and we played it every evening, especially this beautiful, simple song. The line "We were so close, there was no room" was very appropriate - the beds in that Uni Hall of Residence were so small! It got to number six in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart but failed to make it into the UK Singles Chart.

Answer: Hotlegs

"Neanderthal Man" by Hotlegs is one of those "believe it or not" songs - it was originally created as a studio exercise to test the drum layering on some new recording equipment! The four musicians involved were just playing around in the studio with the sound, adding bits to it and a bit of a nursery rhyme vocal on top, when a passing record company executive said "that's a hit". So the musicians formed themselves into a band, named themselves Hotlegs and released the single - and it went to number two in the UK Singles Chart and number 22 in US Billboard Hot 100 chart, ultimately selling over two million copies.

Hotlegs had no further hits, but the four musicians stayed together and renamed themselves as 10cc, one of my favourite bands.