Superstition
1972 · From Talking Book
Wonder wrote that clavinet riff for Jeff Beck, heard it back, and sensibly kept it for himself.
★ 9.1
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1972
Showing 34 songs from 1972
Lean On Me
1972
Withers bought a small piano, ran his fingers up the keys, and found the coal-town kinship he missed.
★ 8.3
Papa Was a Rollin' Stone
1972
Nearly four minutes of bass, hi-hat and lone trumpet before anyone sings, and the groove never sags.
★ 8.3
Walk on the Wild Side
1972 · From Transformer
Herbie Flowers doubled upright and electric bass for a session fee, and Bowie's old sax teacher played the closing solo.
★ 8.1
Rocket Man
1972 · From Honky Chateau
Taupin borrowed the title from a Pearls Before Swine song, and Hentschel's ARP put the loneliness in orbit.
★ 7.9
Smoke on the WaterDeep Purple
Smoke on the Water
1972 · From Machine Head
Blackmore's four notes in parallel fourths, written after a flare gun burned the Montreux Casino down during a Zappa show.
★ 7.8
Heart of Gold
1972 · From Harvest
A back injury kept Young seated with an acoustic guitar; Taylor and Ronstadt were in Nashville and sang behind him.
★ 7.7
Take it EasyThe Eagles
Take it Easy
1972 · From Eagles
Browne could not finish the second verse, Frey did, and Leadon's double-time banjo drives the Eagles' debut single.
★ 7.7
All the Young DudesMott the Hoople
All the Young Dudes
1972
Mott were splitting up when Bowie offered them this, written within hours of hearing the band was finished.
★ 7.5
I'll Take You ThereThe Staple Singers
I'll Take You There
1972
Al Bell lifted the bassline from a Jamaican instrumental, and Mavis Staples turned Muscle Shoals into a pulpit.
★ 7.5
The Harder They Come
1972 · From Original Soundtrack (The Harder They Come)
Cliff coined the phrase on set, Henzell made it the film's title, and the Dynamic Sounds session was filmed.
★ 7.5
Love and Happiness
1972 · From Greatest Hits
The tap opening it is Teenie Hodges counting time on a crate by his foot, and Green takes over.
★ 7.5
Tumbling Dice
1972 · From Exile on Main St.
Taylor on bass, Jimmy Miller drumming the coda, and a lyric Jagger got from a housekeeper who played dice.
★ 7.5
Superfly
1972 · From The Anthology 1961-1977
The soundtrack took three days at RCA Chicago; Johnny Pate arranged, Henry Gibson's rototoms set the strut.
★ 7.3
School's Out
1972
Buxton's riff, a children's chorus, a school bell fade; Cooper wanted the last three minutes of term on tape.
★ 7.1
Moonage Daydream
1972 · From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Bowie first threw it away on a fake band called Arnold Corns, then rebuilt it at Trident around Ronson.
★ 7.0
Old Man
1972 · From Harvest
James Taylor picked up a six-string banjo he had never played, Ronstadt harmonised, and Young's ranch caretaker got a song.
★ 6.9
Pink Moon
1972 · From Pink Moon
Voice, guitar, and a single overdubbed piano line, taped after eleven at night with only an engineer present.
★ 6.7
The Needle and the Damage DoneNeil Young
The Needle and the Damage Done
1972 · From Harvest
Two minutes on addiction, taped live at UCLA's Royce Hall in January 1971 and placed unchanged on Harvest.
★ 6.7
Use Me
1972
Ray Jackson's clavinet vamp and James Gadson's drums; it stopped at number two, blocked by Michael Jackson's "Ben".
★ 6.5
Pusherman
1972 · From The Anthology 1961-1977
Master Henry Gibson's percussion over Lucky Scott's bass, Mayfield indicting the drug trade where the film saw only glamour.
★ 6.5
Virginia Plain
1972
Ferry lifted the title from his own art-school painting of a giant cigarette packet, Eno's VCS3 shrieking behind him.
★ 6.3
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
1972 · From Let's Stay Together
Willie Mitchell let a Bee Gees ballad run past six minutes at Royal Studios, and Green sings the whole ache.
★ 5.9
I'll Be Around
1972
Norman Harris's octave guitar riff, a B-side that DJs flipped, and five weeks atop the R&B chart.
★ 5.8
Could it Be I'm Falling in Love
1972
Thom Bell's arrangement at Sigma Sound, MFSB behind him, and Bobby Smith singing soft where anyone else would push.
★ 5.7
Sail AwayRandy Newman
Sail Away
1972
A slave trader's sales pitch set to strings and Newman's warmest melody; Bobby Darin later sang it straight.
★ 5.6
Peaceful Easy Feeling
1972 · From Eagles
Tempchin wrote it on a poster back while sleeping on a club floor; Leadon's B-bender guitar does the rest.
★ 5.4
Blue Sky
1972 · From Eat a Peach
Duane heard Betts's song, told him to sing it himself, and traded solos on one of his last sessions.
★ 5.3
You Wear It Well
1972 · From Never a Dull Moment
A letter to an ex, sung over acoustic guitar, fiddle and McLagan's Hammond, and another UK number one.
★ 4.9
Everybody Plays the Fool (The Main Ingredient)The Main Ingredient
Everybody Plays the Fool (The Main Ingredient)
1972
Cuba Gooding Sr. stepped up after Donald McPherson's death and turned heartbreak into the warmest consolation soul ever offered.
★ 4.9
Summer Breeze
1972
Larry Knechtel on piano, Jim Gordon on drums, and a chorus that arrives like the evening it describes.
★ 4.8
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
1972 · From Honky Chateau
Taupin's first New York, gunfire outside the hotel window, a rose borrowed from Spanish Harlem, all cut in France.
★ 4.3
Jamaica Say You Will
1972
Clarence White on acoustic guitar, and the demo that led David Geffen to found Asylum Records and sign Browne.
★ 4.0