1974’s Greatest Hits Countdown: Ray Stevens, John Denver, and the Wildest Stories Behind the Songs

Today we are visiting one of the most gloriously weird and wondrous years in music history — the charts were packed with streakers, gangsters, and some passive-aggressive jealousy. We celebrate this crazy year with 10 songs that sound exactly like the moment they came out in the 70s and when you hear them you’ll be transported to the exact moment they ruled radio and the stories are even better. We’ll tell the story of how a folk icon sat alone at his desk one evening, unable to shake the thought of his girlfriend cheating on him with another man. He wrote what sounded like a mellow tune but if you listen closer, it is the most dangerous song of his career and in the end he got a #1 hit and she went to prison. Then there’s the comedian songwriter who read a magazine blurb about the national craze of streaking during his flight. He rushed home and wrote the most iconic streaking song in history. And then there’s the songwriter who took his song to the Beach Boys for help, but watched the sessions dissolve into chaos after Brian Wilson kept sneaking in at night trying remix his master tape. He gave up and recorded it himself, then disappeared to the South Pacific for two months while it climbed to #1. Let’s get into it.

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