Everything about this sleazy song by Serge Gainsbourg is fantastic. Except its problematic subject matter – paedophilia. (more…)

If you’re going to be known for just one song, then you might as well make it a great one. Like King Floyd’s solitary hit Groove Me. (more…)

Big lady, big voice, big hair – Jean Knight had it all. Mr Big Stuff was her takedown of that guy all women know, the one who thinks he’s God’s gift. He’s begging to be taken down, and Jean did the job for us all in this stone-cold funk and soul classic. (more…)

I knew Joan Baez more by reputation than her music when I was growing up – as a folk singer, and a protester, and for her Bob Dylan connection. But I do have fond memories of this song, which gave Joan her only hit in 1971. (more…)

By 1975 I was old enough to drink and smoke and I was beginning to discover that tobacco was not the only thing you could smoke. And ready to discover The Doors. (more…)

Clive Dunn cashed in on his fame in Dad’s Army when his sentimental song Grandad topped the chart in January 1971. (more…)

Gordon Lightfoot’s timeless tune If You Could Read My MInd unwittingly provided the template for Whitney Houston’s hit The Greatest Love Of All. (more…)

The last big hit of 1971 was one of the most enduring. A stone-cold classic, the Theme From Shaft sounds as fresh today as it did in December 1971.

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David Bowie’s most personal song comes from his fourth album Hunky Dory, released in December 1971, and a flop until the release of Ziggy Stardust the following year. (more…)

Television funny man Benny Hill unforgiveably kept T. Rex off the top of the charts with his autobiographical novelty hit Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West). (more…)