7 of the 70s: 12/5/13 (1972)...

It's 70s throwback time, and this week I'm back to 1972, the year Edward Whitlam is elected prime minister of Australia, and immediately withdraws that country's troops from the Vietnam conflict. (I've included links to buy anything when possible on MP3 or CD)...

Roberta Flack - "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
from the album First Take (1969)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1
Songwriter: Ewan MacColl

The song that sprung from an affair between two folk singers became a late-blooming hit for the classy soul singer after being included in Clint Eastwood's Play Misty For Me film.


Luther Ingram - "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right"
from the album (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right (1972)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3
Songwriters: Homer Banks, Carl Hampton, Raymond Jackson

Another song about complicated love, the soul singer from Tennessee poured his heart into this like his life depended on it.

Betty Wright - "Clean Up Woman"
from the album  I Love The Way You Love (1972)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6
Songwriters: Willie Clarke, Clarence Reid

The sassy soul singer bemoans her loss of a man to a woman who doesn't mind sloppy seconds.

Derek & The Dominos - "Layla"
from the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10
Songwriters: Eric Clapton, Jim Gordon

Inspired by and named for a Persian poem, Eric Clapton released his inner demons of his yearning for his friend George Harrison's wife (and his own future one) Patti Boyd.

Cher - "Living In A House Divided"
from the album Foxy Lady (1972)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #22
Songwriter: Tom Bahler

The iconic pop/rock singer also took to music to express her marital problem with hubby Sonny, who would divorce a couple years later.

Gladys Knight & The Pips - "Make Me The Woman You Go Home To"
from the album Standing Ovation (1971)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #27
Songwriter: Clay McMurray

The Motown great demands to be the only woman in her man's life. Simply amazing.

Dennis Yost & Classics IV - "What Am I Crying For?"
from the album What Am I Crying For? (1972)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #39
Songwriters: Buddy Buie, J.R. Cobb

I'll close this soap-opera of pop with the 60s pop holdovers with a song from the perspective of the man who's regretting his actions...

That's it for this week's 70s trip...I'll be back later with 8 more from 1982...