Musikal Mania Quiz #28 - Songs of 1973 - 10 Points Apiece

Here are some songs from the year 1973. Name the tune from the sample of lyrics provided. No Internet use please.

1. The top ranked song for 1973 was a Number One song everywhere in the spring of 1973: four weeks in the U.S. and the U.K., seven weeks in Australia and two weeks in Canada. Just a couple of lines should be necessary for you to recall it and here they are.

“If you received my letter tellin' you I'd soon be free
Then you'll know just what to do if you still want me”

2. The vocalist who recorded the song ranked second for 1973 gave it such an urgent treatment that you could feel the pain in his loins and that’s what it was all about. No other song that year spent more time in the Top 10, 13 weeks, with two of them at the top. Can you identify it if I give you the first stanza?

“I've been really tryin baby
Tryin to hold back this feeling for so long
And if you feel like I feel, baby
Come on, oh, come on”

3. The song ranked fifth spent a couple of weeks at Number One during its 22 week chart run. Identify the title character from this lyrical description.

“He got a custom Continental
He got an Eldorado too
He got a .32 gun in his pocket for fun
He got a razor in his shoe”

4. Ranked sixth for 1973 was a song that has bemused listeners ever since. It topped the charts for the first three weeks of the year. Decipher the title with this lyrical hint.

“You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot”

5. “I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on”

This lyrical segment comes from the song that spent five of its 17 charting weeks at Number One thus earning the seventh place ranking for 1973. What was the title of this gem?

6. With 19 weeks in the Hot 100 including two weeks at Number One, a group which had just bolted from the Motown stable hit the jackpot with the tenth ranked song of 1973. Name it with help from these two lines that appear a couple of times within the lyric.

“I'd rather live in his world
Than live without him in mine”

7. Just finishing outside the top 10 rankings for 1973, the 11th position was held by a three week Number One song. The lyrics recalled the good old days of rock & roll. Here’s a sample:

“But the years went by and the rock just died
Suzie went and left us for some foreign guy
Long nights crying by the record machine
Dreaming of my Chevy and my old blue jeans”

8. Many of the more memorable song lyrics from 1973 did not come from the bigger hits from that year. The following lyric sample comes from a hit that only peaked at Number Five on the charts. However, with a 21 week run within the Hot 100, it managed to finish the year ranked 24th. Can you name it from these lines?

“Oh, give me the beat, boys, and free my soul,
I want to get lost in your rock and roll”


Can you name it?

9. Thwarted in its run to Number One by “The Morning After” by Maureen McGovern and “Touch Me In The Morning” by Diana Ross, our next hit spent three weeks at Number Two in 1973. Because it only charted for 14 weeks on the Hot 100, it finished the year ranked a rather disappointing 46th. Try to identify it with this lyrical assistance.

“What does it matter to ya
When you gotta job to do
You gotta do it well
You gotta give the other fellow hell”

10. Nicely placed in 48th position in the rankings for 1973 was a Number Six hit that also peaked at Number Eight on the U.K. charts. It enjoyed a renaissance when it was prominently featured in a 1992 movie. I think you should be able to nail it with just this one line for a clue!

"Clowns to left of me, jokers to the right?