Top Country Music Songs Of 1973

AEROSMITH:

The wonderful world of Entertainment in 1973 saw the Aerosmith Hard Rock Band, who are known as “The Bad Boys From Boston,’ and as “America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band,” and are the bestselling American Rock Band of All Time, release their famous debut album also known as Aerosmith, that contained its highly regarded album cover of the band, and its misspelled track “Walking The Dig,” that required the album to be repressed with the song’s proper title “Walking The Dog” added.

ELVIS PRESLEY:

Elvis Presley’s Hawaii Concert, the first worldwide telecast by a Performer, aired.

SUPER BOWL PERFECTION:

The Miami Dolphins defeated the Washington Redskins 14 to 7 to win Super Bowl VII and remain the NFL’s only undefeated Perfect Season team.

LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE:

Filmed on location in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, in the Pennine Hills that separate North East England from North West England, and recognized as the world’s longest running Situation Comedy television program, Last of the Summer Wine, that positively portrayed older people, originally ran as an episode of the Comedy Playhouse British Anthology Series on January 4, 1973. Written and created by Roy Clarke Last of the Summer Wine aired its final episode on August 29, 2010. Roy Clarke also wrote the Situation Comedies known as First of the Summer Wine, The Misfit, Open All Hours, Keeping Up Appearances, and Ain’t Misbehavin, as well as the Pilot Episode of the Situation Comedy known as Oh No It’s Selwyn Froggitt, the British Adventure television series known as The Wanderer, and the highly acclaimed Dramatic motion picture known as A Foreign Field that starred Alec Guinness, Lauren Bacall, Edward Herrmann, Geraldine Chaplin, Jeanne Moreau, Leo McKern, and John Randolph.

GRAVITY’S RAINBOW:

A Co-Winner of the 1974 United States National Book Award for Fiction, along with Isaac Bashevis Singer’s A Crown Of Feathers And Other Stories, Thomas Pynchon’s Landmark Postmodern novel known as Gravity’s Rainbow, that Time Magazine named as one of its “All-Time 100 Greatest Novels,” was originally published.

PINK FLOYD:

Considered one of Rock Music’s landmark albums Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon, that became the Number 1 album on Billboard Magazine’s Top LPs and Tapes Chart, and stayed on the charts for 741 weeks, was originally released in the United States.

LAUGH-IN:

The final episode of NBC-TV’s Sketch Comedy known as Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, that ran for 140 episodes, and was rated the Number 42 listed television program on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest Shows of All-Time list, aired.

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS:

The Soap Opera known as The Young and the Restless debuted on CBS-TV and became the highest rated Daytime Drama on American television for more than 1,300 weeks. The Young and the Restless has won 111 Daytime Emmy Awards with seven of those awards being for Outstanding Drama Series. The Young and the Restless was originally created as The Innocent Years by William Joseph “Bill” Bell, who also created the popular Soap Operas known as The Bold and the Beautiful and Another World, as well as by the Talk Show Hostess Loreley “Lee” June Phillip Bell.

THE GODFATHER:

Highly regarded as one of the greatest motion pictures in world cinema, and one of the most Gangster genre influential movies of all time, the American Crime motion picture known as The Godfather was originally shown in the United States.

ACADEMY AWARDS:

The Godfather starring Al Pacino and Marlon Brando won the Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture at the 45th Academy Awards Presentation. Other winners of these Academy Awards included Charlie Chaplin who won an Oscar for Best Original Score-Dramatic for his 1952 Comedy-Drama motion picture known as Limelight that did not screen in Los Angeles until 1972, Cabaret that won eight Oscars at these Awards, the most ever that did not include the Oscar for Best Picture, Liza Minnelli who won the Oscar for Best Actress, and Marlon Brando who declined to accept the Oscar for Best Actor.

TRIPLE CROWN:

Secretariat won the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Horseracing setting race record times in all three events including the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, that he won by 31 lengths, the largest margin of victory ever in that race.

LED ZEPPELIN:

On its North American Tour Led Zeppelin performed for more than 56,800 fans in Tampa, Florida breaking The Beatles previous record of playing in front of more than 55,600 fans at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York.

BRUCE LEE:

The Hong Kong Martial Arts Action motion picture known as Enter The Dragon, that is generally considered one of the very best Martial Arts movies of all time, and has been preserved in the United States National Film Registry, as well as being Hollywood’s first produced Chinese Martial Arts movie, originally debuted six days after its Star Lee Jun-Fan, who was much better known as Bruce Lee, died. Other notable Bruce Lee motion pictures included Fist Of Fury, The Game Of Death, The Big Boss, and Way Of The Dragon.

NEW YORK DOLLS:

A pioneering band of the Punk Rock scene the New York Dolls, who heavily influenced Kiss, Guns N’ Roses, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Smiths, and Steven Patrick Morrissey, an innovator of the Independent Music scene, released their self titled debut album.

SUMMER JAM:

Featuring The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, and The Band, the Summer Jam Rock Music Festival at Watkins Glen, New York occurred with more than 600,000 people attending the event held at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway.

ART GARFUNKEL:

Angel Clare, the highest charting solo album of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member known as Arthur Ira “Art” Garfunkel, of Simon and Garfunkel fame, was originally released. Art Garfunkel would win six Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, throughout his career. The Angel Clare album contained Art Garfunkel’s only Billboard Top 10 Hit “All I Know” and the two Billboard Top 40 Hits “I Shall Sing” and “Traveling Boy”.

THE STING:

The American Caper motion picture known as The Sting, that starred Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Robert Shaw, and produced the Ragtime Music Classic song known as “The Entertainer,” debuted. The Sting also won seven Oscars at the 46th Academy Awards Presentation including Best Director, Best Writing Original Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Art Direction-Set Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Music Scoring Original Song Score And/or Adaptation, and the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directional Achievement In Motion Pictures.

STRINGBEAN:

The wonderful world of Country Music in 1973 saw tragedy strike in a very big way when David Akeman, and his wife Estelle, were cold-bloodedly murdered by Marvin and John Douglas upon interrupting a burglary at their home in one of the most notorious murders in the history of Music City. David Akeman, who was much more popularly known as Stringbean, was a Country Music Banjo Player and Comedian, as well as a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and was best known for his role on Hee-Haw as the Scarecrow in the cornfield with the crow on his shoulder and as the Reader of Letters From Home who always pulled the letters out of his hip pocket after saying he kept them close to his heart.

JIMMY DEAN:

Jimmy Dean’s third Country Music television variety series, known as The Jimmy Dean Show, premiered in Syndication.

RADIO AND RECORDS MAGAZINE:

Radio and Records Magazine’s first weekly edition debuted and featured a 50 position Country Singles chart.

DEAN MARTIN:

The Dean Martin Presents Country Variety Show debuted as a Summer broadcast and Country Music became a featured segment of The Dean Martin Show that regularly aired throughout the rest of the year.

WILLIE NELSON:

Willie Nelson hosted his first July 4th Picnic.

AMERICAN COUNTRY COUNTDOWN:

American Country Countdown debuted and was originally hosted by Donald Bowman, then by Bob Kingsley, and by Kix Brooks. American Country Countdown was created by Kemal Amin “Casey” Kasem, who portrayed “Shaggy” on the Scooby-Doo Saturday Morning Cartoon series, and co-founded American Top 40 with Donald S. (Don) Bastany, who was also the Camera Coordinator for The Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and other MGM Studios projects as well, and Ron Jacobs who produced The History of Rock and Roll Radio Documentary as well as being the Program Director of KHJ Radio in Los Angeles, Californi during its famous “Boss Radio” period from 1965 to 1969.

BILLBOARD MAGAZINE:

Billboard Magazine increased its Hot Country Singles Chart to 100 positions where it would stay until January 1990.

TOP SONGS:

For the first time ever 35 songs reached the Number 1 position on the Billboard Country Music charts.

POPULAR PERFORMERS:

The Billboard Number 1 Country Music songs of 1973 were being performed by Merle Haggard, Charley Pride, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Tanya Tucker, Tammy Wynette, Donna Fargo, Freddie Hart, Charlie Rich, Johnny Rodrigues, Joe Stampley, Tom T. Hall, Roy Clark, Jerry Reed, Ray Price, Marie Osmond Cal Smith, Barbara Fairchild, Lynn Anderson, Jeanne Pruett, Kris Kristofferson, Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn, and George Jones and Tammy Wynette.

MERLE HAGGARD:

“I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me”
“Everybody’s Had The Blues”
“If We Make It Through December”

CHARLEY PRIDE:

“A Shoulder To Cry On”
“Don’t Fight The Feelings Of Love”
“Amazing Love”

CONWAY TWITTY:

“She Needs Someone To Hold Her (When She Cries)”
“You’ve Never Been This Far Before”

LORETTA LYNN:

“Rated X”
“Love Is The Foundation”

TANYA TUCKER:

“What’s Your Mama’s Name”
“Blood Red And Goin’ Down”

TAMMY WYNETTE:

“‘Til I Get It Right”
“Kids Say The Darndest Things”

DONNA FARGO:

“You Were Always There”
“Superman”

FREDDIE HART:

“Super Kind Of Woman”
“Trip To Heaven”

CHARLIE RICH:

“Behind Closed Doors”
“The Most Beautiful Girl”

JOHNNY RODRIGUEZ:

“You Always Come Back (To Hurting Me)”
“Ridin’ My Thumb To Mexico”

JOE STAMPLEY:

“Soul Song”

TOM T. HALL:

“(Old Dogs, Children And) Watermelon Wine”

ROY CLARK:

“Come Live With Me”

JERRY REED:

“Lord Mr. Ford”

RAY PRICE:

“You’re The Best Thing That’s Ever Happened To Me”

MARIE OSMOND:

“Paper Roses”

CAL SMITH:

“The Lord Knows I’m Drinking”

BARBARA FAIRCHILD:

“The Teddy Bear Song”

LYNN ANDERSON:

“Keep Me In Mind”

JEANNE PRUITT:

“Satin Sheets”

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON:

“Why Me”

CONWAY TWITTY AND LORETTA LYNN:

“Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man”

GEORGE JONES AND TAMMY WYNETTE:

“We’re Gonna Hold On”

CONTACT:

This Feature was written by Staff Writer Patrick McDaniels who can be contacted on Facebook@Classic Country Music Gold Nashville. Patrick McDaniels always welcomes comments from the many fans and readers of our website.