The 70 greatest closing tracks of the ’70s

By Steve Newton

Remember when the last track on an album would finish and you’d wish the music would just never end?

Me too.

“All Right Now” (Fire and Water, Free, 1970)

“American Girl” (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1976)

“Another Star” (Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder, 1976)

“Ashes the Rain and I” (James Gang Rides Again, James Gang, 1970)

“Astronomy” (Secret Treaties, Blue Oyster Cult, 1974)

“Beautiful Girls” (Van Halen II, Van Halen, 1979)

“Black Diamond” (Kiss, Kiss, 1974)

“Casey Jones” (Workingman’s Dead, Grateful Dead, 1970)

“Call Me the Breeze” (Second Helping, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1974)

“Dirty Women” (Technical Ecstasy, Black Sabbath, 1976)

“Fame” (Young Americans, David Bowie, 1975)

“Four Strong Winds” (Comes a Time, Neil Young, 1978)

“Frankenstein” (They Only Come Out at Night, Edgar Winter Group, 1972)

“Free Bird” (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nerd, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1973)

“Get Back” (Let It Be, The Beatles, 1970)

“God (Take 1)” (All American Alien Boy, Ian Hunter, 1976)

“Gold Dust Woman” (Rumours, Fleetwood Mac, 1976)

“Green Grass and High Tides” (The Outlaws, the Outlaws, 1975)

“Here Comes the Flood” (Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel, 1977)

“Highway Song” (Strikes, Blackfoot, 1979)

“I’m So Afraid” (Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac, 1975)

“Into the Void” (Master of Reality, Black Sabbath, 1971)

“I Wish I Was Your Mother” (Mott, Mott the Hoople, 1973)

“Jailbreak” (Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, AC/DC, 1976)

“Josie” (Aja, Steely Dan, 1977)

“Kicked in the Teeth” (Powerage, AC/DC, 1978)

“Lawyers, Guns and Money” (Excitable Boy, Warren Zevon, 1978)

“Let It Bleed” (Still Alive and Well, Johnny Winter, 1973)

“Let It Rain” (Eric Clapton, Eric Clapton, 1970)

“A Light in the Black” (Rainbow Rising, Rainbow, 1976)

“Lions” (Dire Straits, Dire Straits, 1978)

“Little Bit of Sympathy” (Bridge of Sighs, Robin Trower, 1974)

“Louisiana Rain” (Damn the Torpedoes, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1979)

“Love Hurts” (Hair of the Dog, Nazareth, 1975)

“Love is Green” (Wired, Jeff Beck, 1976)

“Love, Reign o’er Me” (Quadrophenia, the Who, 1973)

“Make It Last” (Montrose, Montrose, 1973)

“Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five” (Band on the Run, Paul McCartney and Wings, 1973)

“Ooh La La” (Ooh La La, Faces, 1973)

“Paper Money” (Paper Money, Montrose, 1974)

“Parisienne Walkways” (Back on the Streets, Gary Moore, 1978)

“Phoenix” (Wishbone Ash, Wishbone Ash, 1970)

“Reason to Believe” (Every Picture Tells a Story, Rod Stewart, 1971)

“Riders on the Storm” (L.A. Woman, the Doors, 1972)

“Rock and Roll Music to the World” (Rock and Roll Music to the World, Ten Years After, 1972)

“Seven Seas of Rhye” (Queen II, Queen, 1974)

“Shattered” (Some Girls, Rolling Stones, 1978)

“Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI–IX)” (Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd, 1975)

“Siberian Khatru” (Close to the Edge, Yes, 1972)

“Soldier of Fortune” (Stormbringer, Deep Purple, 1974)

“Space Truckin'” (Machine Head, Deep Purple, 1972)

“Spiral Architect” (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Black Sabbath, 1973)

“Takin’ Care of Business” (Bachman-Turner Overdrive II, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, 1973)

“Train in Vain” (London Calling, the Clash, 1979)

“Tulsa Time” (Backless, Eric Clapton, 1978)

“Tush” (Fandango!, ZZ Top, 1975)

“Twistin’ the Night Away” (Never a Dull Moment, Rod Stewart, 1972)

“Redeemed” (Blue Oyster Cult, Blue Oyster Cult, 1972)

“Rock and Roll All Nite” (Dressed to Kill, Kiss, 1975)

“Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide” (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie, 1972)

“Roll Away the Stone” (The Hoople, Mott the Hoople, 1974)

“Sweet Hitch-Hiker” (Mardi Gras, Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1972)

“The Secret Life of Arabia” (“Heroes”, David Bowie, 1977)

“Truckin'” (American Beauty, Grateful Dead, 1970)

“When the Levee Breaks” (Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin, 1971)

“Who Are You” (Who Are You, the Who, 1978)

“Whole Lotta Rosie” (Let There Be Rock, AC/DC, 1977)

“Wild Is the Wind” (Station to Station, David Bowie, 1976)

“Won’t Get Fooled Again” (Who’s Next, the Who, 1971)

“Working Man” (Rush, Rush, 1974)