By the late 1970s, music was considered by many to be at its peak. Numerous great songs came out in the second half of the decade, including these three Top 10 hits from 1978. They are all so good, every 70s kid alive likely still remembers them today.
โToo Much Heavenโ by The Bee Gees
The Bee Gees include โToo Much Heavenโ on their Spirits Have Flown record. The first single from the album, band members and real-life brothers Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, and Maurice Gibb are the three writers of this song.
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โToo Much Heavenโ starts with, โNobody gets too much heaven no more / It’s much harder to come by / I’m waiting in line.”
Barry Gibb wrote this song on a day off from filming Sgt. Pepperโs Hearts Club Band with Peter Frampton, about The Beatles.
Spirits Have Flown includes โTragedyโ and โLove You Inside Outโ, also big hits for The Bee Gees. This is their final Top 10 single on Billboardโs Top 100 until 1989, with โOne”, a No. 1 single for them.
โLove Is Like Oxygenโ by Sweet
On Sweetโs Level Headed album is โLove Is Like Oxygenโ. The song was written by Sweetโs Andy Scott along with Trevor Griffin. โLove Is Like Oxygenโ is the only hit single from Level Headed.
The chorus says, โLove is like oxygen / You get too much, you get too high / Not enough and you’re gonna die / Love gets you high.”
โLove Is Like Oxygenโ is Sweetโs fourth and final Top 10 single in the United States.
โCanโt Smile Without Youโ by Barry Manilow
Barry Manilowโs โCanโt Smile Without Youโ is on his Even Now record. A cover song, โCanโt Smile Without Youโ was written by David Arnold, Christian Arnold, and Geoff Morrow. It was Martin who released โCanโt Smile Without Youโ first in 1975.
A sad song about a painful goodbye, โCanโt Smile Without Youโ says, โYou see I feel sad when you’re sad / I feel glad when you’re glad / If you only knew what I’m going through / I just can’t smile without you.”
Before Manilowโs version came out in 1978, The Carpenters recorded โCanโt Smile Without Youโ for their 1976 record, A Kind of Hush. One year later, The Carpenters put a different version of the same song on their 1977 Passage project. This is one of only four songs that Manilow did not have a hand in writing for Even Now.
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