{"id":811292,"date":"2026-05-21T03:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T03:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/811292\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T03:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T03:02:13","slug":"3-soft-rock-songs-that-defined-summer-for-millions-of-americans-in-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/811292\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Soft Rock Songs That Defined Summer for Millions of Americans in 1971"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Summertime always carries an air of excited anticipation for long, sunshine-filled days, relaxation, and good times rolling into the evening hours, no matter what year it is. But there was something about the music of the summer of 1971 that made this particular season and year extra special.<\/p>\n<p>Here are three soft rock songs that absolutely defined the summer for millions of Americans in 1971.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cIt\u2019s Too Late\u201d by Carole King<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Carole King\u2019s 1971 double A-side singles, <a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/the-meaning-behind-its-too-late-by-carole-king\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cIt\u2019s Too Late\u201d<\/a> and \u201cI Feel The Earth Move\u201d, were dominating the charts in the summer of 1971. The soft rock sophomore release by the Laurel Canyon pianist and singer-songwriter remains a beloved staple in the 1970s musical canon. But when they first came out in April of that year? That was a memorable moment.<\/p>\n<p>That memorable moment was commemorated in more ways than one, including a No. 1 chart position on the Billboard Hot 100 and a 1972 Grammy Award for Record of the Year for \u201cIt\u2019s Too Late\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cMy Sweet Lord\u201d by George Harrison<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>George Harrison released <a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/the-meaning-behind-my-sweet-lord-by-george-harrison\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cMy Sweet Lord\u201d<\/a> on his November 1970 triple album, All Things Must Pass, which means this feel-good tune had plenty of time to marinate on the charts by the time the following summer rolled around. The track hit its peak in January, but it remained a radio staple in the months to come. And how could it not?<\/p>\n<p>With Harrison\u2019s signature slide guitar and Phil Spector\u2019s Wall of Sound production, \u201cMy Sweet Lord\u201d was an instant classic, proving just how wrong Paul McCartney and John Lennon had been to stifle Harrison\u2019s creativity the way they did when they were in The Beatles.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cJoy To The World\u201d by Three Dog Night<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Finally, <a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/the-strange-meaning-behind-joy-to-the-world-by-three-dog-night\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cJoy To The World\u201d<\/a> by Three Dog Night, sometimes called \u201cJeremiah Was A Bullfrog\u201d, after its opening line, peaked on the charts right around the start of summer on Memorial Day weekend of 1971. The soft rock song took off upon its spring release, earning a gold certification within two months of its debut. Even today, it\u2019s one of Three Dog Night\u2019s most well-known songs.<\/p>\n<p>A quick shoutout to my elementary school bus driver, Miss Debbie, who regularly recounted her summer days as a youngin\u2019 listening to \u201cJoy To The World\u201d by Three Dog Night to all the kids she was driving around. (We listened to Three Dog Night a lot on that bus, obviously.)<\/p>\n<p>Photo by Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summertime always carries an air of excited anticipation for long, sunshine-filled days, relaxation, and good times rolling into&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":811293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[29],"tags":[329673,171,975,251902,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-811292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-329673","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-soft-rock","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116610344416701023","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}