the greatest pop song ever?

"Five O'Clock World" is a great song that got a second life as the theme song for Drew Carey's sitcom. Loved it before that, loved it even more afterwards.

For me, "Would't It Be Nice" can't quite match "Good Vibrations". Talk about production values! Theremin anyone? Or, in the immortal words of Dewey Cox in "Walk Hard" - More Digideroo! I need fifty Digideroos!

On the beautiful side of the contest, if picking from the Brian Wilson songbook, I'd personally opt for "God Only Knows". Maybe even if I'm picking from everyone's songbook.

The Rolling Stone list looks more RnR than pop to me, so:

That said:

Perfect Pop Song - "Crybaby" by Todd Rundgren/Utopia. The mother of all vocal harmonies and an irresistable melody. Although Nick Lowe's "Cruel To Be Kind" is awfully perfect.

Most beautiful tune:

Gotta think about "Moon River", "Maria" (West Side Story) and "Beeswing" by Richard Thompson to cover some ground.
Maybe "The Wrong Girl" by The Showmen (General Johnson). There are a bunch of painfully beautiful Doo Wop melodies to choose from, as well.

I guess that's more than one.

Marty

Ras 422,

I always thought that The Showmen were overlooked. Everyone hailed Brian Wilson when he fused vocal music (doo wop) with Chuck Berry, Cal sunny lyrics and his own lunatic production vision. Meanwhile, over on the East Coast, Allen Toussaint was doing something similar with Johnson and The Showmen - but in a low key manner that lacked the production values. Even though the music had IMHO more emotional resonance, no-one seemed to notice.

Johnson got his due later with The Chairmen of The Board and a more Motown approach. He also wrote "Patches", my nomination for the best truly bad song ever written.

IMHO, Johnson's a great singer and generally cool guy who had a great, largely unappreciated contribution to RnR over its first two decades.

Thriller?
(question mark)

Marty

Sorry. Couldn't resist

Since "White Christmas" was nominated due to its standing as the #1 seller (and half the Michael Jackson catalog would qualify on a similar basis), I looked at the top 25 all-time best seller list for other potentially good choices. For the benefit of those who like sales as a determinant of the winner of this competition, I found it!

My hands down choice:

"Kung Foo Fighting" by Karl Douglas - which checks in at #19 on the all-time sales list (per Wikipedia). As a special bonus, my friends Rich and Eileen used it as their first dance when they married twenty years (or so) ago. Maybe not #1, but clearly one of the top 20 pop songs ever! ;-)

Slaw,

If you're going Hall & Oates (BTW, an excellent idea IMO, re: Hall, anyway), I think you go with Sara Smile before anything else.

Although She's Gone IS awfully good, I'd still take Sara

Slaw,

One more from Daryl Hall (& Oates) - "Every Time You Go Away". Even though Paul Young had the hit with that song, Hall & Oates' original version is IMO every bit as compelling. Now, none of these Hall & Oates tunes may actually be the "best pop song ever", but Hall & Oates gave us some truly great pop music. Plus, if I could sing like one person, Daryl Hall would be on my short list. That guy can sing anything.