the greatest pop song ever?


apropos of absolutely nothing, i just listened to the song "five o clock world" by the vogues for the first time in perhaps 20 years. i heard it on a really good lexus (levinson) sound system and have concluded that it's arguably the greatest pop production ever--the damn thing's incredible. in the space of a quick two minutes you get 12 string guitar, marimba, horns, incredible drumming and a really wild honky-tonk piano, all on top of those weird doowop harmonies. add to the mix a really tight melody and sorta meaningful lyrics and you have something that makes phil spector look unambitious and timid.

also from left field, i've been touting a song called "i can see you" by someone or something called june and the exit wounds as the single most beautiful tune ever written. as far as i know, it's only been released on a sampler by parasol records (an indy label out of urban il). this song sounds like some lost brian wilson masterpiece and is well worth finding for those in search of audio nirvana.
loomisjohnson
And last but not least... A special nomination, the happiest pop music ever...
Middle of the Road featuring lovely Sally Carr
https://youtu.be/rm_bhJ7-ddA

Soley Soley
Sacramento
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep
The Talk of All the USA
Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum
Yellow Boomerang ...and many more

:)

Badger: "One Hit Wonders Of The World Unite". A great, great Power Pop song with a killer hooky chorus. Cheap Trick’s "Surrender" is another, as is The Rubinoos' "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend".

Revisiting this thread (which I came to late four years ago), and reading every entry, I see a bunch of my all-time favorites: "God Only Knows", "The Weight", and "A Whiter Shade Of Pale".

A few I don’t see (though I may have missed them) are:

- "Nowhere Man"

- "Waterloo Sunset"

- "Lies" (The Knickerbockers)

- "In My Room" and "Don’t Worry Baby"

- "Trying To Find My Baby" (The Dwight Twilley Band)

- the exquisite "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" (Jimmy Ruffin).