The greatest Pop song yet written and recorded.

@tylermunns: A songwriter/bandmate and I discovered Randy Newman’s first album through Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson. Because of Van’s work with Brian on the Smile recordings (I discovered the Smiley Smile album in early-’68, and turned him on to it. He became as obsessed with it as I), we got his debut album (Song Cycle, an amazing piece of work) as soon as we learned of it (it was released in late-’67). Listening to Song Cycle on acid is an experience unlike any other. 😉

Song Cycle opens with "Vine Street", a song credited on the album’s back cover to R. Newman (he is credited with the arrangement as well), and a little investigation revealed the R to be Randy. Van performs "Vine Street" in a somewhat surrealistic manner, so I didn’t know what to expect when I got Randy’s 1968 s/t debut album (it was released with two different covers; I of course have both 😉). The album credits production to Van Dyke Parks and Lenny Waronker, so getting it was a no-brainer. The album was engineered by Lee Herschberg, so it sounds great.

What a breathe of fresh air! In the midst of psychedelic horsesh*t, power trios (with which I was growing tired), and album side-long jams, here was an album of superb two and three minute long songs, recorded not with a Rock band, but an orchestra. Randy’s vocal abilities were obviously limited, but his delivery served the songs well enough. I became a life-long fan, though I wasn’t happy when he hired the members of Toto to record with him. I have his entire catalogue, Good Old Boys being a particular favorite. It was through Randy’s albums that I first became aware of Jim Keltner, Randy’s preferred drummer (he is also on Maria Muldaur’s 1973 solo debut, another favorite album of mine).

@bdp24 

My original US copy of Song Cycle is one of my more cherished records.  
Was re-watching the Twin Peaks series (again) the other day and whaddya know…I always forget Van Dyke Parks has a small role in season 2 (attorney in courtroom scene).
Van Dyke Park’s version of “Vine Street” is awesome but no version of that song holds a candle to Harry Nilsson’s version as track 1 on the Nilsson Sings Newman LP. 
Like the Van Dyke Parks version, it has a small mini-song unrelated to “Vine Street” open the LP and segues into “Vine Street.”  
Harry proceeds to weave a tapestry of some of the most awe-inspiring, exquisite vocal overdub arrangements you’ll ever hear, accompanied by only Randy himself on the piano.  
I could provide a list similar in length (and similar in musical quality - arguably superior) to the huge Carol King one I posted earlier regarding the number of knockout songs Randy wrote in the ‘60s. If I get the gumption, maybe I will…

George  Harrison - While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Yeah, and a few ABBA songs, including this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW3HN_pvbE4&list=FLHAEL8Iwz684WaGFx1rQchA&index=394&ab_channel=AbbaVEVO

@tylermunns: Does your copy of the Song Cycle LP have the beautiful gold Warner Brothers center paper label? Both my copies (one has the rear cover with lyrics, the other without them but full musician credits) have the later ugly green WB label. I’ve been looking for a gold label copy in Mint condition for a few years now, to no avail. I’m a patient guy. 😉 The LP was reissued by somebody a few years ago.

I have the Speakers Corner Records reissue of Nilsson Sings Newman, but haven’t gotten around to listening to it yet. Thanks for the reminder.

Even though I'm in the "classic vinyl' age group with the majority of posters on this thread, I'm going to go a little more recent and say Michael Morales "Who Do You Give Your Love To?", and Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" both stand the test of a little less time. Back in my becoming an audiophile days, "Baby, Now That I Found You" by the Foundations, and "Red Rubber Ball" by The Cyrkle always made me reach for the volume knob. In the surf genre, "New York's a Lonely Town" by The Trade Winds gets a nod as well.

I've had to give a thumbs up to pretty much every tune listed on this thread so far. We got to grow up during a time when music itself was growing up. Being able to say, "I remember when that song came out on the AM radio" puts us in an especially privileged group of music lovers, because in those pre MTV days, the AM radio station DJ's were ultimately the ones who decided which songs were hits. Air time was expensive, and they wouldn't waste it on songs that didn't have what it took to stay on the charts, or even songs that ran over a certain time limit.  When Phil Spector produced The Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", a song that ran almost four minutes, he knew it was a chart topper. He also knew that most stations wouldn't play a song that long, so he deliberately misprinted the label time as 3:05 to make sure it got the air time it deserved. By the time the DJ's figured out the scam, it was too big of a hit to stop playing it. That's always been one of my favorite stories from the halcyon days of rock music. I'm glad I got to be a part of that special era.