The Most Beautiful Song of The RnR era?

Lots of good calls on this thread.

Sandy by Springsteen...love that song, and I am not a Springsteen mark.

This one is virtually unknown and way out there perhaps and way too late for this thread, but, if you ever do it again, also consider "Never Blame the Rainbows for the Rain" by The Moody Blues.

Did "Across the Universe" and "I Will" by the Beatles get missed?

I weighed in three years ago on this one. Here's another:
"Angie" The Rolling Stones

Loving Cup - Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street

Sometimes we old timers tend to embrace everything from the past as the BEST.But you mention God Only Knows,There was a recording by this name done in 1955 by a R&B group from Philadelphia named the Capri's.If you ever heard it you would agree with your father-in-law.
Have a fun week

Now for your consideration: There are some awesome songs from the mid-70s singer-songwriters:

"Winterlong" by Neil Young;
"Urge" or "Coyote" by Joni Mitchell;
"Seven Bridges Road" by the Eagles,
"Fountain of Sorrow" by Jackson Browne.

From the 50s, I would nominate also Sam Cooke, especially songs like "Rome Was Not Built in a Day".

"Waterloo Sunset" by the Kinks is an under-rated classic from the 1960s.

Too many classic Motown, Hi and Stax recordings:
Al Green's "Call Me",
Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon in the Sky" and
Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me."

Concur with "Sandy"; hard to imagine that Bruce wrote that at age 22.

I also like "Time after Time" by Cindi and "Alison" by Elvis from the New Wave period.