The greatest Pop song yet written and recorded.

On the list;

Kinks - Waterloo Sunset

Devo - Gut Feeling

I. Berlin - Blue Skies

Zappa - Stevie's Spanking

Joni Mitchell - Edith and The Kingpin

G. Greshwin - Summertime

Phil Spector’s vision was original. He was a producer, not an arranger/transcriber.  

He was also no dummy when it came to pop songs.  
“To Know Him Is To Love Him,” with it’s clever bridge chord progression/melody was written solely by Spector.  
He wrote one of my favorite songs ever, “Spanish Harlem” with lyricist Jerry Leiber.
Randy Newman played the “Jack Nitzsche role” on the brilliant Nitzsche-produced music for the soundtrack of the film Performance.  
In that same role as arranger, Randy Newman wrote the absolutely brilliant orchestral arrangement for Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller’s masterpiece, “Is That All There Is?” with brilliant vocals by Peggy Lee.

The greatest pop song written and recorded ....  Lots of interesting opinions here - but I think the answer to this question was not even mentioned !  (Unless I missed it in this lengthy thread ! ).....

The greatest pop song one could argue is the song that has remained on the top 40 charts the longest - meaning it resonated with the largest group of music fans.  It is:   

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey.  It holds the record for the most weeks in the Top 40 history with 86 weeks.   86 weeks !!!   

FYI - she has also earned more than $50 million in royalties for this single song.  And no matter your age, religion, or musical taste, the song is a pop masterpiece.

My turn...

1  Imagine  John Lennon

2  No Regrets  Tom Rush

3  Triad  Jefferson Airplane (think David Crosby wrote it)

4  Don't Make Me Dream About You  Chris Isaak

They're all tied for first in my estimation

Whiter Shade of Pale—Procol Harem,,lyrics and that

                                      cadence

And Your Bird Can Sing—Beatles,,,my favorite Beatles song

I’ll think of more shortly.  Long list when other’s mention a good one