The greatest Pop song yet written and recorded.

@loomisjohnson 

Did Carole King write all those songs you listed?? I knew she’s awesome but if so, that’s truly amazing!

@jonwolfpell it was @tylermunns who took the time to post that list, but i believe ck wrote all of those songs, mostly with gerry goffin (who also  wrote giant hits for diana ross, gladys knight, etc. without her). add in ck's "tapestry" songs plus all the unlisted classics and she's on a par with john/paul and and dylan as the GOAT.

I vote for Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', and would nominate Jeff Buckley's version as the best with honorable mention to John Cale's version.

@bdp24 

 Some songs improved with age, others become diminished (no musical pun intended).

 

Improved? Don't you mean augmented?   ;o)

JJ Cale’s “After Midnight” w/ his understated, primo guitar work & Skynrd’s version also excellent w/ great horns & piano.

"The First Time Ever I saw Your Face" Johnny Cash version. Try listening to that and not be affected somehow.

https://youtu.be/kYKU68NfRBE

the Association  " Windy " 

the Go Go's  " Vacation "

the Temptations  " Heard it Thru the Grapevine "

the Drifters  " Under the Boardwalk "  ( also by Rickie Lee Jones ) 

the Bangles  " Walk Like an Egyptian " 

Cyrkle  " Red Rubber Ball "

any or all of these songs make me want to sing and move ( I wouldn't say dance )

I think Pop songs  have to be simple , not multiple layers of over dubbing or orchestra addons but that's just me  .

@rpeluso,

I immediately caught the subjective pronoun being used as an object of a preposition too.  You and @bdp24 might appreciate this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc

Back to the thread's topic:  Call it heresy for not citing a classic rock song, but a current favorite songwriter of mine put out a song about six years ago that I think is pop music genius; I consider it his magnum opus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKrSYgirAhc

years ago i posted a thread which posited that "five o'clock world" by the vogues was the greatest pop song ever created. it's certainly the greatest to feature yodeling.

i'd also throw in neil young's "expecting to fly", which i never tire of. amazing arrangement outdoes anything phil spector ever did.

@jonwolfpell Indeed, Carol King wrote all those songs.  
Goffin was more the lyrics guy.  
That’s a fraction of the list, also.  
Those were just the ones I was particularly fond of.  
I didn’t mention “Take Good Care of my Baby” by Bobby Vee, her second #1 hit after “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” both written and released when she was a teenager.  
“Go Away Little Girl” by Steve Lawrence and “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss” by The Crystals have great music (Carol) and…sort of…um…strange.,,lyrics by Gerry 😆.  
Anyway, yeah, the list goes further on and on with her beyond the list I posted and it is indeed staggering to comprehend.  

Randy Newman’s body of songs in the ‘60s is the same way.  
People have no idea how many absolutely brilliant songs he wrote in the ‘60s prior to becoming a recording artist.  
His songs were a bit more musically/lyrically complex and adventurous, a ton of them absolute masterpieces.
 

So many great songs put forth above--to me "best" depends on my mood at the time--I once listened to a radio show host talk for an hour about how "White Christmas" was the greatest song ever written.  I said to myself--it might be at Christmas time but certainly not in July!

BTW as a footnote to the above, "White Christmas" as sung by Crosby is the biggest selling single of all time according to Guinness.  More interesting is that it was written by irving Berlin who is Jewish and did not celebrate Christmas per se and the talk show host who went on and on about it back when was Alan Berg...

I wish there were a way to upvote the submissions, since I agree with many of the submissions.

As a geezer I'd like to add-

Pretty Woman- Roy Orbison

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay- Otis Redding

Little Wing- Jimi Hendrix

Billie Jean - MJ

Caught up in you - 38 Special

& insert any hit by Fleetwood Mac 

Thanks to whoever brought us the Father John Mundy song. I liked it a lot and want to listen to it, and some others, when I’m less busy than I am right now.

What a wonderful list we have contributed to here. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite song of all time, but previous posters have hit on a number of the ones I have thought of as "favorite" over the years (I don’t go for "best").

"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" is an early, pre-pubescent favorite by the Shirelles. I knew something lay ahead in the attraction/love department when I got a little older, and that song prepared me for the fact that it—whatever it was—mightn’t always go so well. The melody and the girls’ voices, well, I became a girl group fan whenever I started hearing that song, probably in 1963 on the Scott Muni show (77 WABC-AM).

Then came two of my other favorites, "Be My Baby" and "Then He Kissed Me," Phil Spector productions by the Ronettes and the Crystals. Courtesy of You Tube and my hard drives filled with songs, I still listen regularly to those two, as well as all of the songs I’m listing here.

Someone mentioned the Beach Boys having been declared uncool. I bought into that idea as an incipient hippie in 1966, and ended up not buying Pet Sounds until it was rereleased in 1974 on Brother Records (I had started my album collection with Surfer Girl and Surfin’ USA, and had bought every subsequent Beach Boys LP and 45). And I knew nothing of Smile until I bought the Good Vibrations box set in 1993. I had the singles that came from those albums, and have thought of "Heroes and Villains" as a favorite song of all time many a year.

I like "You Still Believe in Me" more than I like "God Only Knows" from Pet Sounds. Each time they sing "cry-y-y-y-y" with sixteen y’s is the clearest summons to musical nirvana I know of. Except when it’s the bum-de-bum-bum drum starting "Be My Baby." Or the horn and drum swirl that brings us to our feet as it opens Martha and the Vandella’s "Dancing in the Street."

Someone mentioned Cat Stevens. I liked him, though not as much as I’ve liked other artists. The song that sticks with me is "How Can I Tell You?", which someone used to play at me, hoping it would get me to fall in love with him. But it’s a beautiful song.

So many more: haven’t even touched Carly Simon ("You’re So Vain") or Linda Ronstadt, my all-time favorite singer ("Long, Long Time"). Or Joni Mitchell ("Rainy Night House"). Or Warren Zevon, especially "Desperados under the Eaves" from his first album.

Oh, and I always liked "12:30 (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)" more than "California Dreaming." It’s what I’m going to listen to next, when I’m done with "How Can I Tell You?" The first line always gets me these days, as I used to live in New York City, and out my windows, I had a view of the Con Ed clock (which was not stuck at 12:30, but still).

When I think of the Best Pop Song ever written and recorded, I think of what song that will make a lasting impression on people of all ages, race and religion, and it must be a song can be sung universally. In my opinion, there is only one song that can do this, and that song is "Hey Jude" by the Beatles.

Lot's of great songs mentioned here.  I think I want to make a play list!

Many of the songs mentioned are ground breaking but pretty old.  IMO pop began in the '50s and has been evolving since then.  I think to get to the greatest pop song one has to look later in the evolution.  MJ's  Billie Jean or Thriller or something from Prince reflects the evolution.  Cheers

@stereo_gen 

Why is Hey Jude in any way universal? Anyway, the last two minutes of the song are a repetitive bore.

roccity, I might suggest Goodbye Mister Blue from Father John Misty as his magnum opus.  

Of course it's a matter that is personal.  Or of taste.  Or of preference.  Or life experience.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DdUQ7kY4Ec

As a wise person said, there is no accounting for taste. But in all honesty this is a fantastic composition.  Definitely.  

jay15206, how about this version of that wonderful Zevon song?  I think it's marvelous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJQ4E5l8tEk

And I love 12:30, too.  My favorite Cat Stevens might be Sad Lisa.  

Oh, and what about "He's A Rebel"!  Written by Gene Pitney, but made famous by The Crystals?!

Now that I have had some time to think about it. Here are a few fabulous pop songs.

To me, "pop songs" are light, bouncy and really have nothing dramatic to say.

"A,B,C" The Jackson 5

"Mama Mia" ABBA

"Dancing Queen" ABBA

"Eight Days a Week" The Beatles

"(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame" Elvis Presley

"Shake It Off" Taylor Swift

"Can’t Get You Out of My Head" Kylie Minogue

"B-A-B-Y" Rachel Sweet

rpeluso

Thank you. A long and interesting post ruined by . . . “. . . agree with Paul and I.”

Sorry everyone . . . 

MacArthur Park . . . far and away . . melancholic and maudlin . . all in one song by Richard Harris. 

It was only 55 years ago . . . I guess time was never waiting for us. Sad. 
 

Thank you, rpeluso, for the Madeleine Peyroux "Desperados." She does it right. I imagine you've heard her version of Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me to the End of Love" (perhaps a good choice, perhaps a bad, on Rosh Hashanah).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REmk1EaaIzo

And yes, I love "He's a Rebel." "Da Doo Ron Ron" as well.

By chance, do you have a relative named Marlene.

- jay15206

p.s. I like "Hey, Jude."

This may not be a Pop song, but "Comin' Back To Me" written by Marty Balin performed by Jefferson Airplane always gets to me.

@teboerio I feel compelled to note that Glen Campbell’s 1970 version of Jimmy Webb’s masterpiece “MacArthur Park” is hard to beat.  
IMO, Waylon Jennings’s 1976 version is right behind.  
Harris’ version is probably somewhere behind Donna Summer’s version.

@tylermunns 

Great list. Carole King is an impressive songwriter, although it is fair to mention she co-wrote with her husband until 1969, Gerry Goffin.

@noromance Carol was the music, Gerry was the lyrics. 
I don’t listen to that music for the lyrics. I don’t wish to diminish Gerry’s contributions, but that’s just how I see it.

One of my very favorite early-60’s songs/records is "On Broadway", sung by The Drifters, written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s Brill Building songwriting team competition: Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. The song/recording is very haunting, and hearing it never fails to "return me to" the time of it’s release. I remember hearing it coming out of the transistor radio under my pillow at night. 😊 By the way, playing the guitar solo in the song is none other than Phil Spector!

@loomisjohnson: Speaking of Phil Spector, you may know he didn’t write the orchestra charts for his recordings/productions, that was done by his arranger Jack Nitzsche. Guess who wrote the orchestral/string arrangement for "Expecting To Fly", and produced the whole recording? Jack Nitzsche. Jack in one reason Neil’s Harvest album is as good as it is, as well as the 1971 s/t Crazy Horse album, produced by Jack and Bruce Botnick.

@tylermunns: I absolutely loved Bobby Vee’s recording of "Take Good Care Of My Baby" and "Go Away Little Girl" by Steve Lawrence. I had them on 45 RPM singles back then, and still do. That’s one reason I could never own only a Linn Sondek. 😉

I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to be surrounded by fellow song and songwriter lovers! I’m tempted to start a thread dedicated to a related topic: Power Pop. That idea came to me after listening to the one Fastball album I own, which opens with a killer Power Pop song: "The Way".

Has anyone else heard "One Hit Wonders Of The World Unite" by the Canadian group Badger? Here ’tis, but be forewarned: the sound quality is terrible.

bahttps://youtu.be/yjfqmK_xPPI?si=JIyIG-rJc162izNknd

Spector and Nitzche produced some truly great music, but in their personal lives they were not nice people.

^ Spector was Spector. I'm glad he made all his music before he became what he became. I've never heard anything bad about Jack Nitsche, though.

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  

@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.

@ericsch 

"Comin Back to Me" is one of my all-time favorite songs, but I wouldn't call it pop. It was never a hit, and it's just a piece of art. as is the song before it on the same disc, "Today."

"Wichita Lineman" Jimmy Webb 

sung by Glen Campbell 

@roxy54, both of those songs are standouts, two I often sing in my head.  Just wonderful songs.  

How about "Pretty Ballerina" by The Left Banke, written by Michael Brown? Also their "Walk Away Renee", done in a great version by The Four Tops as well.

Carole King "You've Got a Friend"

In the words of the Highlander "There can be only one".  Written by Mick at the tender age of 25, the song is as powerful today as ever.  There are plenty of pretty pop songs, and then there is the one that towers above them all IMHO 🤣

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long years
Stole million man's soul an faith

And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

Stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed Tsar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank
Held a general's rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made

I shouted out
Who killed the Kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me

Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politnesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, mm yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, mm mean it, get down

Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Aah yeah

Tell me baby, what's my name?
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name?
Tell me baby, what's my name?
I tell you one time, you're to blame

What's my name
Tell me, baby, what's my name?
Tell me, sweetie, what's my name?

@bdp24 

I have to ask you this What is a Pop song ?  

I'm seeing all kinds of music being listed as Pop songs , I wouldn't consider the Beach Boys " Only God Knows " as Pop or John Lennon's " Imagine " or Jefferson Airplane's  " Comin Back to Me "  , but " Walk Away Renee " ( I like Rickie Lee Jones version )  maybe all of what ABBA did or Diana Ross and the Supremes  or all the Beach Boys surfer songs or all the Beatles up to Revolver is the type of music that I would think of as Pop .

Am I way off base with my categorization ?

@vair68robert - Good question - I think your categorization is perfectly correct for you - take a category and put in what you think belongs there, and nobody should tell you you are wrong. 'Pop' is just short for 'Popular' and all kinds of music can be so considered by somebody. That's why I think the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame', if such a thing should even exist, with everything that is in it, should be renamed the 'Pop Music Hall of Fame' - that would cover it all, I should think. 

vair68robert, I used to consider everything I listened to as "rock," which was where it was located in the record store bins. Along came the internet, and the Steve Hoffman forum, where I was informed that most of my favorites (the Beach Boys, Linda Ronstadt, Motown, the girl groups) were actually considered "pop." I was alright with that, as I’d never listened much to the one-word-name groups, or any hair metal, or hard metal, or John Mayall, or pre-Lindsey and Stevie FM. Except for Satanic Majesties and Let It Bleed, I don’t even like post-Between the Buttons Stones. So I’ve continued to hie to that definition, as long as we’re talking about the pop music of our generation. (Begone, Shawn Mendes, Barefoots, Britney, Taylor Swift, etc.)

But if you want to go back to calling it all "rock," I have no problem with that.

P.S. The only version of "Walk Away, Renee" I like is the original.