The greatest Pop song yet written and recorded.

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. 
 

rpeluso

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

Sorry everyone . . . 

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

 

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?!

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.  

@stereo_gen 

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

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

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.

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).

Billie Jean - MJ

Caught up in you - 38 Special

& insert any hit by Fleetwood Mac 

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

 

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...

 

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!

@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.
 

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.

@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

 

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  .

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

https://youtu.be/kYKU68NfRBE

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

@bdp24 

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

 

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

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.

@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.

@loomisjohnson 

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

You’re all wrong!

Best song ever written and on record…

GOOD VIBRATIONS!

@tylermunns i haven't heard alot of your list--will be checking it out this weekend. thanks for posting.

@loomisjohnson

“The Porpoise Song”…written by Carole King

An awesome song that will thwart many a Monkees-basher’s notions as to their mediocrity/crappiness.
Carole’s demo of “Pleasant Valley Sunday” is great, and superior to the original Monkees record, in my opinion

Also written by Carole King:

“I Happen to Love You” - The Myddle Class (The Electric Prunes version equally good)

“Don’t Bring Me Down” - The Animals

“So Goes Love” - The Turtles (glorious song and track)

“Honey and Wine” - The Hollies

“Wasn’t Born to Follow” - The Byrds (the Dusty Springfield and Carole/The City’s version are very different but superb, my preferred versions)

“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” - Aretha Franklin (Carole’s version also gorgeous)

“Take a Giant Step” - Taj Mahal

“Chains” - The Cookies (Beatles version so-so)

“I’ll Love You For a While” - Dusty Springfield (badass pop perfection)

“The Loco-Motion” - Little Eva (of course Kylie Minogue’s hit 25 years later)

“I Can’t Stay Mad at You” - Skeeter Davis (sort of a re-write of her high school buddy Neil Sedaka’s classic ‘Breaking Up is Hard to Do’ but a gem in its own right)

“She Doesn’t Deserve You” - The Honey Bees (addicting flawlessness)

“Every Breath I Take” - Gene Pitney

“Keep Your Hands Off My Baby” - Little Eva (Beatles version so-so)

“You’re Just What I Was Looking For Today” - The Everly Brothers (check out this surprisingly not-so-Everly-Brothers, psychedelia-ish 1967 gem)

“Just a Little Girl” - Donna Loren

“Brand New Man” - Richard “Popcorn” Wylie (yet another gem that slipped through the cracks)

“Let’s Turkey Trot/Down Home” - Little Eva (world-beating 45; ‘Let’s Turkey Trot’ is irresistible and ‘Down Home’ is as good a pop song as you’ll ever hear…simply brilliant…the novelty-ness is the only reason ‘Let’s Turkey Trot’ was the A-side)

“I Can’t Hear You” - Betty Everett (Dusty’s version just as good, and my preferred version - YouTube her live TV performance of this and see her set the damn house on fire)

“Don’t Forget About Me” - Dusty Springfield

“Goin’ Back” - Dusty Springfield (The Byrds’ version from The Notorious Byrd Brothers is very different but quite good)

“Some Kind of Wonderful” - The Drifters

“He’s In Town” - The Tokens (what a great song, great record)

“That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De-Ho)” - Dusty Springfield (Carole demo is great also)

“I’m Into Something Good” - Earl-Jean

“Crying in the Rain” - The Everly Brothers

“One Fine Day” - The Chiffons (masterpiece)

“Don’t Ever Change” - The Crickets (best version but Beatles version quite good as well)

”It Might As Well Rain Until September” - Carole King (pop perfection - sink your teeth into the bridge to receive a clinic on deceptively uber-sophisticated pop songwriting ingenuity…simply brilliant and seamless)

”Up On the Roof” - The Drifters (Carole’s version very different but awesome)

”I Can’t Make it Alone” - Dusty Springfield

“I Was There” - Lenny Welch (simply stunning song/track, criminally unknown)

“So Much Love” - Dusty Springfield (heaven)

“No Easy Way Down” - Dusty Springfield (ecstasy)

”Another Night With the Boys” - The Drifters

“I Didn’t Have Any Summer Romance” - The Satisfactions (another criminally unheralded, gorgeous song and track produced by Jack Nitzsche)

“Road to Nowhere” - Carole King (dark, ominous, almost sounds like the Velvet Underground was trying to copy it with ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’)

“Make the Night a Little Longer” - The Palisades (another forgotten nugget of goodness)

“It’s Going to Take Some Time” - Carpenters (I prefer Carole’s demo)

“Some of Your Loving” - Dusty Springfield (bliss)

“Will You Love Me Tomorrow” - The Shirelles (written by King as a teen; she had perfect pitch at age 4)

Brian Wilson cites Gershwin as a major influence. He in fact recorded an album of Gershwin tunes---entitled Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin---in 2010.

Dave Edmunds included a beautiful version of Rodgers & Hart’s "Where Or When" on his Get It album, one of my Top 10 of all time albums. Play that song while seducing a woman---it’s SO "dreamy". 😉

Currently, Porpoise Song by the Monkees. Waterloo Sunset is a safe fallback.

The Broadway and Hollywood musical tunes that comprise the Great American Songbook are pop tunes.  So all that stuff by Gershwin, Kerns, Porter, Berlin, Mercer, Rodgers/Hart etc. should be considered.  My top votes go to "My Funny Valentine", "Blues In the Night" and "Midnight Sun".

Probably a song by the Beatles, Bob Dylan or Cat Stevens...Pick one for me and i will approve the choice so good they are...

I am not into pop but i made many exceptions... 😉

@bdp24

too much jamming/extended guitar soloing, too little playing and singing of songs.

But isn’t this the definition of a hippie band? ;o)

The Sons were, indeed, terrific! 

 

 

During the Hippie era, Pop became a dirty word. The 3-minute single became the domain of teenybopper music, not serious "Art". Pretentiousness became rampant, reaching it’s peak with Progressive Rock, the appearance of The Ramones finally putting a much-appreciated end to.

But I never stopped loving Paul Revere & The Raiders, whose "Just Like Me" is a fantastic Pop song! Sure, the chord progression is nothing special, but the song has a great melody, and the all-important sing-along chorus "hook", as well a really cool double-tracked guitar solo by Drake Levin. Plus, Mark Lindsey was (is?) a great singer.

I auditioned for a Hippie band in the spring of ’71, and after passing the audition (a jam from 10 PM to 6 AM the next morning) moved into the band house. The bass player helped me carry in my LP collection from my VW van (of course 😉), and after looking through the titles said to me "You like weird music." He had seen my Beach Boys albums (they had long ago become uncool), my Paul Revere & The Raiders, my Ventures, my Animals and Manfred Mann albums, my copy of Emitt Rhodes s/t debut (a Pop classic), my girl group albums, my Soul and R & B, my Country & Western (Hippies did not allow you to like Merle Haggard, even though Jerry Garcia did), and my Andy Williams Greatest Hits album (which contains some songs by Henry Mancini, a favorite of mine). But my Jazz and Classical were fine, of course. I liked some albums by current bands, like those of Moby Grape, The Sons (though a Hippie band---in fact as about as Hippie as they come---they were great), Spirit, Fleetwood Mac, Procol Harum, The Kinks, a few others.

I played the band The Beach Boys’ Smiley Smile album, with which I was at that time obsessed (read the two chapters on the making of Smile in the Paul Williams book Outlaw Blues if you don’t already know about this incredible album-that-never-was), and they just didn’t get it. I eventually had to quit the band; too much jamming/extended guitar soloing, too little playing and singing of songs.

How can we ever forget these "pure pop" songs?:

Sugar Sugar

Green Tambourine

Yummy Yummy Yummy

 

I enjoy each every time I hear them.

 

Fantastic list @tylermunns! For an example of Carole King’s early songwriting quality, give a listen to her "Halfway To Paradise". I first heard the song on an early (pre-debut album) Nick Lowe single on Stiff Records, and was stunned speechless; it’s an incredible song! Investigating, I learned it had first been recorded in 1961 by Tony Orlando (!), but I don’t remember hearing it. I was buying Pop singles in the early-60’s, and Carole’s name (along with that of her lyricist husband Gerry Goffin) was on a lot of them. She was already a professional songwriter while still in high school.

 

I just now stumbled upon another video in which "God Only Knows" is examined, and it might be my favorite of them all. A pianist with a pretty heavy Italian accent dissects the song, but what I really like about his presentation is that at the end of each section of the song, he plays through that section, so that one may hear what he just explained. The beauty of the song is fully expressed, the brilliance of it’s composition fully revealed.

If you decide to watch the video (Secret Chords Found In The Beach Boys: "God Only Knows" Analysis), and find yourself somewhat lost in the technical matters (when I and my musician peers got to college, many of us took Music Theory. We were surprised to learn how mathematical music is.), just let it go and keep watching and listening. You’ll "get it" anyway. 😉

 

https://youtu.be/9dU1dZCM0fc?si=ukd1C_nBM87nqtRx

 

I was 15 51 years ago when my brother brought this LP home.

 I was an instant fan, saw them in concert a handful of times.

who doesn’t love “Virginia Plain” from Roxy Music?

https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/100219/

 

Losing My Religion - REM

Space Oditty - Bowie

Suzanne - Cohen

Yellow Brick Road - Elton

I agree with the reply that said this is a silly question, but still -- I can't believe no on has mentioned Paul Simon yet.  CSNY weren't too shabby, either. ;-)

No one who puts their feet up on my coffee table and says, “God Only Knows” is the best pop song ever written will get a dirty look from me.

A pop song that can hit a “laymen” with authority and merely sound like a “pretty, catchy song,” but which employs highly sophisticated methodology in it’s construction/execution, is, to my mind, a good measurement of a great pop song.

The hazard in writing, say, “Hang On Sloopy” (a song I love) is that it may be perceived as “too simple.” The hazard in writing, say, “Aja,” is that it may be perceived as, “obtuse, ponderous, boring, etc.”

To write a song that simultaneously achieves both…damn hard to do.

The best pop songs (of which there are many) by these songwriters achieve this remarkable balance:
- Jerome Kern
- Irving Berlin
- George Gershwin
- Vincent Youmans
- Cole Porter
- Richard Rodgers
- Harold Arlen
- Harry James
- Jimmy Van Heusen
- Henry Mancini
- Burt Bacharach
- Carole King (do yourself a favor and spend a few days - it’ll take a few days as the volume is staggering - digging into the pre-‘70s-solo-artist-i.e.-Tapestry-etc. Carole King compositions of the ‘60s…amazing)
- Randy Newman (ditto)
- Brian Wilson
- John Lennon
- Paul McCartney
- Ray Davies
- Harry Nilsson
- Nicholas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
- Stevie Wonder
- the Odessey and Oracle LP by the Zombies
- Thom Bell
- Elton John
- Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff
- Joni Mitchell
…to name a few 😉

Two on offer…

Lush Life by Billy Strayhorn. 
 

Never Gonna Let You Go. Worth watching Rick Beato take it apart.  Also fun hearing how this great tune kicked the young, cocky “Jazz Guys” butt…

https://youtu.be/ZnRxTW8GxT8?si=8_3g8S0wbZJp6lh4

 

@jmalen123

Once again, a music list without one song from this century. Sad.

... and in twenty-five years, someone may well say the same thing about what you like.

Will their description of your taste as "sad" diminish the value of the music you love?  

 

 

 

Music, like all art forms, is a matter of personal taste & “better /worse” ultimately doesn’t really apply.

There are many great, moving songs mentioned. I’ve always thought “These Days” by Jackson Browne to a perfect work of art w/ real meaning performed by outstanding musicians. 

Thank you. I love every song mentioned here....and feeling so grateful that I grew up listening to our greatest age of music, the breakout of imagination and tunefulness of the 50s/60s/70s.

@kerrybh, I wholeheartedly agree. This is an amazing rendition of “Crying”.

“You’ve lost that loving feeling” by the highly underrated Righteous Brothers.

I can appreciate the musical genius of “God only knows” but I was never able to warm up to it on an emotional level.

“I Saw Her Standing There” by The Beatles

”Satisfaction” by The Stones

”You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin

”Do You Believe In Magic?” The Loving Spoonful

”River Deep, Mountain High” Ike & Tina Turner

HS Class of ‘69…and it shows!  We all love what we loved when in our late teens.

So here’s something from this century, as @jmalen123 pointed out this list conspicuously lacks.
Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden, obviously.

Or if this isn’t pop enough, Toxic by Brittney Spears.

Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim?

In 1974 Elvis was considered a rock/pop star- so stretching the definition a bit I'd say American Trilogy live from Hawaii.

If it's pure bubblegum Thriller and the entire rest of the album by the same name is outstanding. 

Crying by Roy Orbison 

the best version of which is the duet with k d lang on her Recollection album 

beautifully written song and putting Roy together with kd lang produces a powerful and emotional result 

this version is also masterfully engineered 

amazing talent on display 

@jmalen123: Rodney Crowell's "Why Don''t We Talk About It" is from 2001. Lucinda Williams' incredible song "West" is from 2007, her song "Essence" from 2001. The latter, by the way, is the most intense song I've heard from this century, with a vocal performance absolutely lascivious, the lyrics full of wicked double entendre.

Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" is from 2002, though he of course didn't write the song. He does however make the song his own. Was he too old to matter to you? 😉

But ya know, one element in a song's stature as a great one is how it holds up to the passage of time. Some songs improved with age, others become diminished (no musical pun intended). A lot of the late-60's music now sounds quite dated to me. Genius songwriters aren't necessarily born every day, or even every decade. Would you rather listen to great music from the 20th century, or mediocre music from the 21st? J.S. Bach was for many years considered too "old" for 19th and 20th century ears, but sounds far fresher to me than most music written in those two centuries. Perhaps my love of Bach explains my love of "God Only Knows". 

 

 

Maybe it is Chris Isaak / Wicked Game. Now I am not sure anymore. Oh well... back to my Old Forester bourbon and a little more contemplation.

“Stop, In The Name Of Love” - The Supremes

”Hey Jude” - The Beatles

“God Only Knows” - BB

”Piece of My Heart” - Janis Joplin

”White Rabbit” - Jefferson Airplane

”I Wish It Would Rain” - The Temptations

”People Get Ready”  - The Impressions

”Hurt So Bad” - Little Anthony and The Imperials

”Close To You” - The Carpenters

”Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” - The Police

“Aja” - Steely Dan