The greatest Pop song yet written and recorded.


 

This thread is an offshoot and was inspired by @mahgister’s wonderful thread "Interesting videos about sounds and music." I made a couple of contributions to that thread, recommending a video recorded quite a few years ago by (I believe) a music teacher, who sits at his keyboard while explaining and demonstrating the construction of the utterly majestic "God Only Knows", written by Brian Wilson (music) and Tony Asher (lyrics), recorded by The Beach Boys (vocals) and the L.A. studio musicians who comprised the legendary Wrecking Crew (instruments), the song found on the Pet Sounds album.

In my posts, I made the case for the highly sophisticated and incredibly brilliant chord progressions, modulations (key changes), and use of inversion (playing a bass note below the tonic of the chord being played on the piano) in the song’s composition. So when the video below appeared when I just jumped onto YouTube, it’s title really caught my eye. It is entitled "Exploring The Mythical Chords Of "God Only Knows"." Brian is well known for his harmony vocal arrangements, but that’s just the icing on the cake; the song itself is in it’s chords and melody. Some of the chord sequences in "God Only Knows" bring me to tears. Add to that the vocal harmonies---many sung in counterpoint---and Carl Wilson's angelic singing of the melody, and you have an absolute masterpiece of a song.

I have long considered "God Only Knows" my favorite song, and imo the "best" song ever written. I’m not alone in that; Paul McCartney has stated he feels the same. I could have added this video to @mahgister’s thread, but I believe the song and it’s appreciation warrant it’s own thread. Watch and listen to this video (and the one I posted in mahgister’s thread), give the song a new listen, and see if you don’t agree with Paul and I. 😉

 

https://youtu.be/I2PHOt9_fGc?si=7NVfhFUBn4aw_GGo

 

 

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@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."