What's your vote for the perfect song?

You've set a pretty high bar to begin with...tough to argue against pretty much anything that Thompson has written and performed over the past 50+ years. I couldn't pick a favourite myself.

The perfect song? "For No One"...one of McCartney's last serious songs. It will be played at my funeral.

Off the top of my head, right now...

Soft Machine - "Moon In June"

Uriah Heep - "Sweet Freedom"

Magazine - "Permafrost"

Sandy Denny - "Late November"

Neil Young - "On The Way Home"

Vanilla Fudge - "The Sky Cried/When I Was A boy"

Joy Division - "Passover"

Jefferson Airplane - "Lather"

Free - "Mourning Sad Morning"

 

Louie , Louie or 96 Tears



Actually , Hot Fun In The Summertime is the perfect pop song.

 

Goldfrapp - Utopia.

 

Careless Whisper by George Michael/Wham

Annie's Song by John Denver

Rebel Yell by Billy Idol

The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby & The Range

Good Times by Chic

Naturally by Huey Lewis & The News

Steppin' Out by Joe Jackson

L'hymne À L'Amour as sung by Johnny Hallyday

What's Going On by Marvin Gaye

You Get What You Give by The New Radicals

Groovin' by The Rascals

God Save The Queen by The Sex Pistols

Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears

 

Just sticking with The Beatles:

Please Please Me
All My Loving
Can't Buy Me Love
You Can't Do That
Drive My Car
Yesterday
Taxman
We Can Work it Out
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Paperback Writer
With A Little Help from My Friends
Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite
Lovely Rita
A Day in the Life
Revolution
Helter Skelter
Get Back
Hey Jude
Come Together
Her Comes the Sun
Something
Sun King
Because
You Never Give Me Your Money

I can think of so many perfect songs by so many other acts that it's doing my head in... gotta stop there for the time being!

 

Great thread! Impossible to answer, too. Let's see... Some of my favorites but not a complete list. Each has it's own appeal.

This Could Be The Worst - Randall Bramblett (Sea Level covered it when he joined.)
Asso-Kam - Joe Sample (on Blue Mitchell's 'Graffiti Blues'.)
What You Won't Do For Love - Bobby Caldwell
All Hashed Out - The Guess Who (on 'Artificial Paradise'.)
Credit - Tower Of Power
Empty Pages - Traffic
Focus II - Focus

 

Canon In D Major by Johann Pachelbel

That thing is everywhere.



Yes, I played it for my piano recital in college.

 

Head is working again working again. Avoiding obvious hits:

Fleet Foxes: Oliver James
The Angels: Marseille
Midnight Oil: Section 5 (Bus to Bondi)
Massive Attack : Paradise Circus
Talking Heads: Heaven (live version from Stop Making Sense - totally different to the studio cut)
OMD: She's Leaving
REM: Drive
Bowie: Soul Love
Nat King Cole: It's Only a Paper Moon
Paul Kelly: Before Too Long
King Crimson: Exiles
Gorillaz: Don't Get Lost in Heaven
Third Eye Blind: God of Wine
The Police: Next to You
Elvis Costello: The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes
U2: Red Hill Mining Town
Bonnie Rait: Everybody's Crying Mercy

Just scratching the surface, so many songs out thete that are perfect in their own way.

 

Carnival - Natalie Merchant. Jennifer Turner's tasteful guitar playing on that album is underrated as heck.
Jackson Browne - The Pretender
U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name
Paul Simon - Graceland. He may have written more popular songs, but this one speaks to me.
Ray Wylie Hubbard - Resurrection
Elbow - Powder Blue
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
John Prine - Sam Stone
Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter
The Cars - Drive
Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen


Hmmm. Most of them that come to mind are especially sad. Wonder if I have depression?

 

William Bell - I Forgot To Be Your Lover

I can’t think of anything to add or subtract that could deliver the message better. Concise, simple, and sublime.

 

ah, so many! First one that comes to mind for me is "Killer Queen" by Queen.

 

Either "Dixie Chicken" from Waiting for Columbus...Little Feat, or this one:

 

White Christmas.

 

Been waiting a long time to be asked this question and "Please Please Me" is my at-the-ready, no-doubt answer. A perfect pop confection.

 

Del McCoury does the best cover of that that song, IMHO.

 

Depends how you define 'perfect song' I suppose. Genre is always going to dictate obviously, but as far as a really good story, well written song and arrangement, it's hard to go wrong with Willy Dear by the Tillers...

 

I don't know if it is perfect, but this is the greatest song ever made.