Perfect Pop Songs

There are some songs out there that just crush it. Song writing, arrangement, melody, instrumentation just click and the song is well nigh perfect. I used pop in the title, but I mean it in the sense of "popular", because there are rock and country songs (and to a lesser extent Broadway songs) that fall into this category.

If this thread grows into what I hope it to, you'll be able to scan it and make a quick playlist of quality songs easily. Feel free to jump in and add your picks. I get first crack, so I'm going to throw up some examples. That's sorta cheating because I get to skim some cream right off the bat, but it won't matter because no matter how many I put up you're still going to be able to scan the list and post "I don't know how the hell you could do this list and leave out...".

There are a lot of hit songs that don't clear this bar. The Beatle's "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was huge and well done for what it was - but it wasn't this. "Yesterday" damn sure was. With some songs like lyrics really don't amount to much, but the record pops anyhow, and sometimes the lyric is what propels it. It can be a funny balance. Sometimes it's just chemistry, nothing you can really put your finger on but the song simply works. Sometimes it's that the song is perfectly suited to the singer.

Here's an example. Two minutes, damn near a perfect pop song on the radio. Get past the stupid lip synching, and enjoy the band making fun of having to do it, particularly the guy on the keyboards.

I love Joe Cocker's "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" version, it rocks harder and the players were better - Leon Russell put together a helluva band - but this is the sort of song I'm looking for. Have fun.

A classic arrangement.

Low hanging fruit, as are about twenty of Chuck Berry's songs.

Needs no introduction.

Something newer. Amy didn't like the strings on this arrangement, so she's not in the video other than her vocal, but this is slick production and a banger of a single.

 

A couple from the Country side of things. Willie Nelson wrote this, and Patsy knocked it out of the park.

Cash.

Garth. You can throw rocks at lowest common denominator country, but this song really works for him. Bonus: 80's Big-Hair Reba.

 

There seems to be some chords and chord changes that are near universal in their appeal. "Three chord rock songs" are a real thing, partly because they're easy to play and partly because certain chord progressions seem to (ahem) strike a chord. Listen to how interchangeable these two songs are. Too different to sue for plagiarism, but basically exactly the same song.

 

Interesting topic, NC. I think I know what you're going for: songs with strong music, lyrics and that stay in your head.

I'll throw out: "Never My Love," first done (I believe) by The Association, in the mid-1960s. Relatively simple chords, catchy melody.

My favorite version is the one from the "Echo in the Canyon" documentary:

 

It has nothing to do with the quality of the songs, or maybe it does and it's a huge part of why the songs belong on this list. There's a whole sub-class of songs where either the artist wrote or the producers bought a song which was taken to a studio where the tune was worked up and recorded by studio musicians. The artist then either simply sang over the music track or a few overdubs were added and then the song was released, often with the credit going to a band that wasn't even in the studio when it was cut. Between them, The Wrecking Crew in L.A., the Swampers (the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section), The Funk Brothers at Motown, Booker T. and the MG's at Stax/Volt put out literally hundreds of hit records you know by heart. I'm going to break those out and add to them as songs percolate through google and my head.

I encourage you to look these guys up on Youtube. They played on so many things that there's no way to touch on all the gold records.

Funk Brothers.

 

Motown, but not the Funk Bros. Absolutely belongs on the list. Stevie Wonder plays almost all the instruments on his records, but he likes to use an outside guitarist. On this record it was Jeff Beck. Beck also came up with the drum intro, Wonder playing.

 

I'm not going for anything in particular, and some of it is according to taste. Still, I'm going for cream of the crop records that are near universal in their appeal. Part of what I look forward to is people posting something that I never would have thought of and smacking my forehead going "How did I not think of that one?" and "How the hell have I never heard this before???".

 

And if you ask me, Molly Tuttle turned this into a perfect pop song:

 

The Swampers. They're really sort of remarkable, because they're just a bunch of country boy musicians who would not catch your eye if you stood in a line next to them, but they played on monumental R&B, Soul, and Rock records. To be accurate, these guys played for Rick Hall at Fame Studios, then later opened their own studio in adjoining Sheffield, Al., which they named "Muscle Shoals Sound" mostly as a dig at Hall, who they had left after a dispute about how they were paid. They also copyrighted "The Swampers" name at that time.

You can throw in "Mustang Sally" and "In the Midnight Hour" with this, they backed Wicked Wilson Pickett on all of them. I just like this one.

The "patapat" percussion on this is drummer Roger Hawkins playing with his hands on the box for some recording tape with wadded up brown paper inside until it sounded right.

They worked with Bob Seger for a decade or better, including the "Night Moves" album.

 

This was recorded and engineered at Muscle Shoals Sound by Swamper guitarist Jimmie Johnson. The day after they finished the session they flew to California to play at Altamont.

 

If "perfect" also includes the ability to make one cry on the first hearing then Luka qualifies.