the greatest pop song ever?


apropos of absolutely nothing, i just listened to the song "five o clock world" by the vogues for the first time in perhaps 20 years. i heard it on a really good lexus (levinson) sound system and have concluded that it's arguably the greatest pop production ever--the damn thing's incredible. in the space of a quick two minutes you get 12 string guitar, marimba, horns, incredible drumming and a really wild honky-tonk piano, all on top of those weird doowop harmonies. add to the mix a really tight melody and sorta meaningful lyrics and you have something that makes phil spector look unambitious and timid.

also from left field, i've been touting a song called "i can see you" by someone or something called june and the exit wounds as the single most beautiful tune ever written. as far as i know, it's only been released on a sampler by parasol records (an indy label out of urban il). this song sounds like some lost brian wilson masterpiece and is well worth finding for those in search of audio nirvana.
loomisjohnson
Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. Why not: Man in the Mirror. Must of heard that a million times after he died.
Not sure I would actually pick it myself, but surprised to see that Lennon's "Imagine" has not been mentioned yet. If show tunes count, "Somewhere" from West Side Story is up there, too.
tapioca tundra

'"Tapioca Tundra", a wildly experimental piece of poetry put to music by Nesmith, charted surprisingly well as the b-side to "Valleri" at #34, perhaps the strangest song to hit American top 40 radio ever"

- Wikipedia
Reading this list, I'm no longer sure what a "pop" is. It sometimes (especially when spelled out as "popular music") seems to mean "everything but classical," or "everything but classical and (most) jazz," in which case most everything on the thread counts, even things I'd have thought of as rather unlikely, like the B-52s or the Stones. Anyone have a definition? Sales is one possibility,as Tvad notes, but the we get things like Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," which seems a very different animal than, say, Madonna.

John