All three Beatles tracks are contenders for “Best” but honesty compels me to vote “Honky Tonk Women.”
1969- I can still remember pulling over and stopping my car so my friends and I could listen closely to the incredible new Stones song. We’d only heard it once before. For me, the song hasn’t aged a bit. (Although I wish Charlie had come in where he’d intended to.)
Well, it is easy to blame everything that’s been wrong with musicals since the 70s on Andrew Lloyd Webber.
1969 had a lot of great songs to choose from. Again, it was difficult but at the last second I picked The Beatles’ “Something” just barely over “Come Together”.
I came here figuring I’d vote for Dylan and ‘Lay Lady Lay’. I haven’t checked, but assume it was beaten out for #1 by ‘Honky Tonk Women’ (which, IIRC, was on the charts at exactly the same time).
So, with no Bob Dylan to cast my vote for, I had to choose between Steam (yes, Steam) and ‘Something’.
But, something in the way it sounds, attracts me like few other songs . . .
Something is very wrong here…two people have voted for In the Year 2525…how is this possible?
Fun fact: in the year 2014, we’re 8% closer to the year 2525 than we were in 1969.
What? It’s a good song.
Yeah, I figured the policy change came in the midst of the single’s run on the charts.
I was just pointing out the Whitburn’s official chart books still list the songs as charting separately…I assume because they spent more time on the Hot 100 as separate entities than they did together.
Apparently, his overall ranking of “Come Together” as a #1 and “Something” as a #3 must be a composite of their respective performances. Interesting that the change was made just as “Something” surpassed “Come Together,” after starting ahead and then slipping behind.
I thought I had heard every Beetle’s song, but I’ve never even heard of Something, so I Googled the lyrics and I’m positive I’ve never heard the song.
I had to go with Leaving, on a Jet plane, because it’s one I still sing and listen to on my favorite today 
Tough call between Sly and the Family Stone, and the Stones – both played Altamont, btw. I went with Sly, partly because I did the Stones in '67, but mainly because I adore Sly’s positive messages, racially integrated band, and gentle funk groove. (A 1990s equivalent would be the little-known group Boxing Gandhis).
What a strong year! Even songs with basically no chance in the poll are terrific songs that could have been close to winning in other years (“Crimson & Clover”, “Suspicious Minds”, “Everyday People”).
I’m a bit surprised by the strong showing for “Leaving On A Jet Plane”, currently part of a 3-way tie for 2nd. I personally can’t see any way it should get votes over some of these other powerhouses.
Another crap year, the sixties really ended on a weak note. I have to go with the Steam song. I honestly am not crazy about any of the songs, though I do not dislike them. I do think the Zager and Evans song is one of the worst of the decade.
I have to say I really enjoy these polls and the discussions that result, so keep them coming!
Never mind.
If you thought that was a crap year (which I obviously did not), wait until we hit the poopfest that was the '70s!
I think I should have worded it better. These songs are not bad, but I think some of these artists were better represented by better songs that did not climb to #1.
And that Zager and Evans song is a disaster.
I went with ‘Jet Plane’ as well, though calling any song written by John Denver “one of the best songs ever written” is way further than I’m willing to go.
“Something” was my second choice. Musically, it’s the first song of the All Things Must Pass album.
Did you look at the 1968 list? Maybe half a dozen decent songs, accompanied by a metric ton of drek. If you think ‘2525’ was bad, I’ll see and raise with Bobby Goldsboro’s ‘Honey.’ And that was just scratching the surface of the godawfulness that made #1 in 1968.
Really, 1969 was pretty good by comparison - although it’s true for both 1968 and 1969 that by this point, so many of the best songs of the era didn’t show up on top 40 stations at all.
“Something” is much better.
I voted for “Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye” just because it’s so awesome, and you can sing it in so many situations. I was tempted to vote for “Suspicious Minds” and “Someday We’ll Be Together,” though.
It looks like the Beatles are in real danger of being shut out of the world-famous Ponch8 Music Rating System, which I never thought would happen. They only have another year or two worth of #1 songs for me to vote for.
I saw John Denver in concert in 1970, as the opening act for Blood, Sweat & Tears. At the time, having written that song was his only claim to fame.
I really wanted to vote for “I Can’t Get Next to You,” but had to go with the Beatles yet again and “Come Together.”
Heh, Sequential opening lines…
Just '70. And Og help us, it’s going to be material from Let It Be. So better to let George close it out here.