# What are the greatest singles?



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

We all have our private lists of "the greatest albums", or "desert island albums", and there are all sorts of published lists, most of which we'd get into all sorts of arguments about.

But what about singles?

Now, of course, a "single" implies a 2-sided release, typically a 45rpm 7 disc, but there have been other formats as well. The "single" has probably vanished from the landscape, so most, if not all nominees, here will likely be from a bygone era.

What I'm looking for here are nominations for releases of any format, vinyl or other, that entail 2 songs, one of which is arbitrarily designated as the "A-side". But to be one of the GREATEST singles, both sides have to be fantastic. That is, if you didn't know which side was *supposed* to be the A-side, you'd have a hard time deciding because both songs are so good.

I was reminded/prompted by stumbling on to a Youtube of the late Ronnie Spector singing the Beach Boys song "Don't Worry Baby". I will nominate the Beach Boys' single of "I Get Around" b/w "Don't Worry Baby". The lyrics are dumb and amateur, but both are great great songs.

Another candidate is the Aretha Franklin disc of "Since You've Been Gone" b/w "Ain't No Way". Both have Aretha, the production, and the session musicians in top form. Both sides are a great reason to own the record.

"Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever" is another 2-sided wonder.

So what are your nominees? Again, it can't just be a great song. It has to be a release where BOTH songs are equally stellar.


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## Thunderboy1975 (Sep 12, 2013)

A side Sympathy For The Devil
B side Gimmie Shelter


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

mhammer said:


> the Beach Boys' single


I was ~10yrs old, delivering weekly newspapers in the morning when I found a 45 in the hallway of an apartment building.
The Beach Boys – Be True To Your School / In My Room
My older brother had a few, but this was _my _first.
I wore that out.


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## teleboli (Aug 19, 2009)

All things considered and for the time I Want To Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There.

Really took off.


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## Paul M (Mar 27, 2015)

Chicago.... Make Me Smile b/w Color My World. Terry Kath featured on both sides.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

I don’t know about greatest, but the first single I ever bought was this one...


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Delete.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Sneaky said:


> I don’t know about greatest, but the first single I ever bought was this one...


What was on the flip side? If it's not an equally great tune, it doesn't count.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Mooh said:


> You did this thread before. Bet my answer ain't the same.


Must have been a while back. Apologies for the replay. But thanks for participating all the same.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

mhammer said:


> Must have been a while back. Apologies for the replay. But thanks for participating all the same.


Slightly different so I deleted my response.


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## Always12AM (Sep 2, 2018)

This is one of my favourite albums of all time in that I could pick a song from either side or play it straight through and have zero complaints.


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## DrumBob (Aug 17, 2014)

My first thought was, The Byrds, "Turn! Turn! Turn!"/"She Don't Care About Time."

Some of you don't understand what this post is about. It's not about your favorite album cuts. It's what you think is a great two-sided 45.

Jeez, read the first post.


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

Appreciate the thread idea! Fun to look back at that format.

This was a Bowie reissue
A Space Oddity (1975)
B Changes

Also found a Warner Bros. release for Alice Cooper.
A School's Out
B I'm Eighteen

You got your money's worth with either of those.

Or...how about some Pink Floyd, although I'm not sure what the format did for David's soloing.

A Time
B Us and Them

Finally, Kiss fans had this release to enjoy.

A Detroit Rock City
B Beth ( lots of eyebrows raised over a Kiss ballad I recall)


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

DrumBob said:


> My first thought was, The Byrds, "Turn! Turn! Turn!"/"She Don't Care About Time."
> 
> Some of you don't understand what this post is about. It's not about your favorite album cuts. It's what you think is a great two-sided 45.
> 
> Jeez, read the first post.


Thanks. I have that single. And yes, the flip side was something that made you think "Why aren't they playing _this_ in heavy rotation on the radio?". I also have the single "5D" (which was banned, for assumed drug references), but I forget what was on the flip side.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

leftysg said:


> Appreciate the thread idea! Fun to look back at that format.
> 
> This was a Bowie reissue
> A Space Oddity (1975)
> ...


Wow. Those were really the flip sides of the initial release, and not any sort of "mini-hits" release years later? That's remarkable, and eminently worthy of the list.

As for "Beth", I suspect that B-sides were often ballads deemed by the A&R/promotion folks as not "single-worthy hits", hence placed on the (assumed) B-side.


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

mhammer said:


> Wow. Those were really the flip sides of the initial release, and not any sort of "mini-hits" release years later? That's remarkable, and eminently worthy of the list.
> 
> As for "Beth", I suspect that B-sides were often ballads deemed by the A&R/promotion folks as not "single-worthy hits", hence placed on the (assumed) B-side.


They could have been released later...I'll check on that if I can find some more!


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## polyslax (May 15, 2020)

Some of my faves...

Stevie Wonder, 1973
A - Higher Ground
B - Too High

Jackson 5, 1969
A - I Want You Back
B - Who's Lovin' You

Dionne Warwick, 1964
A - Walk On By
B - Any Old Time of Day

I really wanted some Glen Campbell in there, but I couldn't meet your requirement for both sides being fantastic, to me at least.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

leftysg said:


> They could have been released later...I'll check on that if I can find some more!


I asked, not to doubt you, but because I own a couple of singles that were re-releases of two hits on one disc, so I know such things exist. If you haven't listened to them in a while, the odds of mistaking a rerelease for the original are pretty good.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

polyslax said:


> Stevie Wonder, 1973
> A - Higher Ground
> B - Too High


Once in a while, I'll put on my SW greatest hits double album, and think "These ALL came from the same guy within a couple years of each other?". The extended version of "Isn't She Lovely" has several minutes of bathtub playtime giggling with his (then) preschool daughter as the instrumental background continues. If you have kids, it's an endearing stroll down memory lane.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Someone had to do it


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Pretty much every Creedence Clearwater single from the 60s and 70s.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

leftysg said:


> Beth ( lots of eyebrows raised over a Kiss ballad I recall)


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## BlueRocker (Jan 5, 2020)

Martha & The Muffins 7" 45 (vinyl) from 1980

A side - Echo Beach
B side - Teddy the Dink


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Kerry Brown said:


> Pretty much every Creedence Clearwater single from the 60s and 70s.


You may be right. I have/had a copy of "Green River", and the flip side is "Born on the Bayou". That's some double-barreled shotgun, there.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

Thunderboy1975 said:


> A side Sympathy For The Devil
> B side Gimmie Shelter


This! 

You win. Close thread.


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

C'mon... the correct answer is so obvious! 

*Werewolves of London / Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner *

Sorry, you lose.


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

SWLABR said:


> This!
> 
> You win. Close thread.


Wait, not so fast...what about Something/ Come Together?

Also, I believe I saw SWLABR was the B side of Sunshine of your Love.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

leftysg said:


> Wait, not so fast...what about Something/ Come Together?
> 
> Also, I believe I saw SWLABR was the B side of Sunshine of your Love.


Well played, but incorrect. Stones still win. But certainly honourable mentions.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

leftysg said:


> Also, I believe I saw SWLABR was the B side of Sunshine of your Love.





SWLABR said:


> Well played, but incorrect.


from wiki


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

laristotle said:


> from wiki
> View attachment 398054


Not what I meant. Yes, both of those (mentioned) singles are great, but I’m staying with the Stones double hitter as the “Winner”.

Edited for clarity


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I wasn't really aiming for a "winner", just a listing of shining examples that make you think "Why don't they do this anymore?".


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

mhammer said:


> What was on the flip side? If it's not an equally great tune, it doesn't count.


It was Lonely, which leaned more to the psychedelic side, but had some equally mind blowing guitar playing to my 10 year old ears.


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

Another Brick in the Wall
Just One of My Turns


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

Best Canadian 2 sider single?

How about American Woman and No Sugar Tonight?
Or
Did she mention my name? Canadian Railroad Trilogy


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

SWLABR said:


> Not what I meant.


Oops. My bad. I mistook your post as implying that those two songs weren't on the single together. lol


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

laristotle said:


> Oops. My bad. I mistook your post as implying that those two songs weren't on the single together. lol


More of a "my bad". I was kinda ambiguous.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

laristotle said:


> Oops. My bad. I mistook your post as implying that those two songs weren't on the single together. lol





SWLABR said:


> More of a "my bad". I was kinda ambiguous.


How typically canadian of us. lol


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

Foxey Lady with Hey Joe.


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## LanceT (Mar 7, 2014)

Up on Cripple Creek / The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

Fly by Night/ Anthem.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

KapnKrunch said:


> C'mon... the correct answer is so obvious!
> *Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner *


That was the only single I could think of for this.
It was the only song that I liked on the box at the Beverly Tavern when I was in art college...lol


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

Love Will Tear Us Apart / These Days

Runnin' with the Devil / Eruption


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## g#m (Apr 12, 2021)

Video Killed the Radio Star 

My first single purchase - not sure what was on the other side.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

g#m said:


> Video Killed the Radio Star
> 
> My first single purchase - not sure what was on the other side.


Doesn't count unless you know and really like the flip side. The rules are that BOTH sides have to be killer tunes, with either able to stand on its own.


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## FatStrat2 (Apr 7, 2021)

Nazareth

Side A: Love Hurts
Side B: Hair of the Dog


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Well, I just had my roof done last summer and I insisted that they use the 30 year ones. I see the new homes having theirs redone after only a few years. No thanks.


Oh crap....singles.....


Nevermind.


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## diyfabtone (Mar 9, 2016)

I Saw Here Standing There/I Want to Hold Your Hand ... the hair on the back of my neck stood up when I heard "One two three Foah". From that moment on I wanted to play the guitar and be in a band.


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

"Walk Away Renée" bw "Pretty Ballerina" by the Left Banke.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

The Smiths
A: Panic
B: Vicar in a Tutu.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)




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## Paul M (Mar 27, 2015)

Can't Buy Me Love b/w You Can't Do That 

I think this is the third or fourth Beatles offering in this thread.


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## Noodles (12 mo ago)

If 12" singles count:

Sisters of Mercy (1983)
Side A: Temple of Love (extended)
Side B: Heartland, Gimme Shelter (cover)

Made more valuable because CD versions destroyed the dynamics.

Vinyl version below.


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