I think number one on my list would be "Alone Again Or" by Love. First time I heard it I thought "Good God, how can a tune be so evocative, so perfect and so painfully beautiful to listen to"
Another one that totally floored me when I first heard it back in the 80s was Joni's "Edith and the Kingpin"
Also Kate Bush's "Oh England My Lionheart"
Two of the earliest ones that grabbed my ear for a perfect melody, which I first heard in the late 70s, were: S & G's "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" and "Kathy's Song"
And even as the huge Cardiacs fan I am, there are only two Cardiacs tunes that make the grade for me in the painfully beautiful stakes: "March" and "All His Geese Are Swans"
But there is a Sea Nymphs track that slays me everytime "Abade" with Sarah singing.
More recently, a couple stand out, The Stranglers "Bless You, Save You, Spare You, Damn You" and Stars in Battledress "Oh Engineer"
There are a few more but not many that have such a powerful effect on me.
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