Thanks everyone for jumpin' on this thread. So far, there have been some great examples of some great songs:

"Make It With You" (a very pretty song with that overt sexual innuendo all teens love)
"When You Say Nothing At All" (simple, beautiful, with absolute emotional honesty)
"Almost Like A Song" and "Song For a Winter's Night" I'm not that familiar with these titles. Mr. Dunbar, however, goes into detail as to why the Lightfoot song appeals to him - it seems to have a lot to do with the way the melody works over the chords, something I call the modality of a song.
"You'll Never Walk Along" (powerful, inspiration, melodic)
"New York State of Mind" (crafty, personal, passionate)
"The Rose" (perhaps one of the simplest and most perfect songs ever written, not to mention one of the most lucrative copyrights in the lexicon of pop music - Amanda McBroom is one of my best friends, and there's brief anecdote in my book about how she played that song for me in its infancy)
"Imagine" (courageous, inspirational, idealistic, quietly powerful, beautiful)

I'd love to hear more about the specifics of why your favorite songs appeal to you - I think it can really help us as writers if we put more thinking into what it is about great songs that draws us to them time and time again.

Keep 'em comin'. And don't be afraid to share your guilty pleasures. For instance - the first time I heard the Trogg's "Wild Thing," written by Chip Taylor, I got really turned on. The primitiveness of that song and the record with it's out-of-tune sexual undertones hit square in the bullseye of my teenaged hormones.

Rand Bishop
songwriter/producer/author Makin' Stuff Up, secrets of song-craft and survival in the music-biz
www.makinstuffup.net

Rand Bishop
Songwriter/producer/author