Saying any one track is the best song of the 21st century is quite a statement. For Robert Wyatt of the jazz-rock outfit The Soft Machine, picking the best song was actually quite easy. And you probably won’t be able to guess what it is, unless you’ve read ahead.
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Considering Wyatt is a bit of an English icon of 20th-century psychedelic rock, pop music, and the Canterbury scene, we’ll trust his judgment here. In an interview with The Guardian from years ago, Wyatt discussed what he called “the soundtrack of my life”. And his top pick for the 21st century’s very best song is one that exploded on the charts in 2013.
Robert Wyatt Said The Best Song of the 21st Century is “Happy” by Pharrell Williams
You read that correctly. Robert Wyatt named Pharrell’s 2013 global no. 1 hit “Happy” as the best song of the 21st century.
“When I’m not watching Russia Today, obviously, I’m watching pop TV,” said Wyatt in the above-mentioned interview. “Even my son’s embarrassed by the infantilism of my tastes, but there’s some good stuff out there now. Pharrell Williams’s Happy – that’s absolutely f***ing knockout.”
The praise for singer/songwriter and producer Pharrell didn’t end there. Wyatt went on to say that Pharrell is “as good as any 60s soul singer” and that “Happy” is “brilliantly put together.” Considering Wyatt put out some of the best and most underrated genre-bending music of the 1960s (and 1970s, respectively), that’s a pretty substantial thing to say about a contemporary.
“It’s a great drum track, and there are only four chords or so, but they’re just enough,” Wyatt continued. “It’s really subtly done, absolutely spot-on. My granddaughter tells me I should totally disapprove of that other song he did, though. With someone else… something lines? Blurred Lines! That’s the one. Take it from me that I don’t like that one at all.”
Sometimes, simplicity is key when it comes to songwriting in the pop world. Pharrell’s talents really did pay off with that one. “Happy” was a no. 1 hit in multiple countries, from the United States to the United Kingdom to Australia to Canada, and everywhere in between. One can’t deny that it’s insanely catchy, after all.
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