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The worst songs: Your opinion

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Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me" won an Oscar for best song -- but it's the worst to one CNN.com e-mailer.

(CNN) -- We started with "Honey," took a turn with "We Built This City" and then welcomed a deluge of bad song nominations from CNN.com users.

The range is wide and deep -- which is more than you can say for some of the songs.

A sampling:

"Sometimes When We Touch," Dan Hill (1977): "[The] all-time epitome of the wimpy 'sensitive seventies male' genre. Surely the phrase 'hesitant prizefighter' has to place this one over the top, even with the fierce competition offered by the entire catalogs of Bread and Dan Fogelberg."
Liz C.

"American Pie," Don McLean (1971): "I've seen McLean perform this live (I had a free ticket), and I've seen him do it on TV. He hates the song. He goofs, he does it half-assed, and on 'Austin City Limits' he broke a string and put a new one on during the performance of the song. ... McLean wanted 'American Pie' to be his Great American Novel -- instead, it's his 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon.' "
John B.

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon ('Round the Ole Oak Tree)," Tony Orlando and Dawn (1973): "The arrangement is so cheesy it must be playing perpetually at a musty roller rink somewhere (I'm thinking Encino, no offense to the fine residents of that city). And it spawned the Yellow Ribbon craze. I am all for welcoming folks home, but every time I see a yellow ribbon I'm mentally assaulted by Tony Orlando, Dawn and whoever played that blasted organ in the background."
Janet P.

"My Heart Will Go On," Celine Dion (1997): "This song makes me want to shove her off the Titanic before it hit the iceberg."
Brent T.

"Thank God I'm a Country Boy," John Denver (1974): "Aside from the brain piercing torture of its happier-than-life tempo, it includes the following line: 'Cakes on the griddle.' Cakes on the griddle? In a song? I lose the will to live whenever I hear it."
Scott H.
(Editor's Note: Scott, be happy you don't have to sit through the seventh-inning stretch at Atlanta Braves games.)

"Lullaby," Shawn Mullins (1998): "It's all about this poor little rich girl who grew up with every advantage but still isn't happy. And I'm supposed to feel sorry for this bimbo?"
Doug L.

"Ironic," Alanis Morissette (1996): "She doesn't even get the correct literary definition of 'ironic.' The whole song is just one, big, arrogantly sung pile of wrong."
R.B.K.

"Thong Song," Sisqo (2000): "The guy is singing about underwear, for crying out loud."
Brian R.

"Say You, Say Me," Lionel Richie (1985): "I had an awesome dream in which that song never existed, much less won an Academy Award (Yes, really, it did. I know we've all blocked that out, but I checked, and that song really did win an Oscar. Martin Scorsese doesn't have an Oscar, but Lionel Richie does for 'Say You, Say Me')."
Ellen F.

"Hot Blooded," Foreigner (1978): "A grown man sings this? Yes, [lead singer] Lou [Gramm], I guess you are a mammal after all. Based on this lyric, though, I'd have guessed reptile at best."
B.P.H.

"Dancing Queen," ABBA (1977): "Reason enough to nuke Sweden, home of my ancestors."
Geoff W.

"Wonderful Christmastime," Wings (1979): "[Paul McCartney] ought be stripped of his knighthood for that unmelodious piece of tripe."
Sarah M.

"Laughter in the Rain," Neil Sedaka (1974): "I picture a zombie-eyed high school sophomore scribbling out the lyric just before she drops off to sleep in Biology class. She can't wait to show it to the other girls at cheerleading practice ... 'strolling along [country] roads with my baby, it starts to rain etc., etc., you know what's next' ... I think my breakfast is strolling along up my throat."
Dave R.

"Timothy," the Buoys (1971): "Who in their right mind writes a song about cannibalism?"
Randy B.
(Editor's note: Rupert Holmes, author of "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)," of course. Incidentally, a couple of e-mailers have said that "Timothy" is revealed to be a mule in a "complete" version of the song; the lyrics to the hit version, however, are ambiguous at best. On Songfacts.com, Rupert Holmes himself saysexternal link it was about cannibalism, so anyone who claims to have heard a version about a mule may have somehow heard an altered version -- or perhaps an urban legend started by the record label.)

"Yummy Yummy Yummy," the Ohio Express (1968): "I would rather listen to an endless loop of the Barney song."
Bruce E.

"Lonely Boy," Andrew Gold (1977): "His biggest problem seems to be that he had a sister. If said sister had been Karla Homolka, THAT would have been a problem."
Golf Widow
(Editor's note: Karla Homolka was convicted of assisting her husband, Paul Bernardo, in kidnapping, raping and murdering teenage girls in the early '90s.)

Air Supply's hits (1980-1986): "Our retired neighbor once blasted the 'Best of Air Supply' CD for an entire day, at top volume, while he was doing his yard work. Why would an otherwise decent 65-year-old man do such a thing? ... After an hour of this insipid crap, I was actually on the phone to my husband at work, begging him to let me put our house up for sale."
S.G.P.

And the last word:

"There has been so much hideous crap released by record companies that choosing the worst song is like choosing the world's prettiest snowflake. It can't be done. The competition is too great. Good luck anyway. (Just to make sure it's represented, I'll nominate Paul Anka's "[You're] Having My Baby.")
Tim W.

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