Al Lewis of Cambridge, Massachusetts, cited this gem from the Turtles: "Eleanor, gee, I think you're swell/And you really do me well/You're my pride and joy et cetera." Asks Lewis: "Did the lyricist go on strike right before the recording session was scheduled to start?"

Others thought it was a tossup between Steve Miller and himself. Some cited "Take the Money and Run" ("Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas - clap, clap, clap, clap, clap/You know he knows just exactly what the facts is") and "The Joker," with the words: "cause I speak of the pompatus of love." As Marc H. Hollingsworth of Raleigh, North Carolina, spoke for many: "What in the world does 'pompatus' mean?"

Nonsense lyrics bugged quite a few of the respondents. They cited lyrics such as the Beatles' "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da," Manfred Mann's "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy," the Phil ­Spector-produced Crystals hit "Da Doo Ron Ron," the Police's "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da," among others. I say: A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom. Now, them's some lyrics!

Best Songwriter: Repeated props for Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen,­ Brian Wilson, and Carole King. But ­Lennon-McCartney were cited most often. Said John Hiner of Bay City, Michigan: "Just a spin of the Beatles' 1 CD (27 tracks!) will convince you I am right."

The little-known Marshall Crenshaw merited several mentions. Marv Meyer of Chesterfield, Missouri, said, "He's carried on in the footsteps of Buddy Holly and John Lennon, writing great tunes for 30 years, and he's hardly noticed." Anne Folan of Washington, D.C., opined that Marshall "has assimilated every brilliant hook ever to come over the radio, invented some of his own, and managed to create something absolutely fresh and irresistible."