Suggestions from y'all, for the perfect rock song:
eventually i'll figure out a top ten or something!

Hey Crispino,
1. The new rock'n'roll? Three words, dude: Kings of Leon.
2. "Come Together" the only Beatles candidate for perfect song? Because -- let me get this straight -- "Helter Skelter" and "Yer Blues" and "Everybody's Got Something to Hide..." are, um, "candyass"? Whatever.
3. Stop pretending to like Fugazi.
Cheers,
Jimmy

I got a vote for "Born to Run" (Bruce) but lost the email.

You fool!
Golden Earring: Radar Love and When the Bullet Hits the Bone
(obviously)

ok. got a new approach for you. consider "i put a spell on you." you can't deny it's a great rock song, and maybe it's the best-recorded song in rock history. the original was by screamin jay hawkins, but consider some of the folks who've vinylized it, including some that are on this list for other items: creedence, the mc5, them/van morrison, the animals, roxy music, nina simone, gov't mule, marilyn manson.
pee-haid

Here are a few "perfect" songs:
--Flamin' Groovies--"Shake Some Action"--no truer proof that you have shuffled off this mortal coil if his doesn't move you
--Led Zep--"Ten Years Gone"--the perfect synthesis of the acoustic and electric sides of Zeppelin. Balls and guts out the wazoo, too
--Clash--"Complete Control"--lyrics, power, fury...it's got it all, plus a really catchy-as-hell coda. "C-O-N control...."
--Drive-By Truckers--"One of These Days"-- "Once a country boy sees the way the steam rises off a man's insides on the sidewalk. Tends to change the way he thinks, the way he sees everything and he goes back to where he came from." And that whawha guitar that just plays and plays....
--Steve Wynn--"Amphetamine"--off his new one "Static Transmission"--have you heard this? It's the song of the year. Maybe the greatest suddenly-I'm-driving-30-mph-faster-than-I-was-before songs ever written. It's got that layers-of-guitars thing that makes "Beet" by Eleventh Dream Day so great.
Steve

Jimi Hendrix~Purple Haze
great riff, great solo,great lyrics,great song
ohellyeah1800

Additional nominations (just skewing the results a bit):
Nirvana--"All Apologies"
The Who--"Baba O'Riley" and "Love Reign O'er Me"
Black Sabbath--"Paranoid"
Genesis--"Watcher of the Skies"
Peter Gabriel--"Intruder"
Random Hold--"What Happened To You"
Devo--"Satisfaction"
The Residents--"Satisfaction"
(two of the most warped interpretations of Jagger/ Richards ever)
Buzzcocks--"I Believe," "What Do I Get" and "Orgasm Addict"
Drew
Note: i'm quite unsympathtic to genesis and to anyone who has even been a member. on the other hand, buzzcocks are plausible. random hold???

Led Zeppelin: When The Levee Breaks
OK, it's not an original, but when that irresistible, much-sampled drum riff kicks in, just try to keep your feet on the floor.
The Great Society: Somebody To Love
Much better than the Airplane's version, which sounds to me like a chaotic mix that didn't quite jell. The Society's take, recorded live @ the Matrix in San Francisco, has a cleaner, stripped-down sound (guitar/drums/bass/vocal) and features the writer of the song, Darby Slick, on lead guitar. The opening guitar break, which repeats throughout. is simple and evocative.
drew

turbonegro: i got erection
hans
note: me too

three off the top o' me skull:
Pretty Things- Honey I Need.
MC5- Kick Out The Jams!
Nashville Pussy- You're goin' down
Sultan Osman I
note: pretty things? hmmmm. nashville pussy definitely fucking rocks.

the who's teenage wasteland
kylie
note: i don't like the who for some reason. but on the other hand the lyric here is a pretty fundamental expression of the rock attitude, ain't it?

ok- it sounds like you wouldnt really consider some of this stuff, but you asked, so here you go:
white stripes- in the cold cold night, hypnotise, girl you have no faith in medicine
black keys- hard now, thick freakness
cake- love you madly
richard hell and the voidoids- blank generation
sublime- garden grove, what i got
no doubt- don't speak
modern lovers- roadrunner
violent femmes- blister in the sun
some pretenders
and, of course, moldy peaches- who's got the crack?
emma
note: blank generation: of course!. also i must say that the black keys, who emma introduced to me, have the greatest idea in the world: the next blues revival. don't speak is an amazing song, though perhaps not paradigmatic.

Hey! Old man! Rock is back.
The Hives: Hate to Say I Told You So
White Stripes: Seven Nation Army
Now you tell me: isn't that rock 'n roll?
note: well, as a matter of fact it is.

so, punk, you've forgotten your own orientation toward girls?
love you/hate you: betty blowtorch
shove: L7
big beefy
note: yes. both of these are paradigmatic, as are a bunch of others by the same bands.

war pigs, by black sabbath
stairway to heaven, zep
vince

got a sleeper for ya:
"rock 'roll hoochie coo," johnny winter
c.r.
note: this is really right. great hook. screaming blues. and it's about the genre.

Punkish suggestions, I suppose.
Replacements: "Unsatisfied" (A perfect rewrite of "Satisfaction" that replaces the Jagger strut with pain and loneliness.)
David Bowie: "Suffragette City." (Distills the rock form completely.)
Iggy and the Stooges: "Raw Power" (What would have happened with decent production?)
Alice Cooper: "No More Mister Nice Guy" (Answer to previous question--Iggy=Alice.)
Ha.
Russell Raczkowski
Note: a good group: esp iggy and alice.

The Who: Won't get Fooled Again (best scream in rock)
thomas elsen

I like your selections. I find it difficult to choose but a friend asserts that Manfred Mann's version of the Springsteen song "Blinded by the Light" is the greatest rock song ever. He was laughed "off-stage" the first time he made this assertion in front of his co-workers (of which I am one), but subsequent critical listening has given meat to his argument.
j.

Purple Haze," "All Along the Watchtower" or "Hey Joe," Hendrix
"Fortunate Son" or any of a handful of other CCR songs
"House of the Rising Sun," the Animals
"Wild Thing," the Troggs
"Gloria," Them

best,
Anders Lindall
Chicago

note: completely excellent suggestions. I actually had "Purple Haze" on my initial list; somehow it got deleted. i can't believe i omitted ccr, one of the best rock bands of all time. i think i'd go with "bad moon rising."

dude! it's louie louie! [by the kingsmen]
anonymous

note: absolutely. and note that it has the same tune as "wild thing."