Why do I think "The Way" is the best song ever?

It is a good question. Completely without reservation or regret, I have stuck by this opinion for the last few years, since I pulled the song off on "Now: That's What I Call Music Volume 1". Before that I hadn't heard it since sometime in the late nineties.

My best guess is that it more or less have everything I want in a song:

• The lyrics are catchy
• The lyrics tell a story
• It has a piano (with a very similar riff to "Come on Mona"! Actually, almost exactly the same... Hm.)
• It's got one of the best intros I've heard (a radio switching around)
• No one under 25 has heard of it
• Pretty much everyone has heard it
• It's from a one-hit wonder, so no one will cite a better song
  

Not terribly exhaustive, but that's okay. It's the best song ever.