The Saints come in second with (I’m) Stranded and the Go-Betweens’ Cattle and Cane is in third place

The Go-Betweens have taken out the top spot in Guardian Australia’s Songs of Brisbane poll with their classic track Streets of Your Town.

The band’s co-founder Robert Forster said he was very pleased with the result. “It’s that it’s coming direct from music lovers that’s important for me, because music lovers have always supported the Go-Betweens and it means that that continues.”

‘It’s a widely misunderstood song’: how the Go-Betweens made Streets of Your Town Read more

The song appeared on the band’s sixth album, 16 Lovers Lane, and was written by the late Grant McLennan, in 1988, while he was living with multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown in Sydney.

Brown said the song’s distinct melancholy was pure McLennan. “Sometimes, when the stars align, we come together in unlikely formation and create something that resonates and touches the soul. I think for the Go-Betweens, 16 Lovers Lane was such a moment, and Streets was the bittersweet, poppy gem at the heart of the album.”

Guardian Australia (@GuardianAus) This is why Sam Netterfield from @cubsportmusic chose Streets of Your Town by The Go-Betweens as a #songsofBNE favourite. To see these muso notes, expand the + next to select songs in the poll https://t.co/NJcYLQBD8M pic.twitter.com/FvasfRv0Wp

The band also took out third place with their song Cattle and Cane, while the Saints nabbed second place with (I’m) Stranded.

There was an upset for fourth place as the emerging Brisbane band Cub Sport edged out Powderfinger, with their song Come On Mess Me Up pushing These Days and My Happiness into fifth and sixth place respectively.

Cub Sport’s frontman, Tim Nelson, was delighted by the song’s success – and astonished to be ahead of Powderfinger. He said he remembered watching My Happiness on ABC’s Rage when he was young.

“That really was the start of my obsession with music and it’s never really gone away, so to be up there with acts like Powderfinger, the Saints and the Go-Betweens really is quite surreal,” he said, adding, “We love Brisbane so much though so this means so much to us.”

The Go-Betweens and the Saints settled into their top three positions early on, and the order did not shuffle throughout the two-week voting period. This was despite an impassioned plea from Powderfinger’s drummer Jon Coghill to knock the Go-Betweens off the top spot.

That was always going to be a tough call, as the Go-Betweens took out almost a quarter of the total vote with 12 songs included in the poll. Powderfinger had nine songs in the poll but took home only 10.79% of the total vote, while the Saints had 15.58% of the total vote with their nine songs.

AnnastaciaPalaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) Songs of Brisbane: I voted for the song Streets of Your Town by The Go-Betweens #SongsofBNE https://t.co/rile4hZ46Y

Go-Betweens' Lindy Morrison: Brisbane in the late 70s was fast and furious Read more

There were 14,291 votes cast, including multiples, throughout the voting. Almost 7,800 votes counted as valid. The list started with 138 songs, and ended up with 393 different songs – although only 160 made the final cut. Special mention should go to Queensland by Evil Eddie, which was not in the original shortlist but still managed to climb to the No 11 spot.

Interestingly more than 21% of the songs in the top 40 were from the 1970s, more than 35% were from the 80s, 16% from the 90s, with just 14% from 00s and 12% from the current decade.

More than 400 people nominated songs not on the list. The top five that didn’t make the poll were Fuckhead by Budd, Crazy House by Miles Recommends, Brisbanality by the Dustbin Hoffmans, Brunswick Street by Women in Docs and (Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind by Powderfinger.