A new work week, a new group of potential champions. Division H starts up today. Matchups can be found on the GrooveShark playlist here, except for We Can Work It Out (youtube link). As usual, post your votes as a comment, or e-mail them to LTDdotorg@gmail.com. Let the best songs advance!
Candle In The Wind (Elton John) vs. Like A Prayer (Madonna)
Just What I Needed (The Cars) vs. Space Oddity (David Bowie)
I Hear A Symphony (The Supremes) vs. New York, New York (Frank Sinatra)
American Girl (Tom Petty) vs. Lawyers, Guns, and Money (Warren Zevon)
Hook (Blues Traveler) vs. We Can Work It Out (The Beatles)
(note for seasoned voters: we have been getting a lot of requests for sneak peeks at how the consequent rounds of the tournament will look. fear not: we will start rolling out the seedings and bracketology for the divisions we’ve finished in the next few days.)
Living the Dream 
Candle In The Wind (Elton John) 7
Like A Prayer (Madonna) 5
Just What I Needed (The Cars) 6
Space Oddity (David Bowie) 7.5
I Hear A Symphony (The Supremes) 3
New York, New York (Frank Sinatra) 8
American Girl (Tom Petty) 8.5
Lawyers, Guns, and Money (Warren Zevon) 2
Hook (Blues Traveler) 8
We Can Work It Out (The Beatles) 7
Candle In The Wind (Elton John) vs. Like A Prayer (Madonna) 7.5/9
Just What I Needed (The Cars) vs. Space Oddity (David Bowie) 8.5/7
I Hear A Symphony (The Supremes) vs. New York, New York (Frank Sinatra) 8/5 Not my favorite Frank. Not by a long shot.
American Girl (Tom Petty) vs. Lawyers, Guns, and Money (Warren Zevon) 8/8.5
Hook (Blues Traveler) vs. We Can Work It Out (The Beatles) 6/9.5
We Can Work it Out is such a lovely sentiment and a great song.
Candle In The Wind (Elton John) 4 vs. Like A Prayer (Madonna) 8
Just What I Needed (The Cars) 7.5 vs. Space Oddity (David Bowie) 7 The opening scene in Boys Don’t Cry helped me appreciate how good this Cars song is.
I Hear A Symphony (The Supremes) 5 vs. New York, New York (Frank Sinatra) 7 New York, New York isn’t a rock song anymore than the star spangled banner is a rock song. Still, it’s good enough to beat I hear a Symphony. In the future though I’m going to mark it down for being miscategorized.
American Girl (Tom Petty) 9 vs. Lawyers, Guns, and Money (Warren Zevon) 7 Really tough. Two good songs, but the energetic intro to American Girl is one of the greatest opening 15 seconds of any rock song.
Hook (Blues Traveler) 4 vs. We Can Work It Out (The Beatles) 7
Candle In The Wind (Elton John) 8
Like A Prayer (Madonna) 6
Good songs, but Elton Johns is much more timeless. Madonna sounds pretty dated in 2011.
Just What I Needed (The Cars) 7.5
Space Oddity (David Bowie) 8
By far my favorite Bowie song. Really nice high energy song by The Cars too. Close, but gotta go for Bowie’s surreal oddysey.
I Hear A Symphony (The Supremes) 5
New York, New York (Frank Sinatra) 8
Supremes haven’t aged as well as I wish they had. Sinatra has, in many, many ways.
American Girl (Tom Petty) 8
Lawyers, Guns, and Money (Warren Zevon) 4
Not Tom Petty’s best, but I love the guy and this is a good song.
Hook (Blues Traveler) 8
We Can Work It Out (The Beatles) 8.5
Also not Blues Traveler’s best song, but quite a talented group of dudes. We Can Work It Out is a bit dated instrumentally, but the lyrics and vocals keep it top notch…
Candle In The Wind (Elton John) – 7.5
Like A Prayer (Madonna) – 9
Just What I Needed (The Cars) – 8
Space Oddity (David Bowie) – 7.5
I Hear A Symphony (The Supremes) – 7
New York, New York (Frank Sinatra) – 8.5
American Girl (Tom Petty) – 9
Lawyers, Guns, and Money (Warren Zevon) – 6
Hook (Blues Traveler) – 7.5
We Can Work It Out (The Beatles) – 7
Candle In The Wind (Elton John) vs. Like A Prayer (Madonna): 6.5/8
Just What I Needed (The Cars) vs. Space Oddity (David Bowie): 8/7.5
I Hear A Symphony (The Supremes) vs. New York, New York (Frank Sinatra): 5/6
American Girl (Tom Petty) vs. Lawyers, Guns, and Money (Warren Zevon): 8/9.5
Hook (Blues Traveler) vs. We Can Work It Out (The Beatles): 4/8
Candle In The Wind (Elton John): 5
Like A Prayer (Madonna): 7
Just What I Needed (The Cars): 7
Space Oddity (David Bowie): 4
I Hear A Symphony (The Supremes): 6
New York, New York (Frank Sinatra): 7
American Girl (Tom Petty): 8
Lawyers, Guns, and Money (Warren Zevon): 4
Hook (Blues Traveler): 7
We Can Work It Out (The Beatles): 8
Candle In The Wind (Elton John) vs. Like A Prayer (Madonna) = 5 to 5
Just What I Needed (The Cars) vs. Space Oddity (David Bowie) = 6.5 to 5.5
I Hear A Symphony (The Supremes) vs. New York, New York (Frank Sinatra) = 8.5 to 7.5
American Girl (Tom Petty) vs. Lawyers, Guns, and Money (Warren Zevon) = 7 to 5
Agreed that it’s hard to think of a better intro to a song than American Girl.
Hook (Blues Traveler) vs. We Can Work It Out (The Beatles) = 7 to 8
Candle in the Wind [7]
Like a Prayer [6]
Just What I Needed [7]
Space Oddity [9]
I Hear a Symphony [6]
New York, New York [7]
American Girl [8]
Lawyers, Guns, and Money [7]
Hook [6]
We Can Work It Out [7]
candle in the wind: 2 (no love, sorry)
like a prayer: 8
just what i needed: 6
space oddity: 7
i hear a symphony: 4
ny ny: 5
american girl: 8
lawyers, guns, money: 6 (it’s no werewolves of london)
hook: 6
we can work it out: 8.5 (a happy song to close out the night)
Candle in the Wind [6.5]
Like a Prayer [9]
Just What I Needed [8]
Space Oddity [7]
I Hear a Symphony [6]
New York, New York [8.5]
American Girl [8.5]
Lawyers, Guns, and Money [5]
Hook [7]
We Can Work It Out [8]
candle in the wind: 8.5
like a prayer: 7.5
just what i needed: 7
space oddity: 6.5 Interesting fact- a young David Bowie’s material was so out there that his record label was going to dump him unless he came up with a hit single. To satisfy them, he penned this song, which was intentionally released in the aftermath of the Apollo Moon Landing to become a topical hit. That bought him enough points at the record label to make his third album.
i hear a symphony: 6.5
ny ny: 7.5
It may not be a rock song, but Frank needed to be in the tournament. He certainly has better songs, but few that are more recognizable. Furthermore, many of his biggest hits are incredibly slow, and wouldn’t do well in a tournament setting. I know this to be true because my cab driver was playing Frank the other night, and we pulled over to listen to Sinatra for about 15 minutes. All that said, I’d rather hear the studio version, which we hear blasted at Yankees Stadium and Madison Square Garden.
american girl: 7
lawyers, guns, money: 9
hook: 8
we can work it out: 7 Lost in the finals of my first ever music tournament, to Paperback Writer. Other contenders back then were Ruby Tuesday and Down in Mexico.
Candle In The Wind (Elton John) 8 vs. Like A Prayer (Madonna) 7.5
Just What I Needed (The Cars) 9 vs. Space Oddity (David Bowie)7.5
I Hear A Symphony (The Supremes) 7.5 vs. New York, New York (Frank Sinatra) 9
American Girl (Tom Petty) 7.5 vs. Lawyers, Guns, and Money (Warren Zevon) 7
Hook (Blues Traveler) 3.5 vs. We Can Work It Out (The Beatles) 9
I am making a concentrated effort from here on out to stop falling privy to the “above average effect” and start using the full range of 0 to 10.
Candle In The Wind 3
Like A Prayer 5.5
The Di elegy does not do a lot for me. Like A Prayer does more, although it is hard to separate it from sorority 80s party associations.
Space Oddity 2.5
Just What I Needed 7
JWIN is fun in a bottle. Space Oddity is too odd.
I Hear A Symphony 3.5
New York, New York 1
IHAS sounds like the boring parts of 5 other Supremes songs- which is still pleasant enough for the score above. In terms of New York, New York, I agree with the Star Spangled Banner comment from earlier. It’ll probably advance due to the New Yorkedness of the majority of voters, but without any help from me.
American Girl 6
Lawyers, Guns and Money 6.5
American Girl starts off awesome, its true. Never heard LGM before, really really like it. Great opening line.
Hook 6.5
We Can Work It Out 6.5
Go John Popper go, although I fear your musical contributions directly correlate with your weight. Hearing this today convinced me to buy a new harmonica holder though. We Can Work It Out- I don’t know, I find myself thinking of that John Cusack rant in High Fidelity about the dangers of songs about love and hope. But still good. Toss-up.