After today’s post I hand it back to Guillermo to close out the epic Round of 512. Thanks to all of you who have participated in this long and winding road. As you can tell by looking at the Bracketology charts, our best days are ahead of us, albeit without the dozens of artists who were eliminated since late December.
Below are today’s matchups, available at Grooveshark except Today. You can vote by commenting below or emailing ltddotorg@gmail.com before 9pm Tuesday. As noted earlier today, for every new voter you bring in, you earn ability to give one song an “11”.
American Pie (Don McLean) vs. Fortunate Son (CCR)
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) vs. Walk of Life (Dire Straits)
My Back Pages (Byrds) vs. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
Today (Smashing Pumpkins) vs. Mr. Brightside (Killers) (*Sorry- this matchup originally included Disarm- I had forgotten an earlier promise to the Smashing Pumpkins coach to switch in Today. People who voted for Disarm will have the chance to change their scores, of course.)
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) vs. If I Ruled the World (Nas)
Living the Dream 
American Pie (Don McLean) 8
Fortunate Son (CCR) 8
Damn
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) 7
Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 5
My Back Pages (Byrds) 4
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 7
Disarm (Smashing Pumpkins) 6.5
Mr. Brightside (Killers) 7.5
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) 4
If I Ruled the World (Nas) 5
American Pie (Don McLean) vs. Fortunate Son (CCR) 5/8
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) vs. Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 5/9
My Back Pages (Byrds) vs. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 6/6
Disarm (Smashing Pumpkins) vs. Mr. Brightside (Killers) 5/8
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) vs. If I Ruled the World (Nas) 4/7.5
American Pie (Don McLean) 7
Fortunate Son (CCR) 10
Both these songs have been my favorite ever at different points of my life. I’ve listened to both on repeat without getting sick of them. So sentimentality is a wash… However, after listening to both, despite Don’s solid production, Fortunate Son is just a more kickass song. Period. Plus its not 2 years long… it rocks so hard you WANT it to be longer, while with American Pie, you’re thinking ‘wrap it up, Don’.
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) 7.5
Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 6.5
Classics. Johnny sure can sing soulfully about STDs… Almost as creepy as Sting singing about hookers.
My Back Pages (Byrds) 3
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 7.5
Super cinematic awesomeness from Red and White combining into a guy named Floyd. The Byrds was a bit painful to listen to…
Disarm (Smashing Pumpkins) 5.5
Mr. Brightside (Killers) 7.5
Dong! I’d buy a Smashing Pumpkins instrumental album any day, but Billy is better playing that bigass bell than he is at singing. At least he explains in the song why he whines so much. He USED TO BE A LITTLE BOOOooa-EH!
The Killers manage to sound old even though I’m sure this song is less than 10 years old.
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) 8
If I Ruled the World (Nas) 7
Sabotage would be a 10 if it was for their Starsky and Hutch video. Unfortunately, their nasally yelling doesn’t fit certain situations…
Nas starts out great, fantastic sentimental backup vocals by Lauryn Hill and co. He lost some steam 3 minutes in though. Two solid New York hip hop numbers…
Today: 5
Sorry.
American Pie (Don McLean) 8
Fortunate Son (CCR) 6.5
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) 8
Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 7
My Back Pages (Byrds) 5.5
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 8.5
Disarm (Smashing Pumpkins) 8.5
Mr. Brightside (Killers) 8
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) 7
If I Ruled the World (Nas) 4.5
American Pie (Don McLean) 7 vs. Fortunate Son (CCR) 6
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) 8 vs. Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 8
My Back Pages (Byrds) 5 vs. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 9
Today (Smashing Pumpkins) 5 vs. Mr. Brightside (Killers) 5
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) 9 vs. If I Ruled the World (Nas) 6
American Pie (Don McLean) 7.5
Fortunate Son (CCR) 8
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) 8
Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 7
My Back Pages (Byrds) 6
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 8.5
Disarm (Smashing Pumpkins) 8
Mr. Brightside (Killers) 8
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) 8.5
If I Ruled the World (Nas) 3.5
American Pie (Don McLean) 6.5
Fortunate Son (CCR) 9
American Pie is one of my all-time favorite songs, but there are times when it’s just smile-inducing background noise. I can’t explain it, but this morning was one of those times.
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) 8.5
Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 6
I feel Ring of Fire going deep here.
My Back Pages (Byrds) 7
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 9
I really like the Byrds, but just no chance here. This section of the bracket is going to be a bloodbath as we go forward.
Today (Smashing Pumpkins) 5
Mr. Brightside (Killers) 7.5
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) 7
If I Ruled the World (Nas) 5
Sabotage always puts me in a good mood. Too bad I heard it at work… always a problem for seeking “good” moods.
American Pie (Don McLean) 6
Fortunate Son (CCR) 8
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) 8
Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 6
My Back Pages (Byrds) 6
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 8
Today (Smashing Pumpkins) 5
Mr. Brightside (Killers) 4
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) 8
If I Ruled the World (Nas) 4
American Pie (Don McLean) [8]
Fortunate Son (CCR) [9]
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) [7.5]
Walk of Life (Dire Straits) [7]
My Back Pages (Byrds) [6]
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) [9]
Today (Smashing Pumpkins) [6.5]
Mr. Brightside (Killers) [7.5]
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) [7]
If I Ruled the World (Nas)[5.5]
american pie – 8
fortunate son – 8.5
ring of fire – 9
walk of life – 7
my back pages – 5
wish you were here – 8
today – 6 (i think i would have preferred disarm, oh well)
mr. brightside – 8
sabotage – 9
if i ruled the world – 7
American Pie – 9.25
Fortunate Son – 7.5
Ring of Fire – 8
Walk of Life – 8.75
My Back Pages – 7.75
Wish You Were Here – 7.5
Mr. Brightside – 7.25
Today – 6
Sabotage – 4
If I Ruled the World – 5.5
American Pie (Don McLean): 8
Fortunate Son (CCR): 6
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash): 7
Walk of Life (Dire Straits): 5
My Back Pages (Byrds): 5
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd): 8
Today (Smashing Pumpkins): 7.5
Mr. Brightside (Killers): 7.5
Sabotage (Beastie Boys): 5
If I Ruled the World (Nas): 7
American Pie (Don McLean) 7.75
Fortunate Son (CCR) 7
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) 7
Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 8.5
My Back Pages (Byrds) 7.5
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 9.5
Today (Smashing Pumpkins) 7
Mr. Brightside (Killers) 7
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) 8
If I Ruled the World (Nas) 8.75
American Pie (Don McLean) 8 vs. Fortunate Son (CCR) 9
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) 10 vs. Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 5.5
My Back Pages (Byrds) 7 vs. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 6
Today (Smashing Pumpkins) 6 vs. Mr. Brightside (Killers) 7
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) 8.5 vs. If I Ruled the World (Nas) 3
American Pie (Don McLean) 6
Fortunate Son (CCR) 8
Once I was at this thing called the Hike of Many Moons camping with a bunch of kids a year older than me in grad school in 09, and this really really annoying drunk girl just kept yelling at me to play American Pie on guitar. Well screw you, Sabrina, I don’t know those chords because that song is annoying and much less fun than, for example, Fortunate Son.
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) 7.5
Walk of Life (Dire Straits) 7.5
I wish Sue Cole was voting in this tournament, because she would understand why I associate Ring of Fire with wheelchair races. However, I have a deep love for Mark Knopfler (Princess Bride soundtrack, anyone?) and Dire Straits in general. Tie.
My Back Pages (Byrds) 4
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) 8.5
Songs on mix CDs I can remember receiving from important people tend to win.
Today (Smashing Pumpkins) 5.5
Mr. Brightside (Killers) 7.5
When I was 13 I thought Today was the best song in history. Today I can safely say, no, no it isn’t.
Sabotage (Beastie Boys) 4.5
If I Ruled the World (Nas) 6.5
Songs on Mix CD’s I can remember making for people also tend to win. Licensed to Ill til the end, but Sabotage always just sounded like a lot of noise to me.