Stories of Division C: This is our first Round of 128 instance where the 1, 2, 3, and 4 division seeds are still alive…whether that stays the case in the Round of 64 is in the fighting hands of the four underdogs. Arcade Fire is going to have to shake off the disappointment of last round’s Intervention loss and fortify its last remaining Tunnels. The CanadiCans are up against 2 seed Hey Ya, the most honest hip-hop song of last decade (get it?)
Mirroring this Disc 8 clash of ’04 vs. ’03 is a retrofit Disc 1 battle of ’65 vs. ’63 between possibly the most intelligible song from a normally unintelligible singer and definitively the most unintelligible song in rock and roll history (just ask the FBI.) Couple that with the eerily Manichaean pairing of Stones and Jeff Buckley tunes, top it off with more Dylan vs. two-time Wall of 10’s winner “Looking Out My Back Door,” and ladies and gentlemen we have ourselves some match-ups.
Grooveshark link is here, votes are due by Saturday night at 8 pm. Vote by commenting on this post or by e-mailing LTDdotorg@gmail.com. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
#1 Like A Rollin’ Stone (Bob Dylan) vs. #9 Louie Louie (The Kingsmen)
#4 Lookin’ Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival) vs. #5 Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan)
#2 Hey Ya (Outkast) vs. #10 Tunnels (Arcade Fire)
#3 Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones) vs. #11 Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley)
Living the Dream 
Like a Rolling Stone 6.6 Louie Louie 8
Lookin Out my Backdoor 9 Blowin in the Wind 6.2
Hey Ya 7 Tunnels 4.5
Sympathy for the Devil 8.5 Hallelujah 3.5
like a rolling stone 8 louie louie 4
looking out my backdoor 7.9 blowin in the wind 8.2
hey ya 7.7 tunnels 6.6
sympathy 8.3 hallelujah 9 (and even higher in certain circumstances)
welcome tracz! Kentucky in the hoouuuse.
#1 Like A Rollin’ Stone (Bob Dylan) vs. #9 Louie Louie (The Kingsmen): 8/5
#4 Lookin’ Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival) vs. #5 Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan): 7/6.5
#2 Hey Ya (Outkast) vs. #10 Tunnels (Arcade Fire): 8/7.5
Nostalgia tips the scale towards outcast.
#3 Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones) vs. #11 Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley): 4/10
Sorry Stones. Jeff Buckley gives me the chills every time.
#1 Like A Rollin’ Stone (Bob Dylan) 9 vs. #9 Louie Louie (The Kingsmen) 7
#4 Lookin’ Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival) 7 vs. #5 Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan) 7
#2 Hey Ya (Outkast) 7 vs. #10 Tunnels (Arcade Fire) 8
#3 Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones) 8 vs. #11 Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley) 7
Like A Rolling Stone 7.75
Louie Louie 7.5
LARS- Melodically 9.25, Empathetically 5. Louie Louie shouldn’t be the one to dethrone Rolling Stone’s Best Song, but I am not on this bandwagon.
Lookin Out My Back Door 6.5
Blowin’ In The Wind 6
I mean, neither of these is Top 5 for me for either artist. It probably seems like I don’t back Dylan- not the case. I’m just more of a Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks guy (anxiously awaiting Division I)
Hey Ya 7.75
Tunnels 8.25
As y’all know, I’m a big “context” voter. Had I been voting on match-ups while pre-gaming instead of on my iPod while walking Helicopter around the lake at 7 am, this likely would have gone very differently.
Sympathy For The Devil 8.5
Hallelujah 10
I was gearing up to make some snarky leonard cohen/rufus wainwright comment before this started…then Hallelujah just absolutely destroyed me. I need to seriously adjust my internal rubric a la sweetems, aiko, and catholic, bc this was a 10 to my very core in a totally different way than previous 10s. Holy smokes.
Like A Rolling Stone 9
Louie Louie 5
Absolutely no contest, surely?
Lookin Out My Back Door 5.5
Blowin’ In The Wind 9
Ditto. The Dylan’s poetic rawness gets me every single time. Can’t separate Rolling Stone and Blowin just now…maybe later…completely different yet similarly amazing in their own way.
Hey Ya 6.6
Tunnels 6.5
Hmm…neither of these should come close to winning this whole thing in my opinion. One great party track and one solid slice of atmospheric awesome but I don’t think that Tunnels in particular would stand up as a classic in itself. Hey Ya may well be on dance party mixes for some time to come. An extra .1 for this reason alone
Sympathy For The Devil 6
Hallelujah 10
I would be completely satisfied if Buckley took this whole contest. This song is achingly beautiful and if it fails to move you, well – frankly, I think that’s your problem. Sure, Sympathy is a great album track but it definitely should not go any further here given option B.
Like A Rollin’ Stone 7.5
Louie Louie 4
Lookin’ Out My Back Door 6.5
Blowin’ In The Wind 6
This one’s hard but listening to CCR on the sunny day driving through the hills… I like that a lot
Hey Ya 7
Tunnels 6.2
I’ll dance to Hey Ya when I’m 80
Sympathy For The Devil 7
Hallelujah 9.5
welcome to the ruckus, brigitte!
Like A Rollin’ Stone: 9
Louie Louie: 8
Lookin’ Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival): 4
Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan): 9
Hey Ya (Outkast): 7.5
Tunnels (Arcade Fire): 7
Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones): 7.5
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley): 8
#1 Like A Rollin’ Stone (Bob Dylan) vs. #9 Louie Louie (The Kingsmen)- 9.5/ 9
#4 Lookin’ Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival) vs. #5 Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan) 8.5/ 8
#2 Hey Ya (Outkast) vs. #10 Tunnels (Arcade Fire) 8/10
#3 Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones) vs. #11 Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley) 10/7
Like A Rollin’ Stone (Mumbly, Bitter Bob): 4
Louie Louie (The Kingsmen): 8
I’ve really liked LARS in the past, but today it bugged the crap out of me. The melody seemed dissonant, and Bob just came across as a bitter jerk. Louie Louie, on the other hand, had me toe tapping and head bobbing.
Lookin’ Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival): 10
Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan): 4
Once again, folksy blathering just can’t hold up to some badass rockin about hallucinogens.
Hey Ya (Outkast): 5.5
Tunnels (Arcade Fire): 5
Enjoyed, but didn’t love, both these songs.
Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones): 6.5
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley): 10
Chills.
Like A Rollin’ Stone – 8
Louie Louie – 5
Lookin’ Out My Back Door – 9
Blowin’ In The Wind – 5
Hey Ya – 7
Tunnels – 10
Sympathy For The Devil – 8
Hallelujah – 9.5
Welcome, Caroline!
Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan) 7.5
Louie Louie ( The Kingsmen) 6
Lookin’ Out My Backdoor (CCR) 5
Blown’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan) 8.5
Hey Ya (Outkast) 7
Tunnels (Arcade Fire) 6.5
Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones) 8.5
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley) 9.8
Hallelujah is such a beautiful song, but I’d have to reserve my “10” for the Rufus Wainwright version
Like A Rollin’ Stone (Dylan): 4.5
Louie Louie (The Kingsmen): 7.5
Bob was just too damn long winded this time through. It does happen. Louie Louie had me thinking of Animal House, which never fails to bring about grins and high scores.
Lookin’ Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival): 8.8
Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan): 4.5
CCR’s lovable diddy isn’t all that long – and yet 4 different random passerbys stopped in my office to dance along to the song. Dylan came on, and even I wanted to leave. Just wasn’t a fair match today.
Hey Ya (Outkast): 5.8
Tunnels (Arcade Fire): 2
Hey Ya always begins to annoy me at some point in the song, so it never gets all that high, but its enough fun to stay above break even. The tinny opening sounds of Tunnels finally ran out of juice in my eardrums.
Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones): 7.8
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley): 6
Sympathy was in 10 territory… then it hit the 4:30 mark… and didn’t stop. Why do artists ensist on doing nothing for minutes at the end of songs? I wanted to be all about hallelujah.. the first stanza is virtually perfect. It just can’t hold me.. I don’t know why. It is the ultimate sad, sweeps week tv soundtrack song, but without a story with it… I just can’t back it.
Like A Rollin’ Stone – 7
Louie Louie – 5.5
Lookin’ Out My Back Door – 7.5
Blowin’ In The Wind – 7
Hey Ya – 8.5
Tunnels – 1
Sympathy For The Devil – 6
Hallelujah – 9
Like A Rollin’ Stone: 5.7
Louie Louie: 6.8
Lookin’ Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival): 6.2
Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan): 7.8
Hey Ya (Outkast): 8.1
Tunnels (Arcade Fire): 7.8
Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones): 8.3
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley): 10
Well we’re at the Friday of a week that’s been like being punched repeatedly in the face, so I’m gonna see which of these songs makes me feel better.
Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan) 4.5
Louie Louie ( The Kingsmen) 4
LARS is a roller coaster… there are moments when I really feel it… and then 10 seconds later I’m sick of it. It was a bad sign when I checked how much was left at 2 minutes… And maybe it has great lyrics, but I just can’t focus on it enough to tell. The opening riff of Louie Louie made me feel better for a sec… but couldn’t sustain it. Slightly more annoying than Dylan.
Lookin’ Out My Backdoor (CCR) 6
Blown’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan) 5
Hey Ya (Outkast) 9
Tunnels (Arcade Fire) 7.5
I feel like people who think Hey Ya is just a fluffy dance song haven’t really listened to it. There was a reason that there are a bunch of moony indie-rock covers of it (or did I just hear that one all the time?). Anyway, I think it’s one of the smartest hit songs of the decade, musically, lyrically, and conceptually. Tunnels is a more run-of-the-mill love song, though it builds fantastically.
Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones) 3
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley) 8.5
Sympathy for the Devil is long and annoying (woo woo). Hallelujah didn’t transport me like I was hoping it would… but it is undeniably transcendent.
Like A Rollin’ Stone: 7
Louie Louie: 8
Lookin’ Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival): 7.5
Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan): 5.5
Hey Ya (Outkast): 7.5
Tunnels (Arcade Fire):5
Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones): 9
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley): 7
Like A Rollin’ Stone: 8
Louie Louie: 7
Lookin’ Out My Back Door (Creedence Clearwater Revival): 9
Blowin’ In The Wind (Bob Dylan): 7
Hey Ya (Outkast): 7.5
Tunnels (Arcade Fire):10
This may be the end of line for Arcade Fire, but they put on a good show, and hopefully won some people over along the way. I don’t know what the final score will be, but there’s no shame in losing to “Hey Ya”. If you can get to a live show any time this year, I highly recommend it.
Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones): 6
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley): 6
like a rolling stone – 8
louie louie – 7
lookin out my back door – 7
blowin in the wind – 5
hey ya – 9
tunnels – 7
sympathy for the devil – 7.5
hallelujah – 6