The Round of 128 concluded nicely with four hard-fought show-downs.   I wonder how much of the Round of 64 will be a formality as we await a Piano Man v. Wavin’ Flag battle to crown a Division P champion.

#1 Piano Man (Billy Joel) def. #8 Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones) 106.2-102.7.  Another bruiser for Gimme Shelter, which outlasted Cream last round.  Piano Man was just too good today. Piano Man is the heavy favorite next week against Holiday.

Not that #12 Holiday (Green Day) shouldn’t revel in its somewhat surprising victory over #4 Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Nirvana), 94.75-82.7.   I thought Green Day was toast without its Dookie songs.   Meanwhile, Nirvana is down to one song- Smells Like Teen Spirit.

#2 Wavin’ Flag (K’Naan) def. #7 Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits), 111.1-93.45. K’Naan lost a little momentum from previous rounds, but still cruised past Dire Straits, who are eliminated (artist #232), and earned a third consecutive spot on the Wall of 10’s (Adrock, Danno, Margot, Catholic.)

[This last match-up authored by Guillermo, as I had to go in and change all the words to Nos’s draft.] #3 I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor) defeats #6 No Woman No Cry (Bob Marley), 105.95-100.8.  Marley was looking like it was gonna pull it out until approximately t-minus 38 minutes to ballot closing when Ogden dropped a +5 for Survive, almost immediately followed by a +4.65 from Astrid. In the battle of disco vs. reggae, it ends up being disco who comes up with the 15th Round uppercut KO. Bob Marley will stunningly not make it to the Round of 64, and is artist #233 to be eliminated. If this isn’t momentum and a reason for K’Naan to look warily Gaynor’s way, I don’t know what is.

The 64 starts tomorrow night.