The King defeats the Queen!

Stand By Me (Ben E. King) def. Under Pressure (Queen w. David Bowie), 656-631.

Folks, this will be a short post, because it’s Saturday night, after all.

First, 81 voters!  Obviously a record, led by Guillermo’s valiant Red Derby crew, which cast 48 votes at the D. C listening party.  Thank you to New York and Kampala party participants as well.

Amazing times.  Guillermo and I will be doing a podcast on all this tomorrow, as well as announcing the People’s Choice Tournament this summer.

But man, what a great ride. Congratulations, Mr. King.  I’m gonna try calling him on Monday.  Under Pressure just couldn’t measure up to the simple beauty of Stand By Me tonight.

Stand By Me, which won its first 8 match-ups without many 10s, dropped a record-breaking 11 tonight, not even counting the DC votes.  Tonight, the night, belongs to lovers.

And so Queen is the 278th artist eliminated in this fine tournament.