Votes due Sunday, 8/28 at 8 PM (on my 28 and 1/3 birthday): Beautiful people- what a run we have been on, and how close to the finish we find ourselves. To mirror Lindsay’s post, we have the other two match-ups on the other side of things. When you find yourselves at your respective hurricane parties, for the love of God as long as your internet holds out, hold a match-up party and get some votes in- these are good and include the most epic battle of the Eight. Grooveshark link is here (I think we’re on Widget hiatus collectively). Follow your hearts, the link is here, and figure out which two of these four songs deserve the last two Final Four mantles.
In the top right corner we have- the battle of Mark Knopfler and Gladys Knight. The Straits versus the Pips. The forlorn lost questioning of love long lost matched up against the assured and confident 
loyalty of a lover always there. Sitting in one place and pondering versus the transcontinental commitment. OK, that’s enough. Figure it out: is it Romeo and Juliet, 400 years removed but still as potent? Or is it that always available Midnight Train To Georgia for those east-bound owners of California dreams crushed?
And finally- the one and only battle of prominently featured LTDMTers. On one side, Queen shooting for a third medal in just two online tournaments. On the other side, the most unfortunately overpassed Landslide, who is now three rounds further than its incorrectly advanced adversary “Blowin’ In The Wind” got in the prior tournament. This is not a 
battle to take lightly, and I encourage all to vote with their heartiest of hearts.
Pastable:
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits)
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips)
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen)
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
Living the Dream 
Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) = 3
Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) = 9.5
Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) = 7
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) = 10
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits): 10
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips): 7
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen): 9.99
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac): 1
Before the wrath of hell is unleashed upon me, I will say it again, I truly loathe Landslide as a song. It may be my least favorite song in the world, if I had never head people do “shape note singing” of Amazing Grace (ugh! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPOo4dOuPbQ) during that class on the American Evangelical Tradition I took senior year of college to fulfill my religion requirement. Stray cats killing each other in an alley would be more enjoyable to me than either. I know other people love Landslide, so it won’t really matter. Also, Somebody to Love is my favorite Queen song (just not this version, which is pretty great in its own right), and Queen is on my Mt. Rushmore of bands.
Just for the sake of also trying to stop the gates of hell from being unleashed (again), throughout the tournament, he averaged 9.75 and 2.16 for those two songs. No quarter final voting treachery going on here….
Thanks for linking to that youtube of amazing grace. I liked it.
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits): 7
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips): 4
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen): 9.5
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac): 7
No time for commentary. My brother gets married tomorrow, so lots to do!
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) – 9.95
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) – 10
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) – 10
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) – 5.5
I’ve been stingy on 10s this tournament. No more! I gave Romeo & Juliet a 10 last time… but today I want Midnight Train to win just a hair more, so I am trying to keep it honest. Sorry, Landslide – never a favorite, now I am just bored.
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) – 8. Would be higher, but I gave a small subtraction because I realized there’s a cover of this song that I like better than the original (Killers), so I feel like it loses something because of that
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) – 6.5
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) – 9 “Let’s do it!”
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) – 5
Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) = 5.5
Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) = 6.5
Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) = 9
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) = 6
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) – 5
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) – 9
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) – 9
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) – 5
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) 7
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) 6
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) 5
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) 6
I’ll make my point with my words rather than my score this time: consistently large score differentials are the problem, not the consistent scores themselves. As G said in response to my last anti-hammer post, rating competing songs seven, eight and nine points apart essentially forces all of us to unleash the hammer just to keep our scores relevant. Otherwise this just devolves into a Strangelovian battle to narrow the hammer gap. We all have favorites, but scoring requires some restraint, and with the rare exception, the hammer just isn’t in the spirit of the tournament.
Since I voted on these songs two days ago, I see no reason to change their scores now:
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits)
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips)
9 / 5
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen)
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
5 / 10
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) 9.0
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) 8.0
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) 8.0
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) 9.5
Romeo and Juliet – [9.75]
Midnight Train to Georgia [7]
Somebody to Love [6.5]
Landslide [9]
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) 9.5
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) 7.0
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) 10.0
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) 8.25
Romeo and Juliet–7
Midnight Train To Georgia–8.5
Somebody To Love–10
Landslide–9
Me and Cristina. So far the hurricane’s been all talk, as my Big Weather theory would suggest. But apparently the madness starts around 6am.
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits): 8.6 6.8
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips): 9.2 6.2
Janos: Ties highest Midnight score I’ve given yet. That last 30 seconds or so Gladys just kills it in a way I hadn’t noticed before. This song ultimately came down to whether I was more bothered by “when we made love/ you used to cry” or “gonna be a superstar/ but he didn’t get far.”
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen): 9 9.5
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac): 7.9 7.3
Janos: I usually give StL higher than a 9, but was suffering a beating in Computer Chess for most of the song.
Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) v. Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) = 6.5 to 5
Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) v. Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) = 9 to 7
Big weather!!!
Three voters today, Dani, Sarah, Adam: D, S, A.
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits): 9/6/10
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips): 10/8.5/7.5
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen): 6.5/5/4.5
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac): 7.5/7.5/3
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits): 9.75
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips): 9.6
I love both of these songs and hate that they have to face off. I think Romeo & Juliet just exploded into my heart a little bit more than Gladys today.
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen): 8
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac): 9
Tz + Josef Mendele
Both these songs are kinda boring.
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) tz 7 Josef 8
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) tz 6.5 Josef 6
Landslide is more better + it has a slide guitar solo.
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) – Tz 6 Josef 7.5
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) tz 10 josef 10
Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) = 7
Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) = 10
Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) = 5
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) = 7
Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) = 9
Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) = 5.5
Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) = 6.5
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) = 9.5
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) 5
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) 7
Just couldn’t get beyond “when we made love, you used to cry” today
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) 6 wasn’t feeling the end today
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) 9
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) – 8
nice on a rainy day
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) – 3
god, this song annoys me. i’d love to hear gladys sing this sans pips, and maybe some bluesy guitar & organ in the background instead of the strings & piano.
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) – 6
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) – 6.5
stevie gets the edge for actually evoking some emotion. but every time she sings about getting older, you can hear it in her voice, and it’s not all that pleasant.
Scores are for Meghan and then me. Comments are mine.
#2 Romeo And Juliet (Dire Straits) 5.5/4.5
#7 Midnight Train To Georgia (Gladys Knight and the Pips) 7.5/7.8
R&J’s story might be timeless, but that doesn’t mean its always exciting. Glady’s has the urgency that just sucks you in sometimes. This is one of those times.
#3 Somebody To Love (Live In Montreal) (Queen) 6.5/8.5
#6 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) 7/4
Ok, so I guess I’m in a rock mood today. Freddie was on his game, and a slight ding for the crap at the end, but so be it. Landslide is still beautiful, and I’m still not in the mood for it.