Rodrigo y Gabriela ignored the sign
For once I’m not feeling real chatty, so let’s jump right into the match-ups, shall we? Votes are due by Wednesday at 8pm PST. Listen to songs here, except “Rockaway Beach.”
This first set goes out to my dad, because the original songs make me think of him, even though I don’t think he would particularly like these renditions. We have The Door’s “Light My Fire” as covered by Jose Feliciano vs. a kinder, gentler, Spanish guitarier version Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela.
Next it’s a clash of the punk covers, with Sahara Hotnights doing a punk version of the Ramones’ punk classic,“Rockaway Beach.” Up against that is Lily Allen‘s un-punk version of one of the Clash’s un-punker songs, “Straight to Hell,” which was one of my favorite songs of the Living the Dream Tournament. The Ramones and the Clash can often be mentioned together in one breath in music history, but sometimes they come from different worlds.
Nerds.
Have you ever wanted to feel cooler than Mick Jagger and David Bowie combined? Well, you should probably watch the video for their cover of the Mama’s and the Papa’s “Dancing in the Streets.” It is one of the dorkiest things I have ever seen, and that’s coming from someone who watches Star Trek: TNG while washing dishes to pass the time. I, at least, never leave the house looking like a casual pirate who was dressed by her grandmother. In contrast but also in complement, Nouvelle Vague renders a sweet, fun version of Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself.”
And, finally, we have a Peter Gabriel vs. Peter Gabriel. Hot Chip teamed up with him to cover Vampire Weekend’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” which references the man, the legend. But Peter Gabriel also wrote some cover-worthy music, so for your consideration is Jeffrey Gaines‘s cover of “In Your Eyes.”
Once again here is your Grooveshark link and your pastable:
Don't try this unless you are *actually* John Cusack. And if you actually are John Cusack... call me.
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by R
odrigo y Gabriela
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnightsvs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines
Living the Dream 
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano 4
“Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela 5
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara HotNights 2
“Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen 7.5
Not meaning to give such a big differential, but these are just a clear No and Yes for me.
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie 3
“Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague 5
I’m not really a huge fan of either of these songs to begin with.
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel 5.4
“In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines 7.9
Jeffrey Gaines’s acoustic version sounds a lot like Peter Gabriel’s which normally might make it uninteresting. Not this time though.
omgeeeez! The day I’ve been waiting for – Finally a song that I nominated today!! And not just one of them, but 2. I’m so excited! Thanks Aiko!!
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela 3.5/6
Light my Fire is a little too Lounge for my tastes. Stairway to Heaven is very pretty. But long.
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnights vs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen 5/9.75
I didn’t like Rockaway Beach much. Too much yelling. But +1 for the length. 2.08 FTW.
Full disclosure — Straight to Hell is one of my nominations. When there was talk of doing a covers tournament, I knew immediately that this would be my very first nomination. I love the original, but more than that, I love Lily’s version of it. The juxtaposition of her light, lovely voice with the tough lyrics is magic.
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague 5/7.5
I like the idea of the Dancing theme of this pair more than I like either of the original songs. I do really like this cover of Dancing with myself, though. I hadn’t heard it before.
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines 8.75/7.8
I love the version of Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa. In Your Eyes is also really good but I miss some of the soaring parts from the original version that don’t seem to be in Mr. Gaines’ range.
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela – 6.5/8
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnightsvs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen – 2/3
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague – 5.5/7
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines – 4/5.5
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela 3 / 7. Both of these sounded like I was somewhere tropical listening to the local acoustic guitar guy covering rock songs by the poolside in the early evening.
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnightsvs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen 5 / 3
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague 3 / 6
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines 3 / 6
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela: 5/5.5
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnightsvs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen: 4/5
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague 4/5
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines: 4/6.5
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano – 6.8
“Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela – 7.3
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnights – 5.8
“Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen – 6.3
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie – 5 –
“Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague – 7.2
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel – 7.3
“In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines – 3
Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano 3
vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela 4
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnights 3
vs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen 3
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie 2 Might have given it a 4 before I made the mistake of watching the video.
vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague 4
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel 5
vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines 3
Everything sounds like shit today. It’s probably just me though.
Light My Fire 5
Stairway To Heaven 7
Dancing In The Streets 5.7
Dancing With Myself 7.5
Dancing In The Streets is kind of annoying.
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa 7.1
In Your Eyes 8.5
I dated a girl the summer after I finished college in Maryland. She was ridiculously fun, half-Armenian, and way too hot for the likes of me. Anyways, when I decided to upend my semblance of a life as a lifeguard/landscaper to move to Mississippi, I broke up with her. On our last date, she gave a mix CD with this “In Your Eyes” cover on it. Not like in a lovey way or anything, more of a “see you later, here’s a CD with some good covers on it” way. Anyways, I’ve been hooked ever since. I like stories about how we found our songs. This isn’t that great a story, but every nomination comes from somewhere, right? Hope you enjoy. Oh and that said, I don’t mind if this loses to Cape Cod Kwassa, that song appeals to my Johnny Clegg & Savuka sensibilities. Its just that I get chills every time I hear “when I want to run away, I drive off in my car/ but whichever way I choose, I come back to the place you are.”
Straight To Hell 7
Rockaway Beach 7
Even heat.
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano: 7
“Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela: 9.5
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnights: 4.5
“Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen: 7
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie: 3
“Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague: 6.5
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel: 6.5 Bonus 1/2 point for his clever, little lyric change.
“In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines: 5.5
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano: 4
“Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela: 5
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnights: 3
“Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen: 5.5
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie: 3
“Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague: 6
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel: 5
“In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines: 8
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano = 6.7 Started really slow. For a song about trying to convince someone to make dirty love now, he sure wasn’t in a hurry. Towards the end of the song, though, it got way better.
“Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela = 7.2
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnights = 3.4 If you’re going to do a punk cover of a punk song, you gotta knock it out of the park. They didn’t.
“Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen = 5,2
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie = 3.2 God the 80’s were wierd.
“Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague = 3.5. Voted before I hit the harmonica part. Reminded me of the world’s most annoying song.
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel = 6.2 Vampire Weekend songs pretty much all sound the same. I liked this, but it couldn’t get over blah of the source material.
“In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines = 7.5 I kind of hate it when people sing along at concerts. I paid to hear the guy on stage, not the drunk chick next to me.
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela: 6 / 9
My score for Light My Fire might have been higher, but the fast repetition of ‘light my fire, light my fire, light my fire” totally threw me. Still a good song though. I love Rodrigo y Gabriela and this was awesome.
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnights vs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen: 4 / 7.5
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague: 4.5 / 7
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines: 7.5 / 7.5
Definitely enjoyed Peter Gabriel – and his lyrical changes. What a kidder. And that Jeffery is adorable.
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by R
odrigo y Gabriela 8.0 to 6.0
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnightsvs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen 3.0 to 5.0
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague 8.0 to 3.0
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines 4.0 to 7.0
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by R
odrigo y Gabriela 8.5 to 5.5
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnightsvs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen 2.5 to 5.0
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague 8.5 to 2.5
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines 4.0 to 6.5
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano: 3
“Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela: 6
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnights: 6.5
“Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen: 10
Lilly Allen’s music sounds so effortless. It’s like she’s born to be singing. Fantastic song, fantastic cover that’s true to the original but has its own perspective.
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie: 5.5
“Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague: 7.5
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel: 6.8
“In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines: 3
Light My Fire 5
Stairway To Heaven 9
Love that one.
Rockaway Beach 3.5
Straight To Hell 7
Dancing In The Streets 5
Dancing With Myself 5.5
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa 5
In Your Eyes 8
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela- 4.5 : 8.6
Nice matchup, Aiko. I feel like Feliciano realized a minute into the song that he was in way over his head. In contrast, R & G knew they were working with an epic, and did a nice variation.
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnightsvs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen- 7 :7.6
Both fun.
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague: 6.5: 7.2
Dancing in the Streets was a bit of a letdown given the cast, while Dancing was very pleasant.
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines
6.5 : 3 Jeff Gaines was tough to get through.
Light My Fire 3
Stairway To Heaven 8
Rockaway Beach – 5
Straight To Hell – 4
Dancing In The Streets 7
Dancing With Myself 6
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa -6
In Your Eyes -6.5
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela- 6 to 10
This isn’t their acoustic death metal, but its awesome. Jose is ok.
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnights vs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen- 6 to 7
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague: 4 to 7.1
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines
2 to 2
Not feeling them.
Light My Fire 5
Stairway To Heaven 8
Rockaway Beach – 5
Straight To Hell – 4
Dancing In The Streets 5
Dancing With Myself 5
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa -6.5
In Your Eyes -7.2
“Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano vs. “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela
I love “Feliz Navidad” as much as anyone, but that is some sorry soft rock sacrilege. As Liz Lemon would say, BLERGH.
0-5
“Rockaway Beach” by Sahara Hotnightsvs. “Straight To Hell” by Lily Allen
I love Lily Allen’s cheek, but that was pretty sleepy and boring.
6-2
“Dancing In The Streets” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie vs. “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague
David Bowie is never not cool. Never. Bowie gets an automatic 10 from me no matter what. Have you ever seen the Pop-Up video version that insinuates Bowie and Jagger totally did it? I’m not sure how that applies, exactly, but I thought I’d put it out there. Bowie is so cool he even makes dorky cool. That is all.
10-4
“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Hot Chip featuring Peter Gabriel vs. “In Your Eyes (acoustic)” by Jeffrey Gaines
Peter Gabriel getting to sing his own name is awesome sauce. Plus it was bouncy and delightful.
8-4
Light My Fire 5
Stairway To Heaven 6
Love that one.
Rockaway Beach 8.5
Straight To Hell 9.5
Dancing In The Streets 4.5
Dancing With Myself 3
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa 6
In Your Eyes 5