Okay this isn't the version nominated, but who doesn't love Young Frankenstein??
Votes due Friday, October 21th at 11 PM EST:
Welp, the time for themes has come and gone. Now you just get songs that maaaaybe have something in common. Or just song match-ups that seem to make sense to me, and to my friend Flannery, who helped me make today’s playlist.
Grooveshark link is here, happy listening!
Hi, my name is Ronan. Aren't my eyes pretty?
First up, we have David Gray’s cover of the Nina Simone song, “In the Morning.” Brit David Gray faces Irishman, Ronan Keating covering “When You Say Nothing at All”, originally by Alison Krauss. Link here: people from the British Isles covering American artists.
Next we have Chris Cornell’s cover of “Billie Jean.“ The former Audioslave/Soundgarden frontman had this to say about his version: “It’s sort of gospel-y, blues-y. I’ve done it a couple of times live as well where it’s just acoustic and really enjoyed it.” He faces “Puttin’ on the Ritz,“ as done by Taco. His synthpop cover of the Irving Berlin’s original peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1983. Link here: cover of an 80s song versus 80s cover of a song. So…. the 80s.
Moving right along, next we see a slightly more obvious link – acoustic guitar-sy covers. Bluegrass or spanish? You decide. Chris Thile plays “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.” This White Stripes cover faces Rodrigo y Gabriela, in their second appearance in this tournament. Their song is combination of two covers – “One / Take Five, ” by Dave Brubeck and Metallica, respectively. Spanish acoustic guitar covering jazz and metal? Yup. That happened. It seems to work.
Last up in this round, we hear Ace Frehley’s “New York Groove,” Ace Frehley once told Rolling Stone magazine that his unique take on the song was inspired by his experience with hookers in New York City’s pre-Rudy Giuliani Times Square. (thanks Wikipedia for that gem!) It faces Harvey Danger’s cover of English Beat song, “Save It For Later,” released on the soundtrack for the film 200 Cigarettes. Link here: A song about New York versus a song from a soundtrack of a movie set in New York.
Pasteable and Grooveshark:
“In the Morning” David Gray vs. “When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell vs. “Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile vs. “One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley vs “Save It For Later” Harvey Danger
Living the Dream 
“In the Morning” David Gray vs. “When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating 3/1
This is the opposite of the Dolly/Cash match up. One of these has to move on?
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell vs. “Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 1/8
The version of Billie Jean deserves no comment, but Taco is goddamn excellent if rather ridiculous. I’m glad someone nominated it. Have I mentioned that I’m on an 80s kick recently? The music, the fashion… I would have rocked the 80s so hard. Sigh.
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile vs. “One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 3.5/6.8
I am off my bluegrass kick. I bet that Rodrigo y Gabriela song would have been amazing to see live, I can tell how much the audience is moved by it. It’s pretty good recorded, but doesn’t translate entirely.
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley vs “Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 6.5/7
“In the Morning” David Gray vs. “When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating 4 / 2
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell vs. “Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 4 / 7.5.
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile vs. “One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 3 / 6.5 … good song ruined by Chris Thile
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley vs “Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 1 / 7 . Last year, Ace Frehley played this song live at MSG before the Rangers home opener. It was the single worst musical performance I’ve ever seen. The fans started booing about 20 seconds in, and by the end you could barely hear him singing over the raucous chorus of boos. This only partially does justice to how bad it was: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q28z1sVmxZQ . But you can see on the announcers faces how bafflingly terrible it was. Sorry, Ace, your horrible performance at MSG deducts from your score in the covers tournament.
“In the Morning” David Gray 3 vs. “When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating 1
I second Aiko’s comments above. I couldn’t even get through When You Say Nothing.
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell 7
vs. “Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 6 I remember hearing this on the radio when I was five and it made me think that the world beyond my backyard was filled with creepy robots in tuxedos. Now that I know the world is in fact filled with creepy robots in tuxedos, I can finally appreciate it.
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile 4
vs. “One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 6
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley 8 Even better now that I know it’s about hookers
vs “Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 7 This is good too. The singer sounds like John Lennon.
In the Morning David Gray 3
When You Say Nothing at All Ronan Keating 4
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell 3
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 6
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile 5.5
“One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 5
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley 4
“Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 5
I’m impressed with the themes you unfurled. You must be excellent at the Kevin Bacon game.
Haha! Thanks, Janos. I tried to come up with something that made at least a little bit of sense, even if it was a kind of ridiculous. I am great at that Kevin Bacon game!
In the Morning David Gray 5
When You Say Nothing at All Ronan Keating 5.1
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell 2
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 2.5
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile 4
“One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 9
Who nominated One/Take 5? Loving it!
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley 4.5
“Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 5.5
something funky going on so i have to do this in reply to another post… oh well
“In the Morning” David Gray 4
“When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating 5
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell 8.5
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 6
Billie Jean just gets better and better… love the uber-whammy fill towards the end. Was really digging Puttin’ on the Ritz…until the weird last 90 seconds or so which knocked it a couple points.
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile 3
“One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 7
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley 6.5
“Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 4
I know Ace’s cover is bad… but its fun!
“In the Morning” David Gray vs. “When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating 4.0 to 7.5
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell vs. “Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 4.0 to 6.5
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile vs. “One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 3.5 to 6.0
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley vs “Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 4.0 to 4.0
“In the Morning” David Gray vs. “When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating 5.0 to 7.5
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell vs. “Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 7.0 to 5.5
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile vs. “One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 4.0 to 7.0
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley vs “Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 5.5 to 3.0
“In the Morning” David Gray 6
“When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating 2
Alison Krauss version, I associate with a mix CD from an ex, so even that would be hit or miss depending on the day. This Ronan Keating thing, however, is ridiculous. A, are those the same back up singers that back up Bill Nighy in his Troggs cover in that Christmas movie whose name is escaping me? B, anyone catch that jazz flute in the middle? C, fade outs either work or don’t, figure out a way to end your song. D, or end it earlier, because that went on way too long. I’m sorry to whomever nominated this, I’m still at work and not happy about it. Oh right, Love Actually, that was it.
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell 3.5
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 5
Chris Cornell, please stop whining. A robot singing “super duper” sounds about right. Creative nomination. Oh wait this lost points when the robot got out of control at the end.
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile 4
“One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 9
R&G getting some momentum! Did you know they are Mexican yet got their start in of all places, Dublin on Grafton Street? As a half Latino half Irish dude, you can’t get much better than that. I guess if they were Peruvian instead of Mexican, but that’s the only way. Also, if you are into this and want another intro song, I can’t hold back any longer. Don’t stop watching at 2:30, it keeps going.
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley 6.2
“Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 8
I wanted to not like NYG but I did. Save It For Later is my last nomination (with I Won’t Back Down and In Your Eyes, not sure I could have chosen 3 more different songs. That’s how I roll!) and I feel about it the same way I felt about my Add It Up nomination in the last tourney- probably not going to win this whole thing, but generally a fun exciting song.
In the Morning David Gray 5
When You Say Nothing at All Ronan Keating 0 […. I think they used this extraordinary rendition at Abu Ghraib.]
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell 2.5
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 7
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile 5
“One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 7
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley 6
“Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 8.8
In the Morning David Gray 10
When You Say Nothing at All Ronan Keating 4
**I nominated “In the Morning” and have such a soft spot for David Gray. This cover was on an album he released in the UK a few years ago — it was an album entirely made of cover songs, but wasn’t ever released Stateside. Anyway, there’s some nostalgia with it, so it gets a full 10 from me. :-)**
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell 2
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco 5
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile 3
“One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela 6
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley 5
“Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 4
“In the Morning” David Gray – 6.5
am i the only one that enjoyed this?
“When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating – 2
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell – 4
i dont remember what i gave this on my first listen. i think i liked it better this time, but still not a big fan.
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco – 6
wish it ended at minute 3, great up until then
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile – 9
i think this is a killer cover. i would have nominated it if someone hadn’t beaten me to it. once again, it appears i’m in the minority. perhaps it’s because thile is a pheonmenal musician, but i think this song-writing is terrible, so i just love hearing him (and his bandmates) tear up other people’s songs.
“One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela – 5.5
i also love r&g. amazing to see live. this medley doesn’t do much for me, though… couldn’t get into the first half at all, and a bit hard to follow musically. i think they have much better. regardless, i support them advancing in this tourney & perhaps it will grow on me in future listens.
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley – 7
this was fun. who did the original? i feel so musically uneducated that i’m unfamiliar with the original versions of so many songs in this tourney!
“Save It For Later” Harvey Danger – 8
even more fun. good job showing us you’ve got more than “flagpole sitta”, harvey.
Reunion of my friends from college! Votes for: Me / Flannery / Lisa / Matt / Mark / Carolyn
“In the Morning” David Gray – 7 / 7 / 3 / 6 / 5 / 4.5
(consensus was that this is a good song to listen to when you are driving alone)
“When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating – 4 / 4.5 / 2 / 2.23 / 5 / 3.86
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell – 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 5 / 1.8
Collective loathing of this version. Flannery says it should be labelled music to slit your wrists to.
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco – 8 / 6.5 / 8 / 7.8 / 5.5 / 8
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile – 7.5 / 8.5 / 8 / 9.1 / 5.6 / 7
“One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela – 10 / 9 / 9 / 6.5 / 5 / 8.7
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley – 7 / 5.5 / 9 / 6.8 / 5.5 / 7.5
“Save It For Later” Harvey Danger – 8.2 / 8 / 6 / 7.7 / 5 / 6
Whoa! Well played, Miss Collins! Voting parties aren’t dead!
Sorry for the low scores, I was in the mood for something else this Friday eve….
“In the Morning” David Gray vs. “When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating: 4:2
I found both of these very hard to get through.
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell vs. “Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco: 3 : 7.3
Sorry Chris, was really not in the mood. Ritz was fun. Probably deserved lower than that score, but was super interesting.
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile vs. “One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela: 7 : 4.5
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley vs “Save It For Later” Harvey Danger 6 : 7.4
200 Cigarrettes was a great movie.
“In the Morning” David Gray vs. “When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating: 5/4.5
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell vs. “Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco: 2/4
Still can’t believe Beat it lost to this…Zzzzzz
I like that name…Taco. Never realized that2 was the name of the artist.
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile vs. “One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela:4/8
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley vs “Save It For Later” Harvey Danger: 7.5/7.5
Had to run to the ‘burbs tonight, so I’m voting separate. I must say it makes a MASSIVE difference listening to these songs on an actual stereo rather than crappy speakers.
“In the Morning” David Gray = 6 I got really excited when I thought that this was going to be a Nick Drake cover. I was a bit disappointed, but it wasn’t bad.
“When You Say Nothing at All” Ronan Keating = 2. Story time. I bought the Notting Hill soundtrack for this one song so I could sing it to my girlfriend at the time when she came back from some sort of camp (I forget what it was). I listened to it way too much, and well, we broke up before she got back. And yeah it’s just as bad as I remember.
“Billie Jean” Chris Cornell = 3
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” Taco = 8 I think I’ve said it before, but man, the 80’s were weird.
“Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” Chris Thile = 3
“One / Take Five” Rodrigo y Gabriela = 9.6 Liked the Metallica cover, but guitarists doing covers of Metallica is nothing new (even classical guitarists). Then they cranked it up to 11 with Take 5. It averages to 9.6.
“New York Groove” Ace Frehley = 4
“Save It For Later” Harvey Danger = 7