Well, lovelies, we’re almost through the Round of 128, and none too soon. There’s been some angst about the mediocrity of this round, but that’s been true of the first round of every music tournament: there’s a lot of chafe. Things generally start getting compelling in the round of 64, which awaits us in just a few more days. We’ll see half of these nominees there.
Department of Eagles bringing you into the home stretch
Submit your votes by Saturday at 8pm PST (11:00pm EST). Check out all the songs at the Grooveshark Link and vote in the comments below.
First up we have a Beatles vs. Elvis contest, with Sufjan Stevans covering’s the Fab Four’s “What Goes On,” and Department of Eagles trying their hand at the King’s “Love Me.” With the number of Beatles covers, I’m surprised we haven’t had a match up like this yet.
You want to sleep with common people... like me?
When I paired up William Shatner’s talky version of neo-glam band Pulp’s song “Common People” with the Silver Jews’ rendition of “Friday Night Fever,” a country song originally by George Strait, I was thinking of “Saturday Night Fever.” Which actually doesn’t make this pairing make any more sense. I think the connection was that I really like Pulp, and I really like the Silver Jews. Anyway, my two cents here is that “Common People” is a great music video. I would like to always dance like the people in that video.
I wouldn’t normally include one of my nominations in a match-up I create, but with two of my songs and only two posts left of in the Round of 128, I’m going for it. Look, I can’t help it if my songs are apparently the awkward kid that always gets picked last for kickball of this music tournament. Also, this match-up makes a lot of sense. We have songs from two gay cultural touchstones: “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”, the transsexual rock musical cult-hit, and Lady Gaga, patron Saint of Flamboyance. First, my beloved Jonathan Richman completely rewrites “The Origin of Love” from Hedwig, a song about how love came to exist onthe earth. Next, Lissie provides her interpretation of Gaga’s song about love gone sour in her acoustic version of “Bad Romance.”
Strange?
Finally, in another match-up that made some sense when I put it together but now I’m not sure what my thinking was, we have Prince’s “When Doves Cry” as performed by 14-year-old Quindon Tarver up against Jose Gonzalez’s version of Swedish band The Knife’s “Heartbeats.” I think my thinking was thus: Prince is a weirdo. The brother/sister team from The Knife are weirdos. Ergo, this match up.
Here’s your pastable, friends:
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) vs. “Love Me” (Department of Eagles)
“Common People” (William Shatner) vs.“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews)
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) vs. “Bad Romance” (Lissie)
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) vs. “Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez)
Living the Dream 
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) 3
vs. “Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 3
“Common People” (William Shatner) 7
vs.“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 2
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) 3
vs. “Bad Romance” (Lissie) 7.5
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) 2.5
vs. “Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 3
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) 5
vs. “Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 6
“Common People” (William Shatner) 6
vs.“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 10
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) 5
vs. “Bad Romance” (Lissie) 6
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) 2
vs. “Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 6
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) vs. “Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 4 / 2
“Common People” (William Shatner) vs.“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 6.5 / 3
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) vs. “Bad Romance” (Lissie) 5 / 6
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) vs. “Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 3 / 4
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) 4.5
“Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 7
Oh, Love Me. I have to get this “Sweetheart” 2009 cover compilation album, second time it’s come up in my life in the last couple weeks. And there’s a cover of Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s too.
“Common People” (William Shatner) 7.5
“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 7.2
Rich girls- causing trouble since 44 BC.
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) 7
“Bad Romance” (Lissie) 5.8
BR went on too long.
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) 5
“Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 6.5
I like Heartbeats generally, but it’s a mood song at heart.
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) vs. “Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 2.0 to 3.5
“Common People” (William Shatner) vs.“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 2.0 to 3.5 Does Shatner have no shame at all?
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) vs. “Bad Romance” (Lissie) 3.0 to 5.0
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) vs. “Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 3.0 to 5.0
Why on earth does Shatner need shame? His career is built on not having any
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) vs. “Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 2.0 to 4.0
“Common People” (William Shatner) vs.“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 2.0 to 3.0
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) vs. “Bad Romance” (Lissie) 2.0 to 5.0
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) vs. “Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 3.0 to 6.0
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) 4
“Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 4
“Common People” (William Shatner) 6 – Thoguht I was going to give it a 10 on novelty… then it kept going….
“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 4.5
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) 5.5
“Bad Romance” (Lissie) 7
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) 6.5 – Ok I knocked this one a bit in the play-in, and it definitely hit me completely different this time. Really digging it.
“Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 5
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) vs. “Love Me” (Department of Eagles): 4.5/2
Yikes!
“Common People” (William Shatner) vs.“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews): 2/5
Shatner wasn’t as bad as I expected. It was still bad. Better than his Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Friday Night Fever felt a little Johnny Cash-like. Not so much George Strait.
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) vs. “Bad Romance” (Lissie): 5.5/7
Lissie, I like this more. This might’ve been the best matchup so far.
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) vs. “Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez): 7.5/6
Tarver is growing on me…Heartbeats was nice. It kind of reminded me of having a good date…back when I used to date…my wife.
made it through 2 matchups yesterday… won’t be able to do the rest today. oh well, i really wasn’t looking forward to listening to the lissie/gaga thing again
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) – 4
i could see this growing on me, but alas this is a score based on a single listen
“Love Me” (Department of Eagles) – 3.5
“Common People” (William Shatner) – 8.5
this was fantastic
“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) – 4
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) 4.5
“Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 4
“Common People” (William Shatner) 2
“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 5
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) 4.5
“Bad Romance” (Lissie) 6
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) 5.5
“Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 4.5
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) 3
vs. “Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 2
“Common People” (William Shatner) 4
vs.“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 1
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) 3
vs. “Bad Romance” (Lissie) 3
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) 1.5
vs. “Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 7
*Thank goodness for the sweetness of that last one. 🙂
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) 2
vs. “Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 4
“Common People” (William Shatner) 2
vs.“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 2
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) 1
vs. “Bad Romance” (Lissie) 1.5
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) 3.5
vs. “Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 8
Making my friends vote with me again! Votes for: Me / Flannery/ Lisa / Matt / ChrisB
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) 5 / 4 / 3 / 4 / 5
“Love Me” (Department of Eagles) 7 / 5 / 3 / 7.4 / 5
“Common People” (William Shatner) 4.3 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 4
“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews) 7.6 / 5 / 1 / 1 / 4
And now Abo and Carolyn are joining us for the last two rounds so it is
Me / Flannery/ Lisa / Matt / ChrisB / Abo / Carolyn
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) 4 / 3 / 2 / 3 / 3 / 5 / 4
“Bad Romance” (Lissie) 8.4 / 4 / 3 / 4 / 1.5 / 5.5 / 2
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) 3 / 7 / 4 / 3 / 3.5 / 5
“Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez) 9.3 / 8.5 / 5 / 10 / 7.5 / 7
“What Goes On” (Sufjan Stevens) vs. “Love Me” (Department of Eagles): 5: 7
“Common People” (William Shatner) vs.“Friday Night Fever” (Silver Jews): 9.5 : 4
“Origin Of Love” (Jonathan Richman) vs. “Bad Romance” (Lissie): 3 : 3
“When Doves Cry” (Quindon Tarver) vs. “Heartbeats” (Jose Gonzalez): 5 : 3