Like this.
Votes due by Monday, October 24th at 8:00 PM (3 days to vote!): Grooveshark link here, except for “All Tomorrow’s Parties.” You’ve heard some grumbling the last three posts or so on how it was becoming increasingly hard to figure out match-ups based on logic. You ain’t seen nothing until you see the following puzzles, i.e., the last 4 matches of the tournament.
Puzzle 1: If I were doing a “New Speedway Boogie”, what sort of wheel would be the opposite of allowing maximum speed down such a speedway? Not a race car wheel. Not even a bicycle wheel. No, the opposite would be a “Wagon Wheel.” (Note to Progenitor: I had a really tough time finding the Marc Cohn NSB on the web. This one is labeled Grateful Dead but is definitely someone that sounds like Cohn, double check this when you can?)
Puzzle 2: Let’s say I was a king. A really sad king. One that literally said, “I’m pretty sure that all I ever learned from love 
was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.” Outdraw implies an arrow wound. Arrows have quivers. Feathers are soft. But how can something soft kill you? Ta-da! “Hallelujah” vs. “Killing Me Softly.”
Puzzle 3: What if we lived in a world where raindrops danced? Wouldn’t that be a crazy world? God I’m really coasting into this finish line- “Rhythm of the Rain” vs. “Mad World.”
When you put "Mad World," "All Tomorrow's Parties," and "Wake Me When It's Over" in a row on a playlist, this is what you get.
Puzzle 4: What is the opposite of being really excited about going to “All Tomorrow’s Parties” Probably some lame-o that sighs and says “Wake Me When It’s Over,” that’s what!
Pasteables. Already pumped for the Round of 64!
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me!
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers
Living the Dream 
Guillermo – not to worry. This is the correct one. It’s a cover of GD and the album title is correct and so is the voice. Thanks for checking.
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn 6.8
“Wagon Wheel” by Against Me! 6.3
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright 8
“Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees 5.5
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg 7.5 – Sorry folks, just wasn’t loving the little jazzy finish, which knocked this down a point after a great opening – still prefer the original..
“Mad World” by Gary Jules 7.5
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man 6
“Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers 4.5
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me! 7/9.5
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees 9/8
Hallelujah was on constant rotation in the Vox Box, my college house freshman and sophomore year, so it has a special place in my heart.
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules 5/10
I nominated Mad World because I think it is, simply and more or less objectively, one of the best covers of all time. It sets the standard for sad-sack acoustic covers. It’s brings a new perspective to the original. It’s hauntingly beautiful. I heard this cover before I heard the original and I think it stands on its own as an amazing song, but knowing the original makes this version even more impressive. When it comes to Rhythm of the Rain, I feel like I should hate it, but for some reason today it was kind of okay. It felt like you had ended up getting sucked into some shitty 80s buddy comedy on TBS that was punctuated by embarrassing 80s sax solos and pastels, but you’re kind of endeared by the earnest cheesiness of it all.
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers 4/7
Also I LOVE those grid logic puzzles. Man. Now that’s all I want to do today.
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me! 4.5/8.5
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees 7.5/8.5
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules 3/9 [as usual this is an inadvertent hammer.
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers 4/6.7 [extra points because i think the guy from the supersuckers sounds like the guy from the violent femmes]
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me!: 5/5.5
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees: 7/8.5
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules: 5/6
How 80s.
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers:6/7
Found that I’m not really scoring many songs too highly. I must not like covers or something. Sad.
Love the connections for the match-ups today. Very clever!
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me!: 6.5 / 8.9
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees: 9.5 / 8.5
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules: 6.8 / 10
I agree with Aiko – totally expected to hate on Fogelberg, but I also found his brand of cheese to be kind of endearing. I love this version of Mad World. It is just so hauntingly beautiful and lonely. It is an awesome song and Gary Jules did a phenomenal job with it.
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers: 7.1 / 6
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me! 7 / 3.5
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees 6 / 3.5
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules 3 / 5.5
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers 5 / 2
Good that we ended with some solid songs.
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me!: 6.8 : 7.4
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees: 8 : 6.5
I am not a huge fan of Rufus or this song, but his gentler approach appealed to me a lot more than Buckley’s version. Tough match-up against Killing Me Softly.
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules: 5.5 : 6.2
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers 7.3 : 4
Was not feeling the Supersuckers. As for Young Man, I feel like this isn’t the version we listened to earlier in the tournament. Which is fine, this is good too, but I really liked the version when they were all sitting in a circle. Or is that a different group?
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn: 7.2
“Wagon Wheel” by Against Me!: 10
It’s hard to mess up Wagon Wheel. This just put me in a great, great mood- although I should say that PS22 could have covered this and it still would have gotten a great score from me.
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright: 8.2
“Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees: 7.5
Go get her, Shrek!
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg 4
“Mad World” by Gary Jules 6.8
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man 6.8
“Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers 7.2
This guy sounds a lot like Mick Jagger, that’s working in his favor.
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me!: 6.5/5.5
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees: 6.3/10
Hallelujah is beautiful, but I’ve never been the biggest fan of this version. Killing me softly and Lauryn Hill are a 10 in my book. The nostalgia I have from this song always has me turning it way up. Seems kinda sad that two seemingly strong nominations had to go up against each other in this mismatched round when others have been so weak.
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules: 5/7
I would never choose to listen to Mad World, but that is only because it always makes me feel so unsettled…which means its effective? hmmm…
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers:4.5/4
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn 4
vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me! 4
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright 1
I don’t drop ones very often, but this version of this song ruined the Leonard Cohen documentary “I’m Your Man” for me. I don’t care if Rufus is best friends with Cohen’s daughter; his campy prima donna delivery makes me puke.
vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees 7
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg 4
vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules 7
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man 4
vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers 7
This is really good. And I know I’m usually way off with these comparisons, but doesn’t this sound like a young Mick Jagger?
Votes are for ChrisB and Carolyn, respectively.
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn = 3/5
“Wagon Wheel” by Against Me! = 4/4
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright =5/7 .
“Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees= 7/8.5
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg = 1/6 That was an overproduced 80’s piece of garbage, complete with Kenny G Saxamaphone. Sorry, I just wanted it to end.
“Mad World” by Gary Jules = 8, 6.5
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man = 4, 5
“Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers = 4, 6.5
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn – 5
“Wagon Wheel” by Against Me! – 4
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright – 5
lacks either the character of Cohen or the beauty of Buckley (or vice versa)
“Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees – 10
momentous, in retrospect
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg – 4.5
“Mad World” by Gary Jules – 7
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man – 6 – & a pretty face too.
“Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers – 4.5
oh my he wasn’t kidding with the band name. I take back the face comment!!
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me! 9.5 to 4.0
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees 10.0 to 3.0
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules 9.5 to 5.0
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers 2.0 to 4.0
“New Speedway Boogie” by Marc Cohn vs. “Wagon Wheel” by Against Me! 8.5 to 6.0
“Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright vs. “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees 10.0 to 6.0
“Rhythm of the Rain” by Dan Fogelberg vs. “Mad World” by Gary Jules 8.5 to 6.0
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Young Man vs. “Wake Me When It’s Over” by The Supersuckers 4.0 to 7.0