RESULTS BELOW
These results are pretty remarkable, basically no difference between the four winners, which means the next two rounds will be very interesting. Also means Don’t Stop Believin’ may not be the powerhouse many of us assumed it would be.
Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey) defeats “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
158.3 to 130.7 (7.5 to 6.2 average)
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) defeats “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
155.9 to 116.9 (7.6 TO 5.6 average)
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) defeats “Whiskey”
(Trampled by Turtles)
160.2 to 129.6 (7.6 to 6.2 average)
“Caravan” (Van Morrison) defeats “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing
Pumpkins)
158.75 to 134.1 (7.6 to 6.4 average)
Welcome to Division D, and our 4th set of matchups! You’ll have until midnight on Friday to vote in the comments. After these songs we’ll be a quarter of the way through the whole tournament, which is kind of wild to think about.
Here’s the Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1HHiIribHDN1biTdmrL8PG?si=lZfaSpTHTre4iBZWNQ4Muw
Round 1 Division D:
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey) v. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) v. “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) v. “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
Stories from The Vault
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (automatic entry): I can’t think of any better than Guillermo spinning circles while playing the air guitar solo on the floor of a jam-packed 2 Train at the most epic part of the song on the most epic subway ride down the West Side of Manhattan during the greatest Marathon Day ever. – Ben
This song, at the pub, again and again and again. Forever tied to me with Guillermo (and Janos) – Ryan
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (nominated by Danno): I’ve never met Guillermo in person. All of our interactions were through Music Tournaments. As such, I took a trip down memory lane to the very first one and revisited my votes that ultimately made the Wall of 10s, which included “A Day in the Life”, “Paranoid Android”, “Wavin’ Flag”, “Thriller”, “Hurt”, “Hey Jude”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, and “Golden Slumbers Medley”. Listening through each of these one more time, the Golden Slumbers Medley struck the right chord for me. — “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
“The Cool, Cool River” (nominated by Mike C.): this song just feels eternal
“You Can’t Always Get What you Want” (nominated by Midnight Spin): In the early 2010’s when Midnight Spin was just getting off the ground, the music tournament was running strong. The band members were regular participants in the tourney, and when we finally went on our national tour we had our own honorary music tourney to pass the time on the road where every song had to be the last track on an album. YCAGWYW ultimately won the tournament beating out Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” which came into the finals a heavy favorite~ having scored perfect 10’s in every round up until the championship. Other notable tracks included “It’s the End of the World as we Know it”, “Train in Vain”, and “Jungleland”. Of course the most insane upset was 16th seed “Zombie Zoo” from Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever knocking off the #1 seed “A Day In the Life” from Sgt. Pepper in the first round of the Northeast bracket. I guess that’s why you play the game.
“Bullet with Butterfly Wings” (nominated by Zach): Will (as I knew him) did his level best to instill a love of music in me from a very young age. This was greatly appreciated on my end, as I was a very young child at the time while he was going through high school. As a younger sibling, I did my best to emulate him. This naturally lead to a series of awkward conversations between my kindergarten teacher and our parents, as I would loudly, and seemingly at random, begin singing (well, more accurately, screaming) the chorus to this song at other children during recess. He found this hilarious, and never admitted to our parents that he had anything to do with it. Though it’s tonally VERY different from what both our musical tastes developed into, to this day any time I hear this song I think of him, plus most of my picks have already been entered.
“Whiskey” nominated by Jim, commentary by Janos: Trampled by Turtles were a Guillermo favorite. One of the last times I saw him in New York, he had planned his visit around a TBT concert at Bowery Ballroom. I don’t think they were even headlining. We ran into them at the bar after the show, and he bought the band a round of whiskey. Which is also the name of this song, one of their best!
Living the Dream 
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey) v. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House) 8.5 – 5.5
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) v. “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon) 7 – 6
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) v. “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles) 7.5 – 5
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison) 6 – 7
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey): 10 – i dare you to find a song Will would have consistently preferred to win this tournament in his honor
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House): 6 – great song, but not a winner here
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles): 8 – personal favorite
“The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon): 2 – why this paul simon of all paul simon/s&g
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones): 8 – i can’t identify a clear memory but feels right to give this one the (slight) W (at least for me)
“Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles): 7.5 – this song’s new to me but i know Will had a TbT thing and I could imagine him looping this on a more emo day
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins): 10 – geez i could have told that Zach story myself
“Caravan” (Van Morrison): 6 – who doesn’t enjoy a good Van Morrison tune on a sunny day
thought i distinctly remember there being a part of the bullet with butterfly wings story that involves jumping on the bed 🙂
9.5- “Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey)
7- “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
Don’t Stop Believing is such a great song. Want proof? Put it on and watch people go nuts! Hey now, HEY NOW, is a great song too.
7- “Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) v. 5- “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
Not terribly moved by either of these but they’re certainly not bad.
9- “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones)
9- “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
I absolutely love both of these songs for different reasons.
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
7- “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins)
9- “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey) 6 v. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House) 6
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) 6 v. “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon) 7 cool song
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) 7 v. “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles) 7 that was really nice
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) 7 (v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison) 8 (I listened to the Last Waltz version, which is a 10 in my book)
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey) v. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
Brynna: 8.5/6 – This one reminds us all of the Giants winning the 2010 World Series!
Bob: 6/5
Patti: 7/6.5
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) v. “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
Brynna: 8/5
Bob: 8/4
Patti: 7/5
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) v. “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
Brynna: 9/4.5
Bob: 9/1
Patti: 8/4
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
Brynna: 3/7.5
Bob: 3/7
Patti: 1/8
Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey) v. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
7 v 9
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) v. “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
8 v 5
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) v. “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
8 v 5
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
4 v 10
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey) v. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
8/7
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) v. “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
6.5/7
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) v. “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
7/6
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison
5.5/8.75
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey): 9.7
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House): 5.7
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles): 7.2
“The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon): 6.8
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones): 5
“Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles): 10
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins): 8.8
“Caravan” (Van Morrison): 5.7
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey): 5.8 – Sitting on the back porch and this is a little much right now.
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House): 6.5 – I was unaware that Goth Adult Contemporary was a genre. Neat.
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles): 9.0 – And the debate continues- is this really one song?
“The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon): 5.0 – Songs that have good memories and personal meaning don’t always end up doing well in the tournament and that’s okay. On a different note, Ladysmith Black Mambazo did lot of work and with one of my favorite artists Oliver Mtukudzi- check out Neria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVwLIvorMck
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones): 10 – Perfect today.
“Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles): 8 Thanks Jim for nominating this! This was a Biloxi cornerstone along with Atlantic City and Angel for Montgomery, so glad it got in. That said, I’m taking umbrage with the 3rd seed matchup in in this tourney, especially for for YCAGWTW- that’s an easy first seed choice.
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins): 5.6 – Exceptional drumming but wrong mood.
“Caravan” (Van Morrison): 8.8 – This is sitting on the back porch music.
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey): 5.8 – Sitting on the back porch and this is a little much right now.
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House): 6.5 – I was unaware that Goth Adult Contemporary was a genre. Neat.
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles): 9.0 – And the debate continues- is this really one song?
“The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon): 5.0 – Songs that have good memories and personal meaning don’t always end up doing well in the tournament and that’s okay. On a different note, Ladysmith Black Mambazo did lot of work and with one of my favorite artists Oliver Mtukudzi- check out Neria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVwLIvorMck
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones): 10 – Perfect today.
“Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles): 8 Thanks Jim for nominating this! This was a Biloxi cornerstone along with Atlantic City and Angel for Montgomery, so glad it got in. That said, I’m taking umbrage with the 3rd seed matchup in in this tourney, especially for for YCAGWTW- that’s an easy first seed choice.
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins): 5.6 – Exceptional drumming but wrong mood.
“Caravan” (Van Morrison): 8.8 – This is sitting on the back porch music.
This may be a duplicate
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey)- 7
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House) – 6
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) – 10
“The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon) – 7
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) – 8
“Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)- 5
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) – 6
“Caravan” (Van Morrison) – 9
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey) v. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
9 to 8… Both outstanding songs. Wasn’t alway into the Journey track until I learned at Hurricane Camp from watching people go crazy and sing it with Janos and Guillermo.
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) v. “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
7 to 5… I like that medley pretty well, the Paul Simon track had a couple good lines but otherwise didn’t;t do much for me.
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) v. “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
9 to 6… The Rolling Stones song became my song of the day today. Man it’s good. and the T by T wasn’t bad.
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
7 to 8… Oh man this Pumpkins song was my angsty teenage jam! Lol.
“Stop Believin’” (Journey) v. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
Cristina 8.8 – 5.9
Ahmed 8.5 – 5.6
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) v. “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
Cristina 10 – 9
Ahmed 8.2 – 7.1
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) v. “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
Cristina 8.5 – 5
Ahmed 7.2 – 5.1
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
Cristina 8.5 – 8
Ahmed 6.2 – 7.5
Aiko’s votes
7.5 – “Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey)
4 – “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
I can feel the Guillermoness of Belivin’, even if I don’t quite know why. Still, it suffers when one is sober and not in a crowd.
9.5 – “Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles)
3 “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
I think the wrong version of each of these was on the linked playlist? But I went and found the album recordings and we listened to those. This Beatles song(s) builds perfectly, and it felt an especially apt pick for this tournament.
7 – “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones)
7.5 – “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
I like everything about this TbT song except the singer. That banjo is incredible. And if you imagine, like, Lucinda Williams singing it, it’s perfect. Alas, she is not. The sentiment of YCAGWYW always hits home, but the song itself ranges from okay to fantastic. Today it was a little better than okay.
9 – “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins)
5 – “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
I’ve come to like Smashing Pumpkins more and more over the years.
Ian’s votes
2 – “Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey)
6 – “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
Ian wanted to give Believin’ a 1 and I wouldn’t let him.
7 – “Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles)
5 “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
4 – “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones)
6 – “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
Bonus points for the band name.
7 – “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins)
8 – “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey) v. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
Me. 8 : 6.5
Allison 8 : 5.5
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) v. “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
I think this is the wrong version of Golden Slumbers, we scored off the regular one
Me 9 : 7.5 #teamonesong
Allison 7 : 5
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) v. “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
Me 7 : 7.5
Allison 7 : 7
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
Me 8 : 7
Allison 7 : 7
“Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey) v. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (Crowded House)
natalie: 7.5 / 7
ryan: 6 / 6
“Golden Slumbers Medley” (The Beatles) v. “The Cool, Cool River” (Paul Simon)
natalie: 5.5 / 6.5
ryan: 5 / 4
i wasn’t familiar with this paul simon song, and wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, yet i kept wanting to hear more, really enjoyed the breakdown toward the end.
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (The Rolling Stones) v. “Whiskey” (Trampled by Turtles)
natalie: 9 / 7
ryan: 6 / 6.5
bummer, because i really love trampled by turtles, but this song didn’t hold up in this matchup.
“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (The Smashing Pumpkins) v. “Caravan” (Van Morrison)
natalie: 6.5 / 6.5
ryan: 8 / 7
such different songs, hard to compare. pumpkins get an edge for grunge and nostalgia, while van morrison gets an edge for groove… it’s a toss-up in the end.