Thought to repost this gem from our friends over at BuzzFeed. Thanks Dave Stopera for putting this together. Some unfortunate statistics…
Joe's friends put him into the pantheon, alongside Ben E. King and Freddie Mercury
The 2011 Covers Tournament Champion is….
“With a Little Help From My Friends” by Joe Cocker, covering the Beatles. He defeated “Valerie”, an Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson cover of the Zutons hit, 161.2-147.65, with 10s from ChrisRoomba and Midnight Mike. Thank you to all who voted over the past few weeks. Turnout was kind of low for the final, and there was some grumbling about the final two choices, but both songs put up fine averages. Valerie seemed to lack staying power, while Help From My Friends has been solid as a rock, deeply embedded in Americana and rock ‘n roll history. Continue reading
This holiday weekend our third music tournament in 12 months comes to a close, with #5 With A Little Help From My Friends (Joe Cocker) taking on #2 Valerie (Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson) for the distinguished title of “Best Cover.”
The tourney got off to a slow start, but really picked up steam as the rounds went on. Thanks to the dozens of people who nominated songs, and the many more who voted. Listen to the finalists here, and vote by 8pm EST on Saturday. How about grabbing some crazy relatives around the Thanksgiving table and having them vote? Cocker vs. Winehouse! Beatles vs. Zutons! It’s one more thing to squabble over. Continue reading
Cocker over Fugees:238.2-235.2
Winehouse/Ronson over Ramone: 227.65-223.05
30 voters. Bravo. The Final awaits.
You’ve made your opinions known, the ups have been high and the downs have been low. The end is in sight, lovely voters, so let’s get this Final Four match in the books so we can launch our tournament Final in time for Turkey Day. Grooveshark link, babies– let’s do it. Votes due by Wednesday, November 23rd at 5:00 PM EST (early so we can get the Final up as promptly as possible.) Continue reading
Cut down the nets, the bracket for the Final Four is set. Our last two finalists have made it through and will face off against one another in what’s sure to be a hotly contested match-up. The results of our last two Elite Eight contests are as follows:
Valerie 165.3, Won’t Back Down 158.4 
This one was close, but the Man in Black never managed to catch up with Amy Winehouse, who was hot out of the gate and never really looked back. Valerie’s 7.87 average makes the song a formidable contender going into the semi-finals, although that score only lands it in third place among the winning Elite Eight averages. Interestingly, this is the only song among the finalists not to have made the Wall of Tens. Continue reading
Iz is headed off into the sunset...not into the Final Four
Who is ready for the Final Four?! Two songs have emerged victorious and are ready to rumble in the finals.
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” kind of collapsed at the end of this tournament. Turns out, people still liked this song, but may have lost their love for it. Maybe it is just too sad.
“Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees will be moving forward, after winning 115.7 – 105.5. Averages were 7.7 and 7.0. Iz didn’t get any 10s and The Fugees only garnered one 10.
Can "Killing Me Softly" win it all??
We’ve got a pretty quick turn around from the Sweet Sixteen to the Elite Eight. With less than twenty four hours between listens for many of you, the two songs that advance to the big dance will have to earn not only your respect and admiration, but your tolerance as well.
Does Joey have what it takes to be a champion?
Since this is going up late and it’s a weekend anyway, you get an extra 12 hours to post your scores- votes are due Sunday at noon. Listen here.
Our first match-up could have easily been our final had the numbers shaken out a little differently. Valerie faces its biggest challenge of the tournament as it takes on Won’t Back Down.
Lilly Allen and her godfather Mick Jones will try and avenge the Clash’s loss last round to punk godfather Joey Ramone with her version of Straight to Hell, but Wonderful World is looking pretty strong. Tournament history shows that voters will take an optimistic song over a downer in most cases, but this should be an interesting match-up.
Pasteable:
“Valerie” by Amy Winehouse & Mark Ronson vs. “Won’t Back Down” by Johnny Cash
“Straight to Hell” by Lilly Allen vs. “Wonderful World”
Cat Power consoles herself that at least Johnny is moving on
If you didn’t believe it was real before, believe it now. The voters have spoken and have chosen the tracks to send to the Elite Eight. By the time a song reaches this point, it’s pretty much a winner in most people’s books. And yet, in the end, there can be only one. Our remaining contenders are:
Amy Winehouse & Mark Ronson (sorry, Mark, you’ve been getting left off there…) with their cover of “Valerie,” originally by the Zutons. What’s a zuton, you might ask? I have no idea, google it yourself. Anyway, they hand the most decisive defeat of the evening to ”I Found A Reason” by Cat Power (covering the Velvet Underground) with a 7.44 to 5.8 average, or 134 to 104.6. It is the only song to move on from this round with no 10’s. Continue reading
We’ve come a long way, kids. And now we are so close to the end! The plan is to get through the Elite 8 and have the finals when we are all getting ready for and celebrating Turkey Day.
All the songs that have made it this far have defeated some serious competition. Now that we are into the Elite 8, there are only two match ups for this set. So vote! And get your friends to vote! Votes are due Friday night by 11pm EST. Here is the Grooveshark link.
Do you think Judy would have liked Israel's version? I think she'd be totally into The Fugees.
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole started off as an early powerhouse in this tournament, and was the #1 seed. But has it lost too much steam?? It has been said before, but at this stage of the game, songs have be likable enough to hear them pretty frequently. Iz still has some strong supporters, so I am predicting a close call as it goes up against #8 seed, “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees. Lauryn Hill & Company have had strong wins thus far, and enter this match up with a higher point total than their competitor.
True or False: Fugees > Hawaiians?
Living the Dream 