Stories of Division F: Man, that is a cool f***ing picture over there. Two of the members of rock and roll’s Council of Elders are represented in three of the four Round of 128 match-ups today. The question here is whether the proteges of the trailblazing these guys did in the late 50s will be able to impress us with the trails they’ve blazed themselves. Track 1 of Disc 1 of the Box Set, the infatigable trains and prison ballad “Folsom Prison Blues” is a 3 seed and lining up against the ultimate feel good teen romance song, 11 seed “Jack and Diane” (I have fond memories of driving in 1999 and thinking I should take my 17th birthday more seriously whenever this song hit the car speakers.) Cash’s second song, his 2 seed cover of Nine Inch Nail’s “Hurt”recorded a year before his death, faces off against one-time collaborating artist U2’s* 7 seed “Where The Streets Have No Name.” U2 has gone from 8 songs in the 512 to just 2 surviving tracks from the 1987 Joshua Tree album- its strongest and most important, in my opinion, so at least Bono, the Edge, and the rest have their best foot forward.
*This match-up is cool for anyone familiar with the U2/Johnny Cash collaboration “The Wanderer-” great song for solo road trips in Death Valley. Very great song.
Elvis’s surviving song and last #1 single of his career, 5 seed “Suspicious Minds” will be pairing off against Led Zeppelin’s last of 4 songs in the Round of 128, “Over The Hills And Far Away,” a staple of my fraternity’s basement playlist over the summer of 2003. And Robbie Robertson and the Band have still got their 1 seed contender “The Weight” holding court over the division, but 9 seed Dexy’s Midnight Runners have earned the right to compete here with Johnny Ray’s desperate plea to Eileen to just Come On.
Grooveshark link is here, vote by commenting on this post or by e-mailing LTDdotorg@gmail.com. Votes are due by Tuesday evening at 8 pm.
#1 The Weight (The Band) vs. #9 Come On Eileen (Dexy’s Midnight Runners)
#4 Over The Hills And Far Away (Led Zeppelin) vs. #5 Suspicious Minds (Elvis Presley)
#2 Hurt (Johnny Cash) vs. #7 Where The Streets Have No Name (U2)
#3 Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash) vs. #11 Jack and Diane (John Cougar Mellencamp)
OK. Ready for the official post? Here we go.
Stories of Division E: A few rounds ago we had a double dose of Bob Dylan- this time around, we’re hopping across the pond to Liverpool for our second division in which an artist has two songs still alive (there are a few more still to come.) However, this pair of feel good tracks from Rubber Soul and Abbey Road don’t have a cakewalk ahead of them if Pete Townshend and Freddie Mercury have anything to say about it. Here Comes The Sun lines up against a tune reminding us that sometimes the new boss is the same as the old boss (I’ll bite my tongue on how I hope this doesn’t apply to recent world events,) while In My Life stares down that goliath of composition that made a-capella radio accessible.
Wow- new voters everywhere, welcome! Big shout-outs to Brigitte, Caroline, Kim O, ktracz, and nate heller- musical democracy in action! Also welcome back to some old familiar handles back in the mix: MarkB, AdamS, Lindsay, etc. We’ve gone ahead and tied the voters record we set two days ago…that’ll be broken before long (although likely not on the weekend.)
Headliner Division D story: I’m a little biased here- the match-up I am choosing to highlight is literally like me trying to choose between my left aorta and my right ventricle. 1 seed “Don’t Stop Believing,” the first song released before the year 2000 to reach 3 million downloads in iTunes history and the 1 seed of the Division, faces off against the Boss’s last shot at getting out of Asbury Park, the 8 seed titular song of his breakthrough album and consequently #21 on The List That Shall Not Be Named. 
I feel like regular voters have had some moments of “how is this possible, these songs shouldn’t be going against each other this early.” This is my moment of that, to as large of a level as I can emphasize- to me, this should be an Elite Eight match-up. However, Boss support has been sporadic to date so even if Janos and I tear ourselves apart on this, democracy will steer the way forward.
Stories of Division C: This is our first Round of 128 instance where the 1, 2, 3, and 4 division seeds are still alive…whether that stays the case in the Round of 64 is in the fighting hands of the four underdogs. Arcade Fire is going to have to shake off the disappointment of last round’s Intervention loss and fortify its last remaining Tunnels. The CanadiCans are up against 2 seed Hey Ya, the most honest hip-hop song of last decade (get it?) 
First and foremost, great, GREAT turnout. We had 21 voters put in their scores for these match-ups, which gives us a new record! I know I’ve been blowing up my friends’ in-boxes and trying to get both old and new voters back on the train. I’m loving it, and I think getting a song to break 200 soon is totally possible- keep recruiting and keep on voting!
Stories of Division B: This is the first serious, serious test for a 1 seed- after posting a juggernaut 8.75 average in the Round of 512 (bolstered by 9+ scores from Missing In Action voters Jordan and Jim Rock), When The Levee Breaks limped past Wu-Tang in the 256 with a flailing 6.42. Hopefully Robert Plant gave everyone a seriously needed pep talk, as it now faces off against 8 seed Stevie Wonder’s lone survivor and rising star, Supersition (who contrarily gained momentum, from 7.71 to 8.28.)
Alright voters- it’s starting to get real. Mad real. First, most every match-up is going to rock hard- every song here has beat at least two and in play-in cases, three competitors. So we generally like them.
Living the Dream 
