Tighten it up now!

Results:
#17 Voodoo Child (Slight Return), Jimi Hendrix – 7 votes
defeats
#16 Wichita Lineman, Glen Campbell – 2 votes

“Hendrix. I actually like Glen Campbell, mainly for his relationship with Tanya Tucker, but distorted trumps overproduced.” - WBF

#9 Sweet Thing, Van Morrison – 5 votes
defeats
#24 Get Ready, The Temptations – 4 votes

“I'm trying very very hard to keep my burning hatred of one particular Van Morrison song from coloring my opinion of all the others. He just barely squeaks by in this instance.” – Cranky Uncle Greg

#12 River Man, Nick Drake – 5 votes
defeats
#21 Monk Time, The Monks – 2 votes
(2 abstentions)

“Nick, he nearly made me want to buy a Volkswagen.” - CBD

#20 Stay With Me, Lorraine Ellison – 5 votes
defeats
#13 21st Century Schizoid Man, King Crimson – 2 votes
(1 abstention)

#14 America, Simon & Garfunkel – 4 votes
defeats
#19 Never My Love, The Association – 4 votes
(1 abstention)

I made the tie, I break the tie.
“paul simon could shit in a jewel case, and i would gladly pay $16.95 for it.” – La Lemur

#11 You Really Got Me, The Kinks – 7 votes
defeats
#22 Uptight (Everything's Alright), Stevie Wonder – 2 votes

#10 Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, Bob Dylan – 5 votes
defeats
#23 Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother For Me), James Brown – 3 votes
(1 abstention)

“Mother Popcorn. But JB will continue his tradition of getting screwed in internet music tournaments.” – Bitter Uncle Greg

#18 Iko Iko, The Dixie Cups – 5 votes
defeats
#15 96 Tears, ? and the Mysterians – 2 votes
(2 abstentions)

Now on to more voting! Post in the comments; results and the next round will go up Sunday evening. You can download these songs in a .zip file here.

From the Midwest Regional, at Big Pink in Saugerties, NY:

#16 Venus in Furs, The Velvet Underground
vs.
#17 I'm A Believer, The Monkees
Two songs with, shall we say, differing perspectives on matters romantic face off here.

#9 Misirlou, Dick Dale & the Del-Tones (Pulp Fic soundtrack version, sorry)
vs.
#24 Debora, Tyranosaurus Rex
An instrumental faces off against a song that seems mainly to be the titular lass's name repeated with different grunt patterns.

#21 I Can See For Miles, The Who
vs.
#12 1969, The Stooges
A fine object lesson on how hard rock changed a little bit during the decade.

#13 See Emily Play, Pink Floyd
vs.
#20 Fist City, Loretta Lynn
Emily just better not mess with Loretta Lynn's man, or Lynn will POUND her.

#14 One, Harry Nilsson
vs.
#19 Tighten Up, Archie Bell & the Drells
I like the Harry Nilsson original so much more than the U2 version... err, I mean, "bugger off, Three Dog Night, and let Harry sing about the loneliest number."

#11 Hold On, I'm Comin', Sam & Dave
vs.
#22 Kick Out The Jams, MC5
I didn't think I knew #11, but I assure you, I know the opening brass riff. You know it. The whole of America has this embedded in its mind within five months of being born or moving here. It faces off against a song known for having a real dirty word right up at the front of it.

#10 Doctor Who (Original Theme), BBC Radiophonic Workshop
vs.
#23 Laisse Tomber les Filles, France Gall
I'm not quite sure if this is the original original Dr. Who soundtrack; if you notice it's not, HA HA, YOUR A BIG NERD. It faces off against a swingin' Serge Gainsbourg-penned track. Even if you don't speak French, you know she's young and the song's probably a little dirty.

#15 Stand By Me, Ben E. King
vs.
#18 Season of the Witch, Donovan
One of these was played at most of my high school dances; the other's title accurately portrays what those dances were like.

I'm on the dark side of the road.

Back! Let's get to it with the results for the first region:

#17 Everybody’s Talkin’, Harry Nilsson – 5 votes
defeats
#16 For What It’s Worth, Buffalo Springfield – 4 votes
(1 abstention)

“FWIW - I was about to go the other way, saying a Space Ghost parody trumps a pretty good Muppet Show sketch, but then the waah wahhh bit started...killed it dead.” – Cranky Uncle Greg, coming strong with the cranky really early.


#9 California Dreamin’, The Mamas & the Papas – 8 votes
defeats
#24 I’m Still in Love With You, Alton Ellis – 2 votes

“I'm Still In Love With You. I like my well-defined seasons, thanks. Screw SoCal.” – Cranky! Uncle! Greg!


#21 She’s Not There, The Zombies – 7 votes
defeats
#12 Give Him a Great Big Kiss, The Shangri-Las – 2 votes

“I feel bad voting against a band who has an album titled "Myrmidons of Melodrama"...but I'm voting for the Animals.” - SRF


#20 A Minha Menina, Os Mutantes – 5 votes
defeats
#13 Pressure Drop, The Maytals – 3 votes
(2 abstentions)

Aww. Y’all know how much I love Os Mutantes, don’t you? – Ms. L


#19 Stand By Your Man, Tammy Wynette – 8 votes
defeats
#14 It’s Gonna Rain, Steve Reich – 1 vote
(1 abstention)

“Stand By Your Man. I'm down with experimental noise, but It's Gonna Rain isn't even interesting.” – CUG, who hates because he loves… to hate.


#22 Here I Go Again, Archie Bell & the Drells – 5 votes
defeats
#11 Crying, Roy Orbison – 4 votes
(1 abstention)

“Ok, this one is a tough one. "Crying" is a better song, but I have to vote for "Here I Go Again" because the inclusion of a song by Archie Bell and the Drells, from Houston, Texas, who dance just as good as they walk, that isn't "Tighten Up" is tremendous.” – WBF [“Tighten Up” is coming, my friend. – Ms. L]

#10 Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob Dylan – 9 votes
defeats
#23, Egyptian Shumba, The Tammys – 1 vote

“#10 Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob Dylan. This is where I throw the signs, right?” - CDB


#18 Ode to Billie Joe, Bobbie Gentry – 6 votes
defeats
#15 Friday on My Mind, The Easybeats – 3 votes

“Ode to Billie Joe, it's a story song, it's a Southern Gothic song, and it contains the word "Choctaw." It's positively Faulknerian.” – WBF, and amen.

Download all these songs here.

From the Mid-Atlantic Regional, at Abbey Road Studios, London, UK

#16 Wichita Lineman, Glen Campbell
vs.
#17 Voodoo Child (Slight Return), Jimi Hendrix
This is an apples and oranges round. Studio-slick country or crazy guitar?

#9 Sweet Thing, Van Morrison
vs.
#24 Get Ready, The Temptations
I'm a little biased; "Sweet Thing" is the song I play first on every piece of audio equipment I buy. But this is a great Temptations song, too.

#21 Monk Time, The Monks
vs.
#12 River Man, Nick Drake
Angry G.I.s making protopunk or sensitive, doomed English folkie?

#13 21st Century Schizoid Man, King Crimson
vs.
#20 Stay With Me, Lorraine Ellison
Crazy dudes or smooth soul?

#14 America, Simon & Garfunkel
vs.
#19 Never My Love, The Association
Two of the softest songs this round face off.

#11 You Really Got Me, The Kinks
vs.
#22 Uptight (Everything's Alright), Stevie Wonder
Both will rouse you; do you like dirty guitar or Motown?

#10 Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, Bob Dylan
vs.
#23 Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother For Me), James Brown
Kiss-off or come-on?

#15 96 Tears, ? and the Mysterians
vs.
#18 Iko Iko, The Dixie Cups
A classic track from the Nuggets comp or a cute, somewhat primitive ditty covered by Cyndi Lauper?

Post your votes in the comments; we'll tally and post the results on Wednesday, October 4th. But for real this time!

the waiting is the hardest part

Hiya. Ms. L. is in the process of moving, and the new (and paid for, for once) 'net connection happens on Saturday.

All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray.

The new tournament is upon us. Behold!

There will be no commentary right now, as I'm still absorbing these songs. Speaking of these songs, you can download all 16 of them in a .zip file (50MB or so) here.

We'll keep voting open until next Sunday at 7, so people will have time to find us again. You can vote by leaving a comment, or you can email me.

From the Northeast Regional, at the sandbox beneath Brian Wilson’s piano, Los Angeles, CA

#16 For What It’s Worth, Buffalo Springfield
vs.
#17 Everybody’s Talkin’, Harry Nilsson

#9 California Dreamin’, The Mamas & the Papas
vs.
#24 I’m Still in Love With You, Alton Ellis

#21 She’s Not There, The Zombies
vs.
#12 Give Him a Great Big Kiss, The Shangri-Las

#13 Pressure Drop, The Maytals
vs.
#20 A Minha Menina, Os Mutantes

#14 It’s Gonna Rain, Steve Reich
vs.
#19 Stand By Your Man, Tammy Wynette

#11 Crying, Roy Orbison
vs.
#22 Here I Go Again, Archie Bell & the Drells

#10 Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob Dylan
vs.
#23, Egyptian Shumba, The Tammys

#15 Friday on My Mind, The Easybeats
vs.
#18 Ode to Billie Joe, Bobbie Gentry

It's new! It's the 1960s! I'm still saying it's new.

So, one Tuesday night, during pub trivia, I asked if Greg had seen the Pitchfork list of the 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s.

"Not yet," he said. "Can we make a tournament out of it?"

Why yes... yes we can. Sure, they ranked everything, but why not put these songs through a little competition?

We will have songs from the British invasion, from Brazil, from France, from garages across the world. Patsy Cline vs. noise manipulators. Ode to Billy Joe vs. I Wanna Be Your Dog. Neil Diamond vs. Lou Reed. Also, I'm working on having all the songs we're covering (that's all but the bottom 8 on the list) available as zipped You Send It files.

If you want to see the entire bracketing, you can look at the Google spreadsheet. It's big, so I'll be splitting the sheets down in the near future.

Look for the first update middle of this week.

The name of this winner is Talking Heads.

I guess I kinda gave it away in the title, didn't I? But for full details:

Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime - 11 votes
defeats
REM, Radio Free Europe - 7 votes

And that's it! A few closing notes:

• If you wish to continue voting on things, CDB is running a Sidekicks Tournament at his site.
• If you wish for us to run another tournament, please give us an idea before I give up and just hold a tournament to determine which of the Mag Fields' 69 Love Songs is the best.
• If you're going to Pitchfork, Lolla, or the Hideout Block Party (Touch & Go 25th Anniversary Party), comment and let me know. I'll be at all three; Cranky Uncle Greg will be at the latter, perhaps throwing empty Old Style cans at Steve Albini's head.

The Day of ROCKENING!

Woo! Sorry about the delay in posting. I'd explain it all, but it'd take awhile. Just assume it involves Bob Pollard, fireworks from Indiana, and a lot of tequila. No, A LOT.

Because I've been so slow, y'all get until next Sunday to vote. Hope somebody's still reading...

REM, Radio Free Europe
#1 West Regional
FIRST ROUND bye
SECOND ROUND defeated #16 Squeeze, Pulling Mussels from the Shell
REGIONAL QUARTERFINALS defeated #8 Eurythmics, Sweet Dreams
REGIONAL SEMIS defeated #5 Public Enemy, Bring the Noise
REGIONAL FINALS defeated #7 Pavement, Summer Babe
INDIE 8 defeated #1 MW Clash, London Calling
FINAL FOUR defeated #1 MA Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart

vs.

Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime
#9 Great Plains
FIRST ROUND defeated #24 Mudhoney, Touch Me I'm Sick
SECOND ROUND defeated #8 Smashing Pumpkins, 1979
REGIONAL QUARTERFINALS defeated #1 David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust
REGIONAL SEMIS defeated #12 REM, Driver 8
REGIONAL FINALS defeated #6 Matthew Sweet, Girlfriend
INDIE 8 defeated #6 MW Big Star, September Gurls
FINAL FOUR defeated #9 FW Pixies, Debaser (by 1 vote, if you're wondering)

Email/comment, you know the drill. So decide what song from right around the time/right before you were born (apart from Cranky Uncle Greg, who is The Old) is the best song in Indieland!