SCORES & UPCOMING GAMES



CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL SCORE: (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 168, (7) Tracy Chapman 159 .......... FINAL FOUR FINAL SCORES: (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 154, (1) Joy Division 90 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 137, (1) The Cure 89 .......... ELITE EIGHT FINAL SCORES: (1) JOY DIVISION 74, (14) Low 60 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 85, (1) Elliott Smith 69 ..... THE CURE 65, (2) Radiohead 58 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 74, (1) Neutral Milk Hotel 44 ..... FINAL SWEET SIXTEEN SCORES: (1) JOY DIVISION 75, (5) PJ Harvey & Nick Cave 24 ..... (14) LOW 73, (2) Concrete Blonde (64) ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 78, (4) Gary Jules 44 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 74, (6) Kate Bush 53 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 54, (13) The Church 49 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 73, (3) Sinead O’Connor 35 ..... (1) THE CURE 109, (3) Tori Amos 86 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 76, (6) This Mortal Coil 50 ..... (1) JOY DIVISION 96, (9) Mazzy Star 91 ..... (2) CONCRETE BLONDE 76, (7) Bob Mould 28 ..... (14) LOW 60, (6) Crowded House 51 ..... (5) PJ HARVEY & NICK CAVE 65, (4) Alphaville 38 ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 113, (8) Replacements 88 ..... (6) KATE BUSH 87, (3) Nirvana 64 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 99, (2) The Eels 62 ..... (3) GARY JULES 103, (12) Morrissey 63 ..... (6) Kate Bush 72, (3) Nirvana 53 ..... (3) SINEAD O'CONNOR 66, (11) Ride 27 ..... (13) THE CHURCH 106, (5) James 44 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 95, (10) Smashing Pumpkins 40 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 80, (9) New Order 56 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 102, (7) Nine Inch Nails 99 ..... (6) THIS MORTAL COIL 61, (3) Indigo Girls 60 ..... (4) TORI AMOS 89, (5) Swans 40 ..... (1) CURE 82, (8) Tom Waits 68 ............... FINAL 1ST ROUND SCORES: (5) PJ HARVEY & NICK CAVE 93, (12) Midnight Oil 38 ..... (7) BOB MOULD 63, (10) Peter Murphy 47 ..... (1) JOY DIVISION 117, (16) Erasure 19 ..... (6) CROWDED HOUSE 98, (11) Leonard Cohen 54 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 199, (10) The Smiths 162 ..... (5) MORRISSEY 115, (12) Morphine 83 ..... (3) NIRVANA 137, (14) Slowdive 102 ..... (8) THE REPLACEMENTS 128, (9) Dream Academy 82 ..... (13) THE CHURCH 262, (4) Magnetic Fields 193 ..... (10) SMASHING PUMPKINS 165, (7) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 155 ..... (9) NEW ORDER 160, (8) Sarah McLachlan 78 ..... (1) JEFF BUCKLEY 204, (16) Bjork 92 ..... (4) TORI AMOS 78, (13) Echo & the Bunnymen 22 ..... (8) TOM WAITS 72, (9) The Pretenders 22 ..... (6) THIS MORTAL COIL 51, (11) Yaz 31 ..... (3) INDIGO GIRLS 71, (14) Pavement 26 ..... (9) MAZZY STAR 132, (8) REM 46 ..... (2) CONCRETE BLONDE 88, (15) Psychedelic Furs 34 ..... (4) ALPHAVILLE 71, (13) Dead Can Dance 36 ..... (14) LOW 120, (3) U2 65 ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 63, (16) 10,000 Maniacs 24 ..... (2) EELS 50, (15) Counting Crows 46 ..... (4) GARY JULES 62, (13) Depeche Mode 19 ..... (6) KATE BUSH 59, (11) Sisters of Mercy 20 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 42, (16) Violent Femmes 12 ..... (11) RIDE 25 (6) Peter Gabriel 24 ..... (3) SINEAD O'CONNOR 37, (14) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 17, ..... (5) JAMES 24, (12) Red House Painters 23 ..... (7) NINE INCH NAILS 46, (10) Wilco 31, (5) SWANS 31, (12) Pet Shop Boys 18 ..... (1) THE CURE 50, (16) Gear Daddies 10 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 40, (15) Liz Phair 35


CURRENT GAMES BELOW — PAST GAMES ARCHIVED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Saturday, March 12, 2016

First Round Matchup: LEONARD COHEN vs CROWDED HOUSE

(6) Leonard Cohen, "Closing Time"

It’s easy to miss the fact that “Closing Time” is a sad song, and I imagine that some will argue it’s not really sad at all. But, despite the cheery tempo, it’s pretty bleak—the ultimately depressed-at-the-party song, except here the party is life itself, and closing time might just be death. It’s sung by a speaker so jaded that he’s apparently gone beyond bitterness and arrived at amusement re: life’s sound and fury: “Yea, we’re drinking and we’re dancing / But there’s nothing really happening / The place is dead as heaven on a Saturday night.” Honestly, you can just about convince yourself that this is a happy song, or at least a pleasantly detached song, until you get to the heart of it: “I loved you when our love was blessed / And I love you now there’s nothing left / but sorrow and a sense of overtime / And I miss you since the place got wrecked / And I just don’t care what happens next / Looks like freedom but it feels like death.” Suddenly the speaker shows his true face, and the song becomes something else entirely. All of this is underpinned, of course, by Cohen’s world-weary voice, the best possible voice for when you need to lift your glass to the awful truth.



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(6) Crowded House, "Don't Dream It's Over"

Crowded House, that consistently underrated band from Australia with the dumb name, penned a plethora of melancholy songs; the two best known are “Better Be Home Soon” and “Don’t Dream Its Over.” “Dream” got the March Sadness slot for reasons mentioned here. The song is a bit enigmatic: the chorus asserts “They come, they come / to build a wall between us / We know they won’t win.” But a little bit of doubt seems to creep in at the second verse: “In the paper today tales of war and of waste / but you turn right over to the tv page.” Again, enigmatic: is this a critique of the beloved, or praise for her ability to block out the horrors of the world? In any case, the speaker clearly needs to believe that his relationship is rock solid, but is it? The pleading “Don’t let them win”s at the end of the song leaves me pondering whether the speaker is choosing delusion over depression.

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Which is sadder? Vote by 9am 3/13

Don't Dream It's Over
Closing Time
Quiz Maker

4 comments:

  1. Leonard Cohen won't look at the camera in that video, like he is pretending to be blind.

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  2. Solid pairing. Both songs gleam with studio polish, an aesthetic that might seem incompatible with deep sadness. There's a tendency (for me) to believe that a genuine outburst of pain needs some rawness. Does working over and perfecting a piece of music only shave off the rough edges, or can it sharpen the point? There's no taming Leonard Cohen's voice, at least. This may be the biggest discordance between music and words/voice in the competition. For that, "Closing Time" wins the vote.

    Also because the other song is permanently linked with a certain TV show, for me.

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    Replies
    1. It's a compelling way to think about sadness: how seemingly artless do we want it? Does artifice (studio polish in this case) oppose passion? Can apparent artificelessness be an artifice? Certainly if production's a signal of relative lack of sadness then it's hard to vote Leonard Cohen forward here. Lots of layers there.

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    2. ^^ is really interesting to me. It seems connected to the na-na-na stuff. Is there a point where too many people singing along shifts it from sadness to consolation (like "Everybody Hurts"?)

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