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

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Second Round Action: (7) TRACY CHAPMAN vs (2) EELS

Here is another tough matchup for two musicians who got through difficult games in the first round (Eels barely eked out a win against a scrappy and pissed-off-to-be-underseeded Counting Crows and Chapman took out similarly-underseeded band The Smiths). Tracy Chapman’s 1988 debut single “Fast Car” is a well-known Top 10 hit*, while the Eels’ “Dead of Winter” is a little-known song (from the 1998 album Electro-Shock Blues) that...doesn’t really fit into a Billboard Hot 100 kind of world. Is that sadder in itself? In a sad song contest, is obscurity a virtue? So far that's not been the case in the tournament.

However, let's listen to the songs: both are pretty damn sad.

In “Fast Car” the speaker shares her modest hopes and dreams with the listener, who is then forced to witness as they come to nothing. The song begins with the lyric “Starting from zero got nothing to lose.” For those of us weaned on America fuck-yeah success stories, this whets the appetite for a particular kind of narrative, so it’s a bit of a punch to the gut when, at the end, she tells us “I’d always hoped for better / Thought maybe together you and me find it / I got no plans I ain’t going nowhere.”

“Dead of Winter” opens with the speaker “Standing in the dark outside the house” while his mother nears the end of her battle with cancer. Oddly enough, the song seems to give a nod to Chapman’s “Fast Car” dreamer: “And the streets are jammed with cars / Rockin their horns / To race to the wire / Of the unfinished line.” Feeling lost, the speaker ends by asserting “And I will not / fade into / Fade into the night,” even as the music surges and he's left where he began, except probably emptier, "Standing here in the dark," echoed nicely by the bowed bass at the very end. His words, however, don’t feel entirely triumphant; instead, they’re fearful and only too aware that we all fade into the night eventually.

Both songs tap into universal miseries: a life that comes to...not much and the death of a loved one. What does that amount to? “Fast Car” does it by showing us a whole life; “Dead of Winter” gives us only a moment. Both songs appeal to me, in part because they lack self-pity. But, I have to admit that I hew more toward Chapman’s famously evocative plea to be someone, be someone, be someone...

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* Bizarrely, there might be more remixes of "Fast Car" than any other song in the March Sadness bracket (a possible exception is Alphaville's "Forever Young," which Chapman could meet in the Final Four). If you want to experience this weirdness, start here: [Jonas Blue feat Dakota remix] [Lucas Türschmann remix] [Soundskin Remix] [Mike Rish Remix] [JK Remix] [C Barts Bootleg] [Navarra Chillout Remix] [Andreas Mark Remix] or do your own Youtubing. 

*

(7) Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car"



vs

(2) Eels, "Dead of Winter"

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FINAL SCORE: TRACY CHAPMAN 99, THE EELS 62

5 comments:

  1. Gotta go with Eels. Mostly because eels are the creepiest beast in or out of water.

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  2. Gotta go with Eels. Mostly because eels are the creepiest beast in or out of water.

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  3. I have almost Catholic-type guilt for my fondness of Tracy Chapman. I shouldn't though.

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  4. Native Clevelanders know sad.

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  5. Mark Oliver Everett of Eels is a son of Hugh Everett III, best known for proposing the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which is one of the strangest ideas in physics. If Hugh Everett III was right, there could be other universes where these people live happier lives.

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