Best Songwriters Redux [August 26]

[BozoTyrannus]

Hear ye hear ye! Into the ring enters 32 legendary, beloved, or at least widely tolerated songwriters of all walks of life, genres, and musical capabilities. 32 enter. 16 will leave. The rest will be briefly mourned and then hastily forgotten as we focus our rage on the next round.

Thus, without further ado, we present the 32 contenders for the title of Best Songwriter Not in the Top 40 or Nominated in the Previous Identical Best Songwriter Tournament!
(The title is long, and doesn't fit on a belt or sash, and therefore we won't actually present the winner with any sort of award. Just respect. Except for those of us who disagree with the winner.)

1a: Patrick Walker vs. Lou Reed
1b: Tim Buckley vs. Daniel Dumile
1c: Lawrence vs. Tom Waits
1d: Victor Jaras vs. Jeffrey Lewis
1e: Dan Fogelberg vs. Beck
1f: Bernie Taupin vs. Janelle Monae
1g: Matt Berninger vs. Will Oldham
1h: Phil Elverum vs. Linton Kwesi Johnson
1i: Neko Case vs. Neil Peart
1j: Roseanne Cash vs. billy woods
1k: Nanci Griffith vs. Van Morrison
1l: Cole Porter vs. Gordon Lightfoot
1m: Andre 3000 vs. Billy Joel
1n: Emmylou Harris vs. Nick Drake
1o: Ron Mael vs. Josh Tillman
1p: Bill Calahan vs. Townes van Zandt

(I miscalculated. We had 36, so I dropped all 4 of my nominess. RIP Esperanza Spalding, Bob Marley, Laura Marling, and Weird Al Yankovic. Let's be honest, we all know Weird Al would have crushed the competition, so it's better for everyone this way)
_________________
I wanna take Sean Penn
And take Sean Bean
Put 'em in a blender
And make Sean Pean

[BozoTyrannus]

BRACKET 1A:

Patrick "Pat" Walker (Warning)



I want to be master of my own
Emotions with a fire that fills me
But I don't understand myself
And I don't know what my heart is anymore

I don't want to be standing in this war
Through pity and responsibility
So come into my life, with your violence and pain
Because I feel the depths of a love I've never known

vs.

Lou Reed (solo)

Just a perfect day
You made me forget myself
I thought I was someone else
Someone good

Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on

BRACKET 1B:

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Tim Buckley

Late last night as I dreamed in dizzy sunlight
I thought I heard your bare feet up the stairs
Just like a fool, just like a fool
I've been drifting
Like a dream out on the sea
I've been drifting in between what used to be

vs.

Daniel Dumile
(no provided lyrics or fun picckytures)

BRACKET 1C:

Lawrence (Felt, Denim, Go Kart Mozart)

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You're trying to fool somebody
But you end up fooling yourself
You read from "A Season in Hell"
But you don't know what it's about
I listened to you now
Maybe you'll listen to me
You're trying much too hard
To make your world seem like a dream[/quote]

vs.

Tom Waits

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hang on st. christopher on the passenger side
open it up tonight the devil can ride
hang on st. christopher with a barrel house dog
kick me up mt. baldy
throw me out in the fog
tear a hole in the jack pot
drive a stake through his heart
do a 100 on the grapevine
do a jump on the start
hang on st. christopher now don't let me go
get me to reno and bring it in low, yeah


BRACKET 1D:

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Victor Jara

Yo no canto por cantar
ni por tener buena voz,
canto porque la guitarra
tiene sentido y razón.

Tiene corazón de tierra
y alas de palomita,
es como el agua bendita,
santigua glorias y penas.

Aquí se encajó mi canto,
como dijera Violeta,
guitarra trabajadora
con olor a primavera

/

I do not sing to sing
nor having a good voice
sing because the guitar
makes sense and reason,
land has heart
and wings of dove,
is like holy water
crosses himself glories and sorrows,
fit here is my song
as I said Violeta
working guitar
smelling spring.

vs.

Jeffrey Lewis

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Pussy riot went to prison, just to make some people listen
They said church and states corrupt
Must be true 'cause they're locked up
Before you lose democracy, you ask yourself and I'll ask me
Wwprd, wwprd?


BRACKET 1E:

Dan Fogelberg

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vs.

Beck

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There's a destination a little up the road
From the habitations and the towns we know
A place we saw the lights turn low
The jigsaw jazz and the get-fresh flow
Pulling out jives and jamboree handouts
Two turntables and a microphone
Bottles and cans and just clap your hands
And just clap your hands

Where it's at
I got two turntables and a microphone


BRACKET 1F:

Bernie Taupin (Elton John)

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I never realized the passin' hours of evening showers
A slip noose hangin' in my darkest dreams
I'm strangled by your haunted social scene
Just a pawn out-played by a dominating queen

vs.

Janelle Monae

Do you remember? Uh, I remember when you laughed when I cut my perm off / And you rated me a six / I was like, ‘Damn’ / But even back then with the tears in my eyes / I always knew I was the sh*t


BRACKET 1G:

Matt Berninger (The National)

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Turn the light out, say goodnight
No thinking for a little while
Let's not try to figure out everything at once
It's hard to keep track of you falling through the sky
We're half awake in a fake empire

vs.

Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy)

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Well I hope that someday, buddy
We have peace in our lives
Together or apart
Alone or with our wives
That we can stop our whoring
And pull the smiles inside
And light it up forever
And never go to sleep
My best unbeaten brother
This isn't all I see
Oh no, I see a darkness


BRACKET 1H:

Phil Elverum

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Every night when the sun went down
In the town where we live
The empty streets were lit up
By reflected light
From a distant sun
Bouncing off a glowing ball of rock
We just lied on the roof and watched
The moon
The moon!
The blue light of the moon!
We didn't talk and silently we both felt powerful
Like the moon my chest was full
Because we both knew we're just floating in the same space over molten rock
And we felt safe and discovered that our skin is soft
There's nothing left except certain death
And that was comforting under the moon

vs.

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Linton Kwesi Johnson

Dem thump him him in him belly and it turn to jelly
Dem lick 'I'm pon 'I'm back and 'I'm rib get pop
Dem thump him pon him head but it tough like lead
Dem kick 'I'm in 'I'm seed and it started to bleed
Mama, I jus couldn't stan up deh, nah do nuttin'
So mi jook one in him eye and him started fi cry
Me thump him pon him mout and him started fi shout
Me kick him pon him shin so him started fi spin
Me hit him pon him chin an him drop pon a bin
- an crash, an dead


BRACKET 1i: The Turanga Leela bracket

Neko Case

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Chimney falls and lovers blaze
Thought that I was young
Now I've freezing hands
And bloodless veins
As numb as I've become
I'm so tired
I wish I was the moon tonight

vs.

Neil Peart

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BRACKET 1J:

Rosanne Cash

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I'll play the victim for you honey, but not for free
I run into that heartache just like a wall
And act like nothing happened to me, nothing at all
Lately I'm amazed at how blind we can be

vs.

billy woods

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Stood pooled in porch light
Cut my shadow off with a dull knife
Whispered in its ear, then sent it off into the night
Set the trap to the mice
The rats, whatever's in the pipes
Corner of ya eye, the edge of the white
That's where I live, I'm set for life
Braise the tripe, never stir the rice twice
Barely roasted pancetta on a fine dice
Your wife said, "Haram," but we already fell from quite a height
This what happened, left to his own device
You'd be embarrassed to know the price (Wasn't much)


BRACKET 1K:

Nanci Griffith

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Oh, he said it was the sound of the winter callin'
From up around the bend
Or it could be the cry of your restless heart
For the love of your long lost friends
Me, I think it's just the summertime and the heat of these Texas winds
They keep on slappin' my face with dust so thick
That the tears won't roll again

vs.

Van Morrison

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We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won
As we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky

Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic


BRACKET 1L:

Cole Porter

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I'd sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of havin' you near
In spite of a warnin' voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear,
Don't you know, you fool, you never can win?
Use your mentality, wake up to reality
But each time that I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
Cause I've got you under my skin

vs.

Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

BRACKET 1M:

André 3000 (Outkast)

As the plot thickens
It gives me the dickens, reminiscent of Charles
A lil' discotheque nestled in the ghettos of Niggaville, USA
Via Atlanta, Georgia
A lil' spot where young men and young women go to experience they first little taste of the night life
Me? Well, I've never been there
Well, perhaps, once, but I was so engulfed in the Olde E, I never made it to the door

vs.

Billy Joel

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Slow down, you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight, tonight
Too bad but it's the life you lead
You're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong, you know
You can't always see when you're right


BRACKET 1N:

Emmylou Harris

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She loved her brother I remember back when
He was fixin up a '49 Indian
He told her 'Little sister, gonna ride the wind
Up around the moon and back again"
He never got farther than Vietnam,
I was standin there with her when the telegram come
For Lillian.
Now he's lyin somewhere about a million miles from Meridian.

vs.

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Nick Drake

Said she hadn't heard the news
Hadn't had the time to choose
A way to lose
But she believes.
Going to see the river man
Going to tell him all I can
About the plan
For lilac time.


BRACKET 1o:

Ron Mael (Sparks)

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You might have positions you can recommend
But I don't know if we'll ever get to them
‘Cause we feel alright, the stars are bright, the missionary position
You might pride yourself, you're so avant-garde
But we're neoclassicists, I guess, at heart
Patronize all you like, we both like the missionary position[/quote]

vs.

Josh Tillman (Father John Misty)

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Oh, I read somewhere
That in twenty years
More or less
This human experiment will reach its violent end
But I look at you
As our second drinks arrive
The piano player's playing "This Must Be the Place"
And it's a miracle to be alive
One more time[/quote]


BRACKET 1P:

Bill Callahan

I dreamed it was a dream that you were gone
I woke up feeling so ripped by reality
Oh love is the king of the beasts
And when it is hungry it must kill to eat

vs.

Townes Van Zandt

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If only she
Could feel my pain
But feelin' is a burden
She can't sustain
So like a summer Thursday
I cry for rain
To come and turn
The ground to green again
_________________
I wanna take Sean Penn
And take Sean Bean
Put 'em in a blender
And make Sean Pean

[AwaitingAndrew]

[BozoTyrannus]

[Hayden]

[BozoTyrannus]

[babyBlueSedan]

[Fischman]

1a: Patrick Walker vs. Lou Reed
1b: Tim Buckley vs. Daniel Dumile
1c: Lawrence vs. Tom Waits
1d: Victor Jaras vs. Jeffrey Lewis
1e: Dan Fogelberg vs. Beck
1f: Bernie Taupin vs. Janelle Monae
1g: Matt Berninger vs. Will Oldham
1h: Phil Elverum vs. Linton Kwesi Johnson
1i: Neko Case vs. Neil Peart
1j: Roseanne Cash vs. billy woods
1k: Nanci Griffith vs. Van Morrison
1l: Cole Porter vs. Gordon Lightfoot
1m: Andre 3000 vs. Billy Joel
1n: Emmylou Harris vs. Nick Drake
1o: Ron Mael vs. Josh Tillman
1p: Bill Callahan vs. Townes van Zandt

[Hayden]

[Hayden]

1a: Patrick Walker vs. Lou Reed
1b: Tim Buckley vs. Daniel Dumile (abstain....)
1c: Lawrence vs. Tom Waits
1d: Victor Jara vs. Jeffrey Lewis
1e: Dan Fogelberg vs. Beck
1f: Bernie Taupin vs. Janelle Monae
1g: Matt Berninger vs. Will Oldham
1h: Phil Elverum vs. Linton Kwesi Johnson (yikes)
1i: Neko Case vs. Neil Peart
1j: Roseanne Cash vs. billy woods
1k: Nanci Griffith vs. Van Morrison
1l: Cole Porter vs. Gordon Lightfoot (sorry Canada, this was probably the closest one)
1m: Andre 3000 vs. Billy Joel
1n: Emmylou Harris vs. Nick Drake
1o: Ron Mael vs. Josh Tillman (one sec, looking up Ron Mael)
1p: Bill Calahan vs. Townes van Zandt (yikes! yikes)


Looking at the board, I wouldn't be too shocked if Tom Waits won. I know he's not my nom, but he's still probably the best lyricist up there. That Dumile/Buckley matchup is a doozy. Haven't a clue what to do.
_________________
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