"Fascination", Human League
"Fascination", The Undertones
WINNER: The Undertones

PINCE NEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Song titles with parenthetical emendations don't count. The Human League song is actually called "(Keep Feeling) Fascination." However, you're certainly correct that the Undertones song is better.

Similarly, the Spinners song is technically called "They Just Can't Stop It (Games People Play)," although I think that was mostly because of the recent Joe South hit.

Petula Clark vs. Chicago:
"Color My World"
Winner: Petula!

PINCE NEZ right back at you, Great One!!!!! Petula's version was originally released using the British spelling, "colour."

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4e/Colormyworld.jpg/200px-Colormyworld.jpg

Two can play at this game! My apologies to Chickenfrank for all this pettiness from the git-go, but I'm sure he'd agree that it's better we define the rules of the game now than later. Let the games continue!

HA! I led you into my trap! Because the Chicago song ALSO uses the British spelling! Gaze upon my massive Rock Nerd balls, Modman!!!!

That's not what you typed! Beside...oh forget it! I should have expected you would have known the finer points of Human League, Petula Clark, and Chicago. Bravo, Great One, bravo!

The People are behind me yet. I will make sure to live up to the faith they are displaying, perhaps foolishly, so early in this Last Man Standing/Battle Royale.

"A Spy in the House of Love": The dB's, Steve Winwood, Was (Not Was)...and the winner, by Hobson's Choice, is The dB's version!

Another Hobson's Choice: "Cocaine", with Eric Clapton's version edging the one that I know best by Jackson Browne. (Is that Browne version a cover of someone along the lines of the J.J. Cale, who wrote the Clapton version?)

"Bye Bye Love": The Everly Brothers version beats the also-good song by the same title on the first album by The Cars.

I once sent a mate 2 mix cds with what looked like the exact same track listing but the 2nd disc was different songs with the same titles. I'll see if he's still got them, because I can't remember what was on them other that 2 'Sweet Dreams', neither of them the Eurythmics one.

I once sent him 3 cds of songs about being songwriters / bands, so he's learn to tolerate my whims.

Definitely get ahold of that tracklist, Homefrontradio, and report back, one pair of matching song titles at a time. You may rule this Last Man Standing, even matching Chickenfrank, who's got some stunning triple-play up his sleeve!

I'll ask him - it was a long time ago.

I do remember another couple on the cd - 'The Happening' by The Supremes and 'The Happening' by the Pixies.

If you think that was obsessively weird - you should try doing what i call my 'aural crosswords'. I occasionally amuse myself by trying to make a new song out a bunch of little bits of other songs and then seeing if my friends can guess what makes it up.

Problem is, it only really works with Top 40 stuff.

Don't hate me.

'Poor Boy' by:

Steve Earle
Woody Guthrie
Cilla Black
Shocking Blue
The Master's Apprentices
Split Enz
Elvis Presley
Supertramp
Nick Drake
and The Fabulous Thunderbirds

And yes, they're all different songs with the same title.

Oh, and i'd go with either Split Enz or Nick Drake there.

No way I'm beating Homefront's (what is that a deca-tuplet?). Certainly makes me think there are probably numerous triplets, too. I like this pair: The Beatles, The End and The Doors, The End. Not a fair fight considering the song lengths, but I'm still going Beatles.

I'll sustain some parenthetical titles depending if they make me smile and nod in agreement.

Sylvia Plath
Peter Laughner or Ryan Adams

Winner: Peter Laughner

"My Love" - Petula Clark & Paulie Mc

"The Last Time": The Rolling Stones vs Gnarls Barkley
WINNER: The Rolling Stones by a mile!

I didn't see any restrictions for proper nouns/names used for song titles (I'm guessing "Michelle" has been used by more then just the Beatles) so:

Song: Victoria

Artists: The Kinks, Shane McGowan and the Popes, Old 97's

Winner: The Kinks

"Temptation," New Order
"Temptation," Heaven 17

Winner: New Order

sorry, one more because I had the same thought about these two songs a few nights ago and just remembered again.

Song: Forever

Artists: The Beach Boys & The Explorers Club

Winner: (this is a bit of the limb I suppose) The Explorers Club

As The Explorers Club is a direct descendant bandwise of The Beach Boys, I thought it might be a cover, but it wasn't. It seemed interesting to me that a band would choose a song title used by the band they are heavily influenced by.

This Last Man Standing could turn into an Ironman Match.

"Heartbreak Hotel"
Elvis Presley and Whitney Houston

This, perhaps more than anything else, was a clear demonstration of the need for a President of Music to be installed who could have stepped in and ruled this an invalid move, forcing her to change the name.

Get Up Stand Up is the opening track on The Wailers' Burnin' album, one of the few songs co-written by Marley and Tosh. On Toots & the Maytals 1979 album Pass the Pipe, Toots Hibbert actually wrote a completely different song called Get Up Stand Up. It's hard to vote against the Wailers because their song is a stone (literally) classic, but I love the Toots song more, especially since it's obscurity earns me rock nerd points.

"Learning to Fly," Pink Floyd
"Learning to Fly," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Winner: Petty

Oats wrote:

"Temptation," New Order
"Temptation," Heaven 17

Winner: New Order

To this I'll add, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, "Temptation"...THE WINNER!!!

mac wrote:

sorry, one more...

NO Townsperson need apologize for one more in a Last Man Standing. Good one!

Velvet Underground, "Rock & Roll"
Led Zeppelin, "Rock and Roll"

WINNER: The VU song by that name

(Let's get one thing straight: I will not accept the Pince Nez over the use of the ampersand.)

"Don't Look Back" - The Temptations
"Don't Look Back - Barry & The Remains

Winner: The "temptin" Temptations

I'm intrigued by your President of Music proposal, alexmagic. Would there be checks and balances on this person, or would the role be more unfettered, like that of a Tsar/Czar?

Is the personal pronoun 'I' essential in this fever-pitched Last Man Standing? If not, I would like to propose Love's 'Can't Explain' and the Who's 'I Can't Explain'. The Who song would be the victor.

Triplet: "Action"

Clem Snide
Freddy Cannon (Boyce & Hart)
Sweet

Gotta go with Sweet.

homefrontradio: Are any of those Poor Boys the one I know as a Howlin' Wolf song? Which I think is a traditional?

"I Need You" the Beatles, Kinks, Who, probably others, with the Kinks being best.

"Don't Look Back" - The Temptations
"Don't Look Back - Barry & The Remains

That’s the toughest fight so far. Put the "I Need You" fight on the undercard and I’d split ordering that PPV.

“Shangri-La” by The Kinks
“Shangri-La” by ELO
“Shangri-La” by Versus
“Shangri-La” by The Rutles and/or Innes
“Shangri-La” by The Four Coins

The Kinks win, of course, but it’s a great name to hang a song on. You’d have to work hard at writing a bad “Shangri-La”.

I'm intrigued by your President of Music proposal, alexmagic. Would there be checks and balances on this person, or would the role be more unfettered, like that of a Tsar/Czar?

Good question. There would probably need to be some kind of system in place for appeal, but I think if you elected the right President, you have to accept that he or she might understandably demand some unilateral powers to do the job well, like Kenesaw Mountain Landis, only, you know, without that whole color line thing.

"Temptation," New Order
"Temptation," Heaven 17
"Temptation,"Elvis Costello and the Attractions

I'll add:
"Temptation," Tom Waits
"Temptation," Stinking Lizavetta
"Temptation," Charlie Parker with Strings

Gee, winner? Stinking Liz, maybe.

"Ain't No Use," Moby Grape
"Ain't No Use," Sarah Vaughan

Sarah by a long chalk.

"Amy," Baby Flamehead
"Amy," Elton John
"Amy," Pure Prairie League

I'm biased, but I still like BFH's best.

Here's a tough one:
"Fire"
is it -
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Arthur Brown
Ohio Players
Pointer Sisters?

My preference of the moment is Jimi, but I know there will be disagreements.

I'm going with Jimi's "Fire" by a flicker over Ohio Players' version, only because I'm blanking on how the Ohio Players' version goes, as I ponder which album cover of theirs I like best, the one with the honey or the one with the fire hose?

I agree that Baby Flamehead's "Amy" is the best of that batch.

While we're throwing our biases into the ring, someone named Keyshia Cole as well as Tim McGraw have songs entitled "Let it Go". The song by that title by Nixon's Head tops those newer ones.

Several people have written songs called Rockin' Chair (with and without the apostrophe). Iam Gomm wrote a nice mellow instrumental that closes the Silver Pistol album by Brinsley Schwartz, and there's a Hoagy Carmichael song that many people recorded, including Louis Armstrong with the Hot Five (or Seven?). But it's hard to beat The Band's song by that name on the brown album.

The mention of Jimi Hendrix reminds me of the Earl King song he covered called Come On. I can't pick a winner between that and Chuck Berry's Come On. (Is anyone going to pince nez me on the Pt. 1 thing?)

Ship of Fools

World Party vs the Grateful Dead

Winner: WP

I'll do you "Ship of Fools" one better, CDM, although some may cringe: THE DOORS!

Come to think of it, I may do my own nomination of The Doors' "Ship of Fools" one better: John Cale's "Ship of Fools".

Evangeline

Los Lobos vs
the Band vs
Matthew Sweet vs
Icicle Works

A strong field but the winner without question is the Band.

Let me get this straight, are you nominasting those other songs or are you saying that they are the winners?

CDM, all of the above. Thie is a Last Man Standing unlike any the Halls of Rock have ever seen. Stated clearly in Townsman Chickenfrank's query is the need to choose the best of the song titles, which implies that there might be a best of the best of all these song titles. I'm not going so far with any version of "Ship of Fools", but after adding The Doors' and Cale's version, I felt compelled to rank them as follows:

1. The Doors (upon further consideration)
2 Cale
3. World Party
4. Grateful Dead

That's just my opinion, of course, but The People have had my back since early in this contest.

I'll have to register a dissenting voice regarding your fine "Evangeline" showdown. I think Richard Lloyd's solo in the Matthew Sweet version ultimately overpowers The Band's version.

Here's one that's VERY important to me: "Hey Lawdy Mama", Steppenwolf vs Cream. Steppenwolf's dominating victory over the Cream song of the same name ranks up there with Secretariat's 33-length margin of victory at Belmont.

Lloyd's solo is nothing short of great but the song ulitmately loses out to the Band's version because of MS's embarassingly bad, comic book store guy lyrics

Prefab Sprout v. Cohen/Cale/Buckley (gack):
Hallelujah
Winner: Cale, although the brothers McAloon would have taken either Cohen or all-time Darwin Award finalist Buckley

"Do It Again" by The Kinks
"Do It Again" by The Beach Boys
"Do It Again" by Steely Dan

It'd probably be safe to go with the Kinks, and I am on record as a Steel Dan backer already, but I'm going with the Beach Boys on this one. I await any disputes.

"One of These Days," Pink Floyd
"One of These Days," Paul McCartney
"One of These Days," Neil Young
"One of These Days," Velvet Underground

All of these have their merits, but I like the Velvets' version best.

I'm backing you up on The Beach Boys by a whisker over Steely Dan, a band I'm on record as not liking that much. Their "Do It Again" is a winner, however.

"I Don't Mind"

Buzzcocks
James Brown
Badfinger
The Decemberists
Hugh Cornwell
Dr. Feelgood

Winner: Buzzcocks

"Morning Glory" Chairmen of the Board
"Mornin' Glory" Bobbie Gentry
"Morning Glory" Duke Ellington

I go with Bobbie Gentry from an almost-phone-sex point of view.

"New York" Cat Power's cover of New York, New York

"New York" Sex Pistols

Not a fave Pistols track, for me, so I'll go with the Cat Power, which I've been enjoying.

"Night Flight" Affinity
"Night Flight" Led Zep

I'm not being an obscuphile here, but I really think the Affinity track works well, if you like that sort of thing.

And, can I get a glossary nomination for "obscuphile" from the choir?

"Oh Yeah" Shadows of Knight
"Oh Yeah" Roxy Music
"Oh Yeah" Los Lobos

The Roxy has always been a musical valium for me, but the Shadows' tune works on several levels.

Gloria

Them vs
Laura Branigan vs
U2

Winner: Them

I'm with the Mod on Steely Dan's Do It Again, which gets bonus points for having windchimes instead of drumfills.

WRONG, Slokie! The CoB totally rule the "Morning Glory" battlefield. For those who want to hear what we're on about, you'll find the MUCH BETTER version here:

http://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php/2007/03/05/thrifty_music_vol_2_a_buck_twenty_five_b#more340

HVB

Sorry, that URL got cut off. Anyhow, do a search for "morning glory" and you'll find it on page two of the Thrifty Music, Vol. 2 sampler.

Alexmagic:

'Do it again' by Matthew Sweet

General slocum:

'Oh Yeah' by Ash

Sammy Maudlin - all of those 'poor boys' are original songs except for the Woody Guthrie song, also covered by Pete Seger and Joan Baez. It's considered a 'traditional', so i imagine that would be the Howlin' Wolf one.

Oh, i've long had this theory that any album can be ruined by a song called 'In Too Deep'. For some reason, the pattern of syllables seems to lead to a very weak hooks, and songs that are noticeable filler. I'm looking at you Belinda Carlisle, Matthew Sweet and Dead Or Alive, but i'm sure there's others.

I've got my next mix cd:

"Happiness" by

01. Michael Stipe and Rain Phoenix
02. The Blue Nile
03. Teenage Fanclub
04. Matthew Sweet
05. Grant Lee Buffalo
06. Robert Palmer
07. The Mavis's
08. Regurgitator
09. Lisa Germano
10. Adrian Belew
11. Front 242
12. Built To Spill
13. Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
14. Ron Sexsmith
15. Macy Gray
16. Allen Toussaint or the Pointer Sisters
17. Goldfrapp

There's probably more.

I noticed listening to #07 that parts of it sound suspiciously like 'There She Goes' by the La's.

WRONG, Slokie! The CoB totally rule the "Morning Glory" battlefield.

Hrrundie, you have your phone sex, and I'll have my phone sex. I appreciate their tune, but come on! Bobbie's inviting you back into bed the next morning, and I couldn't deny such a request, when voiced that way.

"Heartbreaker", led Zeppelin and Pat Benetar.

I'll take the Zep version thankyouverymuch.

Dr. Art

You'll came back loud and proud! Seeing how many multiples there are, I should have asked for at least triplets off the bat. I love the "Do It Again" troika. That triplet had me jones-ing for hearing all 3.

Since I won't be close to ruling this throw-down, I'll kick my triplet to the Hall to see who answers quickest:

What's the song title shared by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Costello??

"I Want You"?

GOOOOOAAAAAAAL! E.C.'s is OK from his "return to form" Blood and Chocolate album, Beatles' is epic, but I think I like Dylan's best.

Hey Dr Art - does that mean you passed your defense? If so, many congrats

yep. all passed and doctored up (well...there IS the small matter of formatting). thanks for asking.

we must add to the "Sylvia Plath" count.

Who can forget the Johnson's song of that name? Or was that a cover?

there's also a version by Witness (whose "Plath" features the unforgettable lyric "like white on Condalesa Rice").

CDM - no mention or "Gloria" off Patti Smith's "Horses"?

Isn't the Patti Smith 'Gloria' based on the Them version?

The Johnsons' Sylvia Plath is indeed a cover of the Peter Laughner song. It's the only version of the song I've heard, and it was the real standout on the otherwise so-so Johnsons album.

I was going to add the Stones' Heartbreaker to the list, but I double-checked and the name of the song is actually Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker). Hhhmmm.

And yes congratulations, Art. It's going to be weird now treating you with deference and respect and all.

re: gloria (and now realized) Patti Smith's extended cover:

DAMN YOU MORRISON MY ARCH NEMESIS. YOU AND YOUR LENGTHY CATALOUGE!!

Chickenfrank, I'm sure we haven't seen the last of this Last Man Standing. I'll have a few more to contribute after I get a decent night's sleep. Dylan's "I Want You" is definitely the best of songs by that song title.

I've been constantly amazed at how many "gimmes" that keep getting suggested that I hadn't thought of, such as "Heartbreaker". It's funny, too, when you learn the real title of a song after first thinking that you had a pair. Bob Marley and Peter Tosh do a song called "Stop That Train"; there's a song on The Harder They Come soundtrack that's based around that lyric, but when I checked to see who the artist was I learned that the title is NOT "Stop That Train". Now I forget both the artist's name and the real title of that song - and I'm not walking into the next room to check the album cover again.

BigSteve, please DO NOT treat me with deference and respect.

"Wipeout" is a song by the Surfaris of course.

But there's also the Original Sins song by that name, from their album called "Out There". I think JT wrote in order to have a way of "granting" audience requests for "wipeout" without actually playing the song people *really* wanted to hear when they asked for a song by that name.

Here Comes the Night:

Beach Boys (from Wild Honey)
Van Morrison & Them (by Bert Berns)
Ben E. King (a Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman song)

"You're Welcome"

Beach Boys
Undertones

Undertones hands down.

I forget that I'm supposed to pick one. Van Morrison and Them are hard to beat with Here Comes The Night.

Congratulations Doctor!

"Come Together"

The Beatles
Primal Scream
MC5

...I'll give it to The Beatles.

Scoured my collection, remembering this was another common one.

"Heaven"

1 Better Than Ezra
2 Talking Heads
3 Psychedelic Furs
4 Rolling Stones
5 Men Without Hats
6 Eurogliders
7 Asia
8 Mutton Birds
9 Loudon Wainwright III
10 Suicidal Tendencies
11 Pere Ubu
12 Bettie Serveert
13 Sheila E
14 Pixies
15 Squeeze (UK Squeeze)
16 Joan Armatrading
17 Kristen Hersh
18 Live
19 The Chimes
20 Duke Ellington
21 Robyn Hitchcock
22 The Fire Theft
23 Golden Palominos
24 Louis Philippe
25 Eurythmics

Plus, not in my collection, but know they exist:

26 Bryan Adams
27 Warrant
28 All Saints
29 Captain and Tenille

All different songs. The Duke Ellington one is the standard. The Psych. Furs and Talking Heads ones are subject to frequent covers.

thanks kilroy!

"Just Like a woman" by Bob Dylan and bill Medley.

Sorry Bob, your song is lovely, but I'm more in the mood for Bill Medley's scrappy little tune.

woah!!! I meant R.L. Burnside, not Bill Medley!

"they'll do it every time!"

BigSteve, KEY pick re: "Here Comes the Night". You chose wisely!

Homefrontradio, Townspeople want to know - no, need to know - your choices for the best of each of your overlapping song titles, especially for "Heaven". I'd give the nod to Pere Ubu's song by that title, just edging out the Talking Heads' song. How about you? Great work on digging up some of the longest groupings of song titles!

Sat, how in the HELL did you mix up R.L. Burnside and Bill Medley? How fried are you after all the work you just completed. Congrats!

There She Goes Again

Marshall Crenshaw vs
the Velvet Underground

I love them both but I'll give the nod to VU

"Heart of Stone": The Rolling Stones vs Cher

WINNER: The Rolling Stones

"Shout": The Isley Brothers vs Tears for Fears

WINNER: This one's gonna bum some of you out, but...The Isley Brothers version.

Here’s my nominee for the shared song title with the biggest quality control problems. This one is all over the board, working with anybody who comes along. I’ll cut it off after it crosses the 20 mark (leaving on a key band), but I think there are at least a dozen more unique entries for:

“Hold On”

John Lennon
Badfinger
Tom Waits
Deep Purple
Yes
Kansas
Steve Winwood
Wilson Phillips
Triumph
Roseanne Cash
Herman’s Hermits
Santana
New Kids On The Block
Green Day
The Hollies
Elvin Bishop
Roseanne Cash
Sarah McLachlan
The O’Jays
Toots & The Maytals
The Rascals
and
The Sons of Champlin

I’m gonna give this one to Lennon on the strength of his Cookie Monster impression alone, but I have no doubt that Sam & Dave could have taken on this entire field by themselves in a Gauntlet Match if they’d simplified their song title.

thanks mod.

let's just say my memory is shot to shit, it was early, and the "finder" function on my mac betrayed me.

Both Teenage Fan Club and Fu Manchu have songs called "Hang on" (It's such a common combination of words, I'm sure many others do too...perhaps Bill Medley...).

I choose Fu.

Alexmagic, our friends The Sons of Champlin are sorely disappointed, but I think you made the right choice.

Changes

Bowie vs Moby Grape

Another close call for me but I'll give it to Bowie.

Call me
Blondie vs Aretha

Winner: Aretha

Breathe

Maria McKee vs The Pink Floyd

Winner: PF

CDM badly wants to be the Last Man Standing. This is noble effort, but work harder, my friend:

"Photograph": Ringo Starr vs Nickleback

WINNER: Was there ever a question?

You bust out a Nickleback song after I come up with a triple shot and then you tell me to work harder? The nerve...

oh...this is far from over.

Van Morrison and Ray Charles both have great songs called "It's Alright" (and they're not the same tune).

I like Ray's.

and feel free to add artists to the title "it's alright"...

Here's another Hold On:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW7dOhYHuYI

Ian Gomm actually had a minor US hit with this one.

There's no such word as "alright." Here are the Impressions doing Curtis Mayfield's It's All Right:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOmd-WkJrSI

"You're No Good"

Linda Ronstadt (Betty Everett)
E.S.G.

I'm going with Ronstadt. Even over Everett. Flame on.

Mod said:"Photograph": Ringo Starr vs Nickleback

To which I reply, Def Leppard!

"Carol"

Neil Sedaka
Chuck Berry

Winner - Inmate #5467823456

"I Need You"

The Beatles
Paul Carrack

Winner - I Love both versions but The Fabs in a closer-than-it-should-be vote

“Bluebird” by Wings
“Bluebird” by Leon Russell
“Bluebird” by ELO
“Bluebird” by Buffalo Springfield

Despite consistently lining up in the McCartney and ELO camps, and noting that “Bluebird” is the better of the two ELO songs with ‘bluebird’ in the title, the Leon Russell one is my favorite, hits all the right notes. I’m not familiar enough to throw any versions of the Charlie Parker one in here for judgment.

"Shooting Star": Bad Company vs Lou Reed

WINNER: Would you believe Bad Company?!?!

"Wait": Lou Reed vs The Beatles

WINNER: The Beatles

(My man Lou's not faring too well as I scan the song titles on Street Hassle.)

"Kicks": Paul Revere and the Raiders vs Lou Reed

WINNER: NOT Lou Reed! Come on, Lou!

"Surrender" Cheap Trick vs. ELO

It's no contest. Jeff Lynne's production skills are no match for a five-neck guitar.