VOTING CLOSED. Results here.
The Draw
| Tending The Wrong Grave For 23 Years | v | We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune |
| Everything’s AOR | v | The Trumpton Riots |
| When The Evening Sun Goes Down | v | Restless Legs |
| Rock And Roll Is Full Of Bad Wools | v | All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit |
| Joy Division Oven Gloves | v | National Shite Day |
| Every Time a Bell Rings | v | Bob Wilson – Anchorman |
| The Light at the End of the Tunnel (is the Light of an Oncoming Train) | v | Evening Of Swing (Has Been Cancelled) |
| For What Is Chatteris… | v | Oblong of Dreams |
Our first unseeded knockout round, so the draw was always able to throw up some almighty clashes. How was it done? On Saturday 9 September, Gloucestershire’s first-ever full stage of the Tour of Britain got perilously close to where the band were playing a few days later, and most certainly did Come Near Stroud. So we paired up the 16 songs with 16 riders from the race, and the riders’ finishing positions on that stage determined the draw. Full details on how the draw worked out here.
Steve
Being slightly connected with the organisation of the TOB in Gloucestershire, the cyclists, not in full sky replica kits, will indeed be passing Stroud Saturday between 14.33 and 14.54 for those who are interested.
6 September 2023
THE BASTARD IN THE HAT
I note that the matchup between songs and riders is unseeded — alphabetical by first word in title, alphabetical by surname. I guess the logic (which I accept) is that there are no weak contenders from here on. We don’t get to see a clear progression to some (supposedly) inevitable final, but we do get the excitement of a new draw. Nice!
Some people (https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/46500, citing the official advice from the international whatever) suggest that Danny van Poppel should be sorted under V, while Wout van Aert should be filed under A, the difference being that Mr Van Aert is from Belgium. I think it’s safe to say that these people can be ignored for present purposes.
6 September 2023
THE BASTARD IN THE HAT
I might have it the wrong way round: Van Poppel under P, Van Aert under V. I still don’t care.
6 September 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Quite splendid pedantry.
6 September 2023
THE BASTARD IN THE HAT
My blackened pedant’s heart has a brief surge of relief to see that the other double-barrelled (or potentially/arguably/nearly double-barrelled) cyclists have arranged themselves, neatly and improbably, to be uncontroversial: Edvardsen-Fredheim and Halland Johannessen (in that order, between Bomboi and Kanter) and Serrano Rodriguez (between Pidcock and Swift).
6 September 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Almost too good to be true, TBITH.
Anyway, the draw is done (unless anyone wants to call in VAR – here’s the working). And there are some almighty clashes.
Interesting to note that the rider representing one of the outsiders (Wrong Grave) came first out of 86 finishers, and the rider for our trophy holder (Tunnel) came 86th…
10 September 2023
Coops
JDOG V NSD is a mighty match up.
10 September 2023
Poopleby
I’m glad this isn’t pre-drawn to the final. The bottom half of the draw looks very strong. Some big hitters (by which I mean personal favorites) are facing off.
10 September 2023
two fat feet
Predictions :
Trad Arr 58%
AOR 51%
Evening Sun 63%
DPAK 65%
NSD 55%
Bell 65%
Light 71%
Oblong 59%
11 September 2023
Lux inferior
Updated outright odds. No major changes at the top of the market with the ‘big four’ being kept apart in the draw.
Oblong 5/6
TLATEOTT 9/2
NSD 5/1
AOR 7/1
ETABR 14/1
JDOG 20/1
Chatteris 22/1
Trad. Arr. Tune 25/1
Evening of Swing 28/1
DPAK 50/1
Trumpton Riots 66/1
Wrong Grave 150/1
Evening Sun 200/1
Bob Wilson 250/1
Bad Wools 250/1
Restless Legs 250/1
12 September 2023
Rhombus of Nightmares
TFF appears to have predicted 7 of my 8 votes in this round.
12 September 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Voting is now open.
15 September 2023
Poopleby
Any change in the market now the draw has been published, Lux? JDOG v NSD?
I’ve just voted but pretty unenthusiastically now Terminus is not in service any more.
15 September 2023
Rhombus of Nightmares
Voted. If OOD is knocked out by Chatteris, we riot. And not even Snorty’s boys could stop us.
15 September 2023
Lux inferior
@Poopleby – those odds were compiled after the draw was made. Can’t envisage any scenario where NSD doesn’t comfortably see off JDOG.
15 September 2023
MULDOON LIVES!
E-mail received, e-mails returned. Some counter majority views ?
15 September 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Votes are coming in fine. I hope none are being rejected!
15 September 2023
Transit full of keith
Good match-ups in the main with fairly straightforward decisions for me, but I can muster little interest in tie 3. Two perfectly OK songs, but unaccountably rated by The General Consensus waaay above about 80 other songs I could name with a higher claim on our attention. Restless Legs knocking out Evening of Swing in the Ogwen Valley Derby last time round was a travesty.
15 September 2023
MULDOON LIVES!
@RON, I have my pitchfork ready.
15 September 2023
Ben W
Match 7 is brutal. I’ll need to take a bit more time before voting on that one.
16 September 2023
Just another lackey
Best to go with your immediate gut feelings I find. Detailed analysis gets you nowhere. Will be very happy to see the back of BW – A though (assuming that’s the result) – how that song made it out of the initial round of voting is a mystery I’ll never understand…
16 September 2023
Billy Webfoot
@Ben W.
Yeh match 7 was tough. Just listening to both tracks back to back made it a much easier decision.
17 September 2023
Dick Quax Running Shoes
Re Two Fat Feet’s predictions . . .
I was under the impression that ‘Evening of Swing’ was a big player, maybe even a potential cup winner. (Although I acknowledge that its strong Baguette Dilemma Round performance has not historically been carried through to the knockouts.) I’m dismayed to think it could dip out with a sub-30% showing. I want a good game from both teams and heads held high at the end.
20 September 2023
two fat feet
It’s a sad fact that Evening of Swing has only ever achieved mediocrity in the final tournament and has been considerably outperformed by Light on every occasion (although without checking back I don’t recall whether they ever went head-to-head). The rating formula is explained in predictably boring detail in the post-tournament discussion for the first one, and possibly since. My predictions are based on taking the average ratings from previous tournaments, tweaking them as necessary based on results this time round, and comparing them to get a prediction this time. Unfortunately, based purely on past experience, it’s going to be a bloodbath.
20 September 2023
paul f
I’ve never understood the very high esteem that many hold EoS in – I’m with the silent majority who consider it average by Biscuit standards.
20 September 2023
RhOmbus of nightmares
I’m with JAL on Bad Wools and Paul on EoS – they’re probably not in my top 100 if I’m honest. How they get through the BD round Is beyond me.
21 September 2023
BAD LOSER
I actually appreciate the fact that songs that aren’t among my favourites are rated highly by others. There can be songs from 10 or more years ago that I’ll suddenly ‘get’ after giving them a number of repeat plays after they get a rare gig outing and seeing the subsequent delight expressed on here.
Sometimes, just one line makes a song for me: the randomness of ‘Never trust a crown green bowler under 30’ is one example but even the Mr. Ed line can’t elevate EOS above middle of the pack status for me. I much prefer the second track on CSI (obviously).
21 September 2023
Golden biscuit winner
After Terminus (which is poetic and full of saudade*) fell I’m beginning to think this competition is not the best song by HMHB but the best HMHB-style song
* word learnt via Durutti Column
26 September 2023