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• Peter Seeley +3 — A true classic. Stan Rogers has a beautiful voice and his lyrics are unique. Who else could make such a bittersweet song about economic decline (which does benefit the whales)? For that matter who else sings about economic decline and whales in the same song?
• fionmul +2 — Stan is my one that got away 🫰 Flukes mentioned!!?
• ared56 +1
• judd.baker +1 — Beautiful. Tremendous pull
• Edward James +1 — No notes. It's just too perfect.
• Claire +1 — This is sweet and he has a lovely voice
• shea nowicki +1
• Joseph Harvey +1 — Gorgeous. Even though this has been submitted before (by yours truly), cannot resist
• Sam Ary +1
• Regina Scime +1 — Ok there’s something about Stan Rogers that just soothes my soul
• Brad Stalcup +1

• Joseph Harvey +2 — Lab grown Eddie bait
• shea nowicki +2 — This song is perfect and I loved every minute of it. TGoPR is one of my newfound Music League faves!! Thanks, Alex (I'm like 98% sure?), for this.
• judd.baker +2 — I think this song is phenomenal, and I feel like Eddie would like it too. It’s grandiose in a way that I think Eddie will like
• Corey +2
• Laur +1
• Regina Scime +1
• Claire +1 — Eddie loves a song that tells a story, and a story about the civil war? It’s almost too on the nose
• Edward James +1 — This is a bold pick, since this type of history folk is often hit or miss in quality. But this one was a direct hit. Well done, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to resist a well crafted historical narrative and especially one about reigning in the treacherous confederacy. I’m also a sucker for regional Americana, and I love the exploration of having a deep Maine pride. One of my favorite themes is the mythologizing of the American experience, which is in so many ways, unique in the history of the world. We often think of ourselves as post-history, but we are simply the creators of the myths now. You could imagine someone 500 years from now hearing this with the same sense of wonder in the soldiers and Lincoln that we experience read about King Arthur and the Knights of the round table. This one got me a little emotional, well done. 🥇
• fionmul 0 — I liked. Yay for the north!
• Brad Stalcup 0 — This song is too sympathetic to the Confederates to be Eddie-coded

• fionmul +2 — I’m ticked that I didn’t think of this. This is a fave and an excellent fit. And I pressure Joseph to listen to it since 2/7 is his bday hehe
• Joseph Harvey +2 — Yes yes yes! This is spot on. “There’s no returning to the spoils once you’ve spoiled the thought of them.” This song can so easily be read as a song of conversion. There’s really not a single line that doesn’t fit.
• Edward James +1 — Another perfect choice, incredibly well done. Some of the lyrics here seem tailor-made, which is even more perfect when you realize how deeply Augustine spoke to the human condition in general.
• SamRobertsND +1
• Brad Stalcup +1 — Man this song is so freakin good. And a little cryptic, but I'll choose to interpret it in a way that jibes w/ Augustine.
• ared56 +1
• judd.baker +1 — I have loved this song and this album for a long time, very nostalgia inducing, and this is a cool new way for me to interpret the lyrics. Awesome fit for the category
• shea nowicki +1
• Spicey Riche +1
• Regina Scime +1
• Peter Seeley 0 — This would be great, except I doubt any of it was accidental.

Joseph Harvey: A beautiful proggy journey to catharsis

• Regina Scime +3 — I can hear him singing this
• judd.baker +2 — 7+ minutes of prog-ish metal with high register male vocals and a whole 1 minute of Dune soundtrack outro. Diagnostic specimen of the Josephcore genre
• Edward James +2 — This to me is the type of music Joseph strives to make. It’s a dangerous statement, but in persona Joseph I must trust my instinct and reward.
• [DELETED] +2
• Claire +1 — Hell yeah
• SamRobertsND +1 — This is what Joseph’s music sounds like to me
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Best bass tone of all time
• fionmul 0 — joseph would like this but hasn’t he heard it? probably

• fionmul +2 — Yeah. I think this is the best submission maybe including mine too but I wish we had done better as a group.
• Sam Ary +2
• Corey +2
• SamRobertsND +1 — Best song on the listen. Glad Olivia Rodrigo has taken us back to rock pop.
• Regina Scime +1
• Claire +1 — I almost hate how much I love this song, but Avril just does girly “rebellious” 2000s pop so perfectly that I can’t really be mad. Excels even if what she excels at is slightly cringe. The fact that she somehow can pull off “hell yeah I’m the mf princess” is incredible
• Brad Stalcup +1 — Gotta love avril.
• shea nowicki +1
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Close
• Edward James 0 — Great choice, and a great millennialcore song. But it was narrowly beat out by others for me.
• judd.baker 0 — This kinda feels too innocent

• SamRobertsND +2
• Joseph Harvey +2 — Haunting
• shea nowicki +2
• Edward James +1 — Oof
• ared56 +1
• Regina Scime +1
• [DELETED] +1
• fionmul 0 — 🌊😌🤍

• Sam Ary +2
• fionmul +1 — Voting mainly because I like the song more than most other submissions and it made me think about the lyrics for the first time haha.
• ared56 +1
• Joseph Harvey +1 — Yes, petty vindictive spite! Rejoicing in the plight of enemies! Obsession not with the guy you’re with but the girl you’re waging psychological war against. This is everything I was hoping for
• Edward James +1 — It is comical how enormously this clear every single song in this playlist. I wouldn't say a single one even comes close to it. It's perfect in every way, musically and categorically. I would have given it 2 votes if there weren't other songs here I thought deserved recognition.
• Brad Stalcup +1 — yes
• judd.baker +1 — I’m a simple man. I’m always going to upvote Paramore
• shea nowicki +1
• Corey +1
• SamRobertsND 0 — Good song

Joseph Harvey: The male heart yearns for more expeditious shipping routes

• Peter Seeley +3 — DEAR OLD STAN! DEAR OLD STAN! DEAR OLD STAN!
• Corey +2
• Spicey Riche +2 — Yearning is in the voice. And this voice yearns
• SamRobertsND +1 — Peter is doing Alex's BNL bit from the first season of Music League with Stan Rogers, and I am here for it. Fantastic song.
• shea nowicki +1
• Edward James +1 — A beautiful read on the category. Men can only truly yearn for 2 things: women and the sea.
• Brad Stalcup +1 — That guy in the background (you know exactly which one I'm talking about) is really doing all the work to cultivate an atmosphere of longing. An interesting take on the category. Most are about vague desire or longing for a lover. This is about longing to explore for one born too late to explore the world. I like the creativity of the pick.
• judd.baker +1 — Yup this counts. This is certainly a kind of yearning
• Claire 0 — I love this version of the song. But this just wasn’t the kind of yearning I was looking for. Hard to explain
• fionmul -1
• Sam Ary -1

• fionmul +2 — Reminds me of The Dance at the Gym from West Side Story
• Edward James +2 — The Japanese are true craftsman. They take everything that we have created (jazz, baseball, automobile manufacturing, financial markets, imperialism) and become the true masters of them. Only they could have crafted one of the most perfect jazz songs of all time as the intro to a space mystery anime that was originally created to sell toys.
• Brad Stalcup +2 — Yessss.
• SamRobertsND +1 — The Japanese love trumpets and other brass instruments
• Regina Scime +1
• Corey +1
• judd.baker +1 — This right here is it, solid gold. My winner for the round.
• Peter Seeley 0 — Now I want to be a cowboy 🤠
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Obviously very impressive. Could I hum back any part of this solo? Absolutely not. I’m just not a shred fan, I want a good memorable melody which this is not.
• Claire 0 — The cut of this song they use in the title sequence doesn’t include the sax solo—I already loved this song but the first time I heard the full version I was blown away. One of the best tv show theme songs of all time
• Spicey Riche 0 — I’m out of rips, but this stunk

Regina Scime: this song breaks my brain

• Peter Seeley +2 — This is why Leviticus exists
• Corey +2
• Joseph Harvey +1 — This is very fun
• fionmul +1 — A classic. I remember listening when I was like 5.
• SamRobertsND +1 — Thanks for following my advice
• Edward James +1 — This was incredible. Didn’t know Willie Nelson did this kind of thing. I think this was my favorite.
• Brad Stalcup +1
• shea nowicki +1
• judd.baker +1 — total Brad cultural victory
• Claire -1 — Sorry chat I’ve become the person who downvotes something for being too stereotypical of a pull

• SamRobertsND 0 — Hipster reject slop pile
• fionmul 0 — Are the whales in the room with us?
• ared56 -1
• judd.baker -1 — Awesome song. Perhaps the most inexplicable ML submission of all time. Whatever OP was going for has filtered me completely
• Edward James -1 — No? This gets my downvote because I can’t even place the basic idea of why this was chosen. At least for the “Noah and the whale” song I can tell it’s because of the band name even though that the bad reason
• Peter Seeley -1
• Claire -1 — Maybe I’m totally missing something but I’m not seeing how this is whale related
• Joseph Harvey -1 — Sadly, there are no whales in this song Also, egregious bridge
• Regina Scime -1 — Didn’t see the connection
• Brad Stalcup -1 — No clue what this has to do with whales.

• fionmul 0 — The “no good deed goes unpunished” at 2:45 🔥🔥🔥 Not enough votes
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Obviously Erivo’s vocals are great, but this sounds like a song written by AI. There’s no flow to the melody despite some very bright moments
• Peter Seeley 0 — Yet again, great talent that seems wasted to me.
• SamRobertsND 0 — I loved this!!!
• Claire 0 — Oh my gosh this is cool. I haven’t had a chance to see the movie yet but it’s getting me even more pumped. It’s also a good read of the theme imo, didn’t have enough votes tho
• judd.baker 0 — The lyrics without the context from a movie I didn’t see make this much less resonant than other submissions
• ared56 -1
• Edward James -1 — no
• Corey -1 — I dislike this specific musical on principle. It's not even necessarily the song. I will not deny being arbitrary this time.
• Brad Stalcup -1
• Spicey Riche -1
• shea nowicki -1
• Sam Ary -1

• Joseph Harvey 0 — Not the strongest contender
• Brad Stalcup 0 — Don't really get how this is black people music.
• fionmul -1 — I’ve never thought of this that way and I still don’t
• Edward James -1 — Sounds black is NOT the same as black music. This song is SO WHITE
• Claire -1 — Apparently some people think he sounds black but tbh I don’t really get that, unless you think white people can’t have deep voices. In any case, as mentioned above, “wait that’s a white guy?” isn’t exactly the same thing as “white people doing black people music.” As for the latter category, I guess he has folk and blues influences, but tbh it still reads more as 2014 millennial slop to me than anything else
• Regina Scime -1
• judd.baker -1 — I think this is actually white people doing black people doing white people music
• Sam Ary -1

Brad Stalcup: There's a certain vulnerability whenever a man sings in falsetto. Couple that with the thematic content of this song and you have a heart-wrenching performance from an otherwise upbeat and cynical ska band.

• Brad Stalcup 0 — I guess I should submit less verbose comments.
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Loved this song. Seems like an obvious Brad pick but does not fulfill the theme I’m afraid
• Edward James 0 — Great falsetto, but would never have thought this was a woman.
• fionmul -1 — I kinda dig. Downvoting because it sounds the least like a girl to me of all these sorry.
• judd.baker -1 — I loved this song. I added it almost immediately to a playlist. But for this theme, it just wasn’t right imo. It’s a high note for sure, but at no point of this song do I find myself asking “Wait, that’s a dude?”
• shea nowicki -1 — Okay this was a fun listening experience, but I had to down vote something, I'm sorry : ( I think it didn't hold for enough of the song for me, since it makes a musical switch at 2:50 and, at that time, it sounds like a guy. I enjoyed the surprise/story arc of the whole song though!!
• Claire -1 — Great song but just wasn’t what I was looking for with this theme. Even when he’s singing in falsetto it’s…very clearly a man singing in falsetto.
• Laur -1

• judd.baker +1 — I am not certain I quite see the vision but I cannot downvote a brave and unexpected submission like this. And in a playlist I thought was a little on the weak side, I want to reward a really novel read of the category
• Claire +1 — I feel like this would be a good song to die to in a similar way to mmmbop. The lyrics aren’t as obviously existential but the bright upbeat melody would give a nice touch of irony
• Peter Seeley 0 — A creative interpretation of the category. I just dislike the song.
• Brad Stalcup 0 — I get what this is going for (entering into the beatific vision), but I don't really think it works.
• SamRobertsND -1
• Regina Scime -1
• shea nowicki -1
• Joseph Harvey -1 — Bizarre choice. No gravitas
• fionmul -1
• Spicey Riche -1 — Are you kidding? Ya know what would happen if you tried dying to this song? Your heartbeat would rise, your foot would start tapping, you’d starting singing along in and you’d finish bleed ingout before hearing the word sunshine. You’ve clearing never died before
• Edward James -1 — Funniest submission to think about in terms of Sammy's scenario described in the chat. Sadly it's the least on point for theme imo.

• fionmul 0 — Idk if this is late career enough but maybe I’m just ignorant? It’s a classic but I feel like their stuff was all released so close together anyway But some others impressed me more with their creativity
• SamRobertsND -1
• shea nowicki -1
• Edward James -1 — Don’t play cute with us
• Claire -1 — Late in the active career of the band, yes, but it doesn’t have that “late in life” vibe that I’m looking for
• judd.baker -1 — The peak of a band’s (already famously short) career cannot possibly count as late career.

fionmul: Ending goes hard

• fionmul 0 — "uh uh" "it sounds like a limo" *thumbs down* *vehement head shaking*
• judd.baker 0 — Thematically I see it but I can’t see myself speeding to this
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Absolutely love this song but it encouraged me to set the cruise at 35 mph
• Sam Ary -1 — Ending does go somewhat hard, however I feel like I would only want to drive fast to this song after a breakup when I don’t have the emotional bandwidth to understand that speeding won’t be good for me in that moment. Cheers.
• Edward James -1 — The first minute of this song is so transcendently beautiful and describes a feeling I pray each and every one of us gets to encounter. But then it takes a steep nosedive when the guy joins in and never recovers. Also, not on theme vibe-wise imo. Earns the downvote only because of how much that guy annoyed me.
• SamRobertsND -1 — I’m sure Joseph is shedding tears onto the keyboard of his Assbook Pro while listening to and voting for Lizzy, but not me. This is speeding music for the Villages, Florida’s Friendliest Home Town.
• Claire -1 — Good song but despite the fact that it is about reckless driving, I would not drive recklessly while listening to it

• SamRobertsND 0 — Sammy and Peter: “Joseph”
• Claire 0 — Joseph knows I enjoy this song. Perhaps Fiona does too? But I’m not 100% sure
• fionmul 0 — Fi the occasional angsty girl: Hi Joseph 👋🏼 As you know I am not in my metal era when I am not teaching (lol). The lyrics are a very “Fi as she leaves SB” vibe but the sound does not convey what I feel as well as the words do. I like the melodies and the vocals are impressive. This was middle-of-the-pack in my ranking but creeped up to 4th!! I appreciate that you know of and honor this quadrant of my taste; for this I tip my hat to you. 🎩
• Edward James -1 — Mormon-core
• shea nowicki -1
• judd.baker -1 — meh
• Sam Ary -1

• Edward James 0 — I actually love this pick, especially because of the line "Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time." That's classic Flannery. However, in my review, I think the Julien Baker song does this theme a little bit better. Runner up.
• Joseph Harvey 0 — Interesting read but not quite enough. Truly a great song though, pretty much prog pop
• judd.baker 0 — I’m not seeing it
• fionmul 0 — This song always reminds me of in the movie diary of a wimpy kid when he gets the part of Dorothy in the play and this is his audition. But also the eclipse my freshman year of college. I don’t understand you for picking this. Go read some Flannery.
• Claire 0 — Did not vote for this song but it is an all time banger and I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that fact
• Brad Stalcup -1 — I'm sorry, but this doesn't really belong on this list.
• shea nowicki -1 — I listened to this one like 3 times 1) because it’s a bop and 2) because I’m not sure if it strikes me as “accidentally Flannery.” In the end, I feel conflicted and have to think more about it. I love this song and its poetic description for love, but my read of Flannery’s take on love is more a project of expanding the categories of love, vs. a clinging/grasping one; for example, Revelation comes to mind: Flannery demands that Mrs. Turpin (and by extension all of us) see beyond her biases/stereotypes to love Mary Grace instead of writing her off as “white trash.” Flannery is so good at making me feel like I have to do the heart work to be more Christian than I say I am, in a sacrificial and ever growing way. So idk…in the end, I’m rambling and confused…how I often feel at the end of a Flannery work. Hahahah.
• Regina Scime -1 — Sam, if this is you, I still love you:) but I'm confused
• Sam Ary -1

• fionmul 0 — Similar to how I feel about the Hell is a Teenage Girl one
• Edward James 0 — Don't really see the themes in this one. Seems to just be a normal breakup song.
• SamRobertsND 0 — Unlistenable
• Brad Stalcup 0 — "I'm better off without you" isn't really the vibe of this playlist.
• Joseph Harvey -1 — Doesn’t really fit and is annoying
• Regina Scime -1 — It’s not explicit to me that this is toxic femininity…
• Claire -1 — This was one of the more pleasant songs to listen to on this list but thematically didn’t hit for me
• shea nowicki -1