Here we go again! You’re down to 16 contests this time around. Highlights of Round 3:

The closest match was #218, where you made me break a 32-32 tie between “Venus” by Bananarama and “Mr. Tambourine Man” by the Byrds. And I thought it was going to be harder to choose than it ended up being: I listened to both, back to back, and the originals as well by Shocking Blue and Bob Dylan. And yeah, I had to go with the Byrds. It’s going up against a heavy hitter this round though.

Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” continues to mop the floor with the competition, crushing “Hey Jude” by Wilson Pickett 61-6 (and that’s both of Wilson Pickett’s songs gone this round, as “Mustang Sally” also went down in defeat)

There were a couple of upsets, but the big one was that the initially second seeded “Killing Me Softly” by the Fugees was done in by Otis Redding and “Try a Little Tenderness” 33-30.

This round will last until Wednesday, 4/3 at 8PM Eastern. I’ll leave you today with a lovely cover that didn’t get nominated: