Here we are at the opening round of the AmeriCadoVision Song Contest! A grand total of 352 songs were nominated, the votes have been tallied, and our bracket is filled in. The top vote-getter from each of the 50 United States were seeded randomly into the bracket, and then the remaining places were filled with the highest scorers among the second-place nominees. This means that about half of these first round match-ups will be two songs from the same state.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, New York had the most songs nominated with 19, closely followed by California’s 18. North Dakota, on the other hand, only had a single song submitted. The overall highest vote total of any song was for “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” representing West Virginia, which received 19 upvotes. Meanwhile, three states had winners with only 2 upvotes each (North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Delaware). There were a handful of ties for first place, in which case I just did a simple coin flip (or die roll) to pick a winner. Illinois had four songs tied up with 4 votes each, while Pennsylvania and Utah had 3-way ties, and Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, and Ohio all came down to the coin flip. I also needed to break ties for a handful of second-place finishers, namely for Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Tennessee, Hawaii, and Utah. See below for a full list of the winners and runners-up that made the final bracket.1
Final Bracket Entrants
Alabama: “Alabama,” Neil Young
Alaska: “Alaska,” Otyken
Arizona: “By the Time I Get to Arizona,” Public Enemy
Arkansas: “Little Girl from Little Rock,” Ernie Ford and Carol Channing*
California: “California Dreamin’,” The Mamas and the Papas
California: “California Love,” Tupac Shakur and Dr Dre
Colorado: “Rocky Mountain High,” John Denver
Connecticut: “Kylie From Connecticut,” Ben Folds
Delaware: “Delaware,” Perry Como*
Florida: “Sink, Florida, Sink,” Against Me!
Georgia: “Midnight Train to Georgia,” Gladys Knight and the Pips
Georgia: “Georgia on My Mind,” Willie Nelson
Hawaii: “Aloha’Oe,” Queen Lili’uokalani
Hawaii: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World,” Isreal Kamakawiwo’ole
Idaho: “Private Idaho,” The B-52’s
Illinois: “Come On! Feel the Illinoise!,” Sufjan Stevens*
Indiana: “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Iowa: “Iowa (Traveling, Pt 3),” Dar Williams
Kansas: “Wichita Lineman,” Glen Campbell
Kansas: “Over the Rainbow,” Judy Garland
Kentucky: “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Loretta Lynn
Kentucky: “Kentucky Rain,” Elvis Presley
Louisiana: “House of the Rising Sun,” The Animals
Louisiana: “When the Levee Breaks,” Led Zeppelin*
Maine: “Pet Sematary,” The Ramones
Maryland: “Streets of Baltimore,” Gram Parsons
Massachusetts: “Dirty Water,” The Standells
Massachusetts: “Roadrunner,” Modern Lovers
Michigan: “Dancing in the Streets,” Martha and the Vandellas*
Minnesota: “The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota,” Weird Al Yankovic
Mississippi: “Mississippi Goddam,” Nina Simone
Missouri: “Meet Me in St Louis,” Judy Garland
Montana: “Montana,” Frank Zappa
Nebraska: “Nebraska,” Bruce Springsteen
Nevada: “Viva Las Vegas,” Elvis Presley
Nevada: “Leaving Las Vegas,” Sheryl Crowe
New Hampshire: “Live Free or Die,” Barry Palmer and Friends
New Jersey: “Born to Run,” Bruce Springsteen
New Mexico: “Albuquerque,” Weird Al Yankovic
New York: “New York State of Mind,” Billy Joel
New York: “New York Groove,” Ace Frehley
North Carolina: “Carolina in My Mind,” James Taylor
North Dakota: “North Dakota,” Thrush Hermit
Ohio: “Jocko Homo,” DEVO*
Ohio: “My City Was Gone,” The Pretenders*
Oklahoma: “Oklahoma,” Rodgers and Hammerstein
Oklahoma: “Oklahoma USA,” The Kinks
Oregon: “Dream of the ’90s,” Portlandia
Pennsylvania: “Motownphilly,” Boyz II Men*
Pennsylvania: “Pennsylvania Polka,” Frankie Yankovic*
Rhode Island: “The Last Great American Dynasty,” Taylor Swift
South Carolina: “The Charleston,” James P Johnson and Cecil Mack
South Dakota: “Badlands,” Bruce Springsteen
Tennessee: “My Tennessee Mountain Home,” Dolly Parton
Tennessee: “Walking in Memphis,” Mark Cohn*
Texas: “El Paso,” Marty Robbins
Utah: “Crazy Horses,” The Osmonds*
Utah: “Utah,” The Osmonds*
Vermont: “Moonlight on Vermont,” Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band
Virginia: “I-95,” Fountains of Wayne
Washington: “Louie Louie,” The Kingsmen
West Virginia: “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” John Denver
Wisconsin: “Kiss Off,” Violent Femmes
Wyoming: “Song of Wyoming,” John Denver
And without further ado, let’s get to the voting!