American Idol 9: Who Blew Lennon/McCartney Songbook Week and Who Didn't

Here we are on Tuesday April 6, 2010, with the latest on American Idols 9 remaining 9 contestants, singing those good old Beatles' songs. No predictions, no comparisons here, but to make it more interesting, we'll list the contestants in order of their age, youngest to oldest, more or less. Lee Dewyze is technically younger than Andrew and Crystal, but I'm going alphabetical when the American Idols are all the same age.

The Idols said they considered it a privilege to be able to perform the songs of Lennon and McCartney. They are in good company since many top stars have covered the Beatles' songs and I have listed random covers by some pretty big names to illustrate that fact. Their praises included "the best song-writing duo ever in the history of music" and "music genius." Sir Paul McCartney took time from his busy tour to say he was pleased that the Beatles' songs were being performed and said: ... get out there, go for it, enjoy yourselves, good luck!"

Aaron Kelly, 17 (just had a birthday on April 2 which was not mentioned). Starting out the show with a slow song, Aaron gave a faithful performance of "The Long and Winding Road." I personally was not impressed. Randy didn't like the "sleepy" arrangement. Ellen and Kara echoed their dislike of the performance. Simon asked Aaron why he chose the song and rolled his eyes while Aaron related the song to his American Idol journey thus far. All thumbs were down for this little dude. Good thing he has something better planned for next week if he's "still around." Too bad he didn't plan it for this week.

"The Long and Winding Road" has been covered by Whitney Houston's mom, Cissy Houston, Olivia Newton-John and Aretha Franklin.

Katie Stevens, 17. Katie sang "Let It Be," accompanied on the piano. She sang it well and did a better job than Aaron, in my opinion, and all of the judges agreed. Randy, Ellen and Kara all thought her vocals were great and that she gave it just enough of a change to put her stamp on the song. Simon thought her performance was a lot better and ultimately said it was well done. So it's four thumbs up for Katie. The judges don't expect to see Katie in the bottom three after the votes.

"Let It Be" has been covered by Ike and Tina Turner, Jose Feliciano and John Denver.

Siobhan Magnus, 20. "Across the Universe" was the song chosen by Siobhan to show "a different side" of her voice, and she does have a beautiful voice, even though I'm not a big fan of the song. Neither is Randy. He clearly likes fast songs like me. Ellen loved it. Kara found it restrained. Simon thought it was much better than last week.

"Universe" covers include David Bowie, Fiona Apple, and as Ellen mentioned, Rufus Wainwright.

Tim Urban, 20. Teflon Tim performed a well-loved Beatles' song "All My Lovin'" Randy and Ellen thought it was the shiznit and they thought Tim was rocking a Beatles hairdo. Tim said it was by accident. I don't think Tim was quite sure Kara was praising him. Neither was I -- Tim and I were waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never did. Simon gave him a lot of props. Four thumbs up, I think. Nothing negative anyway. Tim could be safe from the bottom three with this one.

"All My Lovin'" covers by famous stars include Count Basie and his Orchestra, The Chipmunks and The Smithereens

Andrew Garcia, 24. Performing "Can't Buy Me Love" with a "cool twist," Andy accompanied himself on the guitar. It was pretty cool. Randy said it was okay, Ellen loved it, Kara wanted something "new" although she did like the breakdown. Who cares what Simon said? Andrew gets one thumb totally up with a lot of mixed reactions that probably won't influence the voters much, but Andrew is not a favorite so he could be sitting in the bottom 3.

Notable covers of "Can't Buy Me Love" include Ella Fitzgerald, Mary Wells and Peter Sellers.

Crystal Bowersox, 24. I figured that Crystal would cover "Come Together" and she did, playing the guitar and she had a guy up there playing the diggeridoo. She did her Bowersox thing on it. I was not expecting unanimous praise from the panel but she did get four thumbs up with only one flat note from Randy which had more to do with the diggeridoo distracting him than Crystal's performance.

"Come Together" has been covered by Michael Jackson, Sarah Vaughn and Rats of Unusual Size (this is not only true, I included them to make sure you are still awake).

Lee Dewyze, 24 (also had a birthday on April 2 that went unsung). In the last performance, Lee had a bagpipe player helping him perform "Hey Jude." What was up with that? Simon said he didn't know what they were drinking coming out with diggeridoos and bagpipe players. "It was like he turned up on the wrong show." Simon said he wouldn't have done that. The other judges gave him good reviews.

Notable covers of "Hey Jude' include Wilson Pickett, Elvis Presley and Tom Jones.

Michael Lynche, 26. Big Mike performed "Eleanor Rigby" and gave a fine performance which got him rave reviews from 3 of the judges. Guess which one didn't give him a good review? On the strength of that performance, Big Mike should be safe.

"Eleanor Rigby" covers include Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles and "The Duke of Earl," Gene Chandler.

Casey James, 27. I was truly surprised to see Casey pick "Jealous Guy." I thought it was a great pick. You know, the guy was taking a real chance when he could have went with any one of the biggies and it really worked for me. Randy was also quite impressed. Ellen found it soulful and beautiful and said she was moved. Kara found depth and Simon said it was the best performance of the night so far. It was the 7th performance and after Crystal Bowersox so that was high praise indeed.

Donny Hathaway, Joe Cocker and Claudine Longet (ex-wife of Andy Williams) have all covered "Jealous Guy."

UPDATE (4/8/10): Michael Lynche's appearance in the bottom 3 was a big surprise, Aaron and Andrew not at all. Aaron was sent to safety first. Can you say teenyboppers 5 times faster than they can vote? Andrew was safe, leaving Mike to persuade the judges to save him. The save was wisely used to correct this ridiculously unfair voting result. Mike performed brilliantly but I think the judges would have saved him even if he sang "Eleanor Rigby" again. Next week, all the contestants better be on their toes. Two will be going home.

Sources: American Idol on Fox: 4/6/10, Second Hand Songs
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