American Idol's Casey James Gives Quirky Performance of "Mrs. Robinson"

Last night's performance on American Idol of Casey James was absolutely fantastic, as he sang, "Mrs. Robinson." The song was written by Paul Simon, and was on the soundtrack for the movie, The Graduate.

When I use the word "quirky" to describe his performance, I do so in a good sense. One of the things being judged by each performance is their artistic ability, and Casey did so with this song. In fact, it kind of put me in mind of Tiny Tim singing "Tip-Toe Through the Tulips" in the 1960s. Though the song didn't give me goose bumps, it was cute and I liked it.

Though the judges weren't negative in their remarks about the performance, I was left unsure how they really felt. Randy said, "It was kind of a laid back version of the song," and Ellen; as always with the jokes said, "I wish they had given you a big boy guitar. I liked it." Kara didn't say whether she thought the performance was good or bad, just "For me it was a good choice." Simon though, was probably the most open in how he felt. He said, "The song and performance had substance. It was a little bit lazy. There has been some strange song choices tonight, and that was one of them."

Perhaps the song choice was a bit strange, but you have to have heard the music of the 60's to really appreciate the performance of Casey on American Idol last night.

The judges did seem to do a reversal in their attitudes though, after hearing the duet that he sang with Michael Lynche. They sang "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" written for the movie Don Juan DeMarco, starring Johnny Depp. Randy said, "Nice one!" Kara said, "Incredible! Better than all," and Simon topped them all off with "Really good. Well done!"

Casey performed well last night, and it was well done!