Susan Boyle Wows "Britain's Got Talent"

Forty-seven year old Susan Boyle ("never been married, never been kissed") stood uncomfortably on the Britain's Got Talent stage before as the three judges (Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan, and Amanda Holden) sized her up and tried to trip her up.

Three and a half days after posting, the Youtube video (here) of Susan Boyle singing, "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables, attained some 5.3 million viewings and over 30,000 comments (according to Wikipedia). This, by the way, is just the most popular of several postings of the performance.

We see the camera pan across the audience as people roll their eyes in disbelief. But Susan Boyle does not get through the first line before Simon Cowell's eyebrows shoot up as quickly as previously unknown Susan Boyle's reputation has in the week since she saw her dream of singing before a large audience come true. As Piers Morgan says, after her performance, "Everyone was laughing at you. No one is laughing now."

This gentle, unassuming lady who lives with her cat and put her career on hold to take care of her mother, who died two years ago (Wikipedia) has touched a nerve as well as ears and hearts around the world.

Simon Cowell leads American Idol judges in complaining that singers do not choose appropriate songs. Certainly part of Susan Boyle's appeal to the judges and audience of Britain's Got Talent was her absolutely perfect choice of songs, "I Dreamed a Dream," with its bittersweet look back at life lived hard, a song that the kids of American Idol have no business singing: "I had a dream my life would be / So different from this hell I'm living." (Do click on "More Info" on the Youtube page to read the lyrics.)

Again, unlike so many American Idol contestants, she does not come to the stage with former recording contracts, In fact, her singing experience has been limited to church choir and karaoke, according to this Susan Boyle website (here). In a charming interview available on Youtube (here), she acknowledges the support of her church choir as well as the sheer lack of interest of Pebbles, her cat.

She may not have had a recording contract, but according to another Susan Boyle website (here), "Simon Cowell will give Susan a record deal, even in the unlikely event that she doesn't win."

In the interview, the "The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell" (Wkipedia) talks of taking "baby steps." Well, Susan, baby, step up. The world is waiting for you.