It’s funny; the other night Mrs. Tuned In and I were watching ’70s night on American Idol and saying how cool it would be if someone picked a Todd Rundgren or Carole King song. We had to wait for the elimination-night medley, but we got both I Saw the Light and The Earth Move.
And then the bloodletting began. Beware! Spoilage lieth beyond the jump!
So no major surprises (though I expected Kady to go) and only one disappointment in last night’s vote-off: Alexandrea, who made the cardinal sin of trying to make a boring song better (successfully), was overly harshed-upon by the judges and left the girls’ field short of one personable singer who made interesting choices, amid all the Carrie Underwood wannabes.
The big news of the night, though, was the announcement that the “Lennon/McCartney songbook” had finally been made available to American Idol. The way it was phrased, it took me a second to process: what, their solo work? Will the contestants finally be able to sing the Spies Like Us theme?
But no, this was the Holy Grail: the Beatles catalog, long lusted after by Idol’s producers. So congratulations, America! Our nation’s Xtina clones are now free to make you as sick of Let It Be as you are of Ribbon in the Sky! Adorable little David Archuleta can croon The Fool on the Hill until your heart breaks into a million unicorn-shaped pieces! You will finally learn how many extraneous show-off notes it is possible to cram into Yesterday! (Hint: more than the number of holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.)
What did you think of the elimination? And a bonus question: If you could pick one Beatles song to forbid Idol contestants to sing/ruin, for the good of humanity, which one would it be?