ETA: My Picks are after the Jump…
It’s down to the Top 5. This week’s mentor is prolific songwriter and singer Neil Diamond. The remaining Idols will sing 2 songs each from the Neil Diamond songbook on Tuesday.
His career spans 5 decades, beginning as a songwriter in the famed Brill Building writing songs for others. After scoring hits for the Monkees, (”I’m a Believer”) Diamond was signed by a record label and had his first hit “Solitary Man” on the record charts. After that, hits like “Kentucky Woman,” and “Cherry, Cherry” followed.
In the 70’s he had hits with “Cracklin’ Rosie”, “Sweet Caroline”, “Song Sung Blue”, “Longfellow Serenade” and “September Morn”. He and Barbra Streisand had a #1 hit together, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.”
Diamond starred in the movie The Jazz Singer in 1980. The popular soundtrack featured the songs, “Love on the Rocks”, “Hello Again”, and “America”. He also scored a hit with the theme from the movie ET, “Heartlight”, in 1983.
After a bit of a slump in the late 80’s and 90’s, Neil Diamond re-emerged, made hip for the young folks. His song “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon” was featured in Quentin Tarrentino’s Pulp Fiction and producer Rick Rubin who began his career producing hip-hop records (and eventually working with Johnny Cash), produced Diamond’s latest record 12 songs.
Some covers of Neil Diamond songs you may or may not know:
Elvis Presley - “Sweet Caroline” and “And The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind,” UB40 - “Red Red Wine” and Johnny Cash - “Solitary Man.”
“Sweet Caroline” is the theme song of the Red Sox Nation. Just thought I’d throw that in there. Heh.
I like Neil Diamond’s work from the 60’s and early 70’s. After that, in my opinion, he became a bit of a hack. “You Don’t Send Me Flowers” makes me want to run screaming from the room. I mean…HATE. But hey, that’s just me. I haven’t heard his recent work with producer Rick Rubin, but it’s been very well received by critics.
This is a good theme for the folkies, Brooke White and Jason Castro. Unfortunately, one of them will probably be eliminated this week. What could R&B singer, Syesha Mercado possibly sing? David Cook will pick a song that sounds like a ridiculous song choice at first glance and then proceed to kill it. That appears to be his MO so far. Why change it? David Archuleta should have no problem finding a song to fit his style.
In a bit, I’ll add my picks. But in the meantime, what are yours?
My Picks:
- Syesha Mercado - “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show”, “September Morn”
- David Cook - “Thank the Lord for the Nighttime”, “Solitary Man”
- David Archuleta - “America”, “I’m a Believer”
- Jason Castro - “And the Grass Won’t Pay No Mind”, “Red Red Wine”
- Brooke White - “Heartlight”, “Holly Holy”
Hmmmmm…Nair in his shampoo….Guess my theory of Archie’s fan base is correct….tweens!!!
Holly- I could get on board with that “spoiler list”, but I’ll just wait till tomorrow. Lord knows there are more lists floating in cyberspace that will surface by morning.
Sarah…why does Cheese hate me???? sniff sniff
Wow, I’m young. I don’t even think my dad has any of those…
She’s just (optimistically) pessimistic (I couldn’t resist…lol). But not to your benefit, apparently. Or mine too, for that matter.
@Holly: Rumored? I could get on board with that, too, but I’ll just wait like bax. Neil Diamond and iTunes Top 100 in one night is a strange mash-up of themes, by the way. JMO.
and.. (forgot this in my last post)
DA and Seyesha should both sing “African Suite”
David C…. do Crunchy Granola Suite and rock out.
Since it’s long, w/instrumental parts between, cut and paste and knock our socks off! You should see/hear the young ND do this.
On Youtube take a look at someone’s post of Lordy and the picture of ND. Im tellin’ ya this guy was wild in concert and hot. OK he’s old now. Every good lookin’ young guy you see now will someday get old hee hee…what’s hot now will someday be not. We all get a little less hot as we age, but this guy “is” a legend. Much respect due.
Having said that, I agree that not every week should be old music even tho I’m a geezerette.
So where is this Jason on the bongos rumor coming from? THAT would be something; he is originally a drummer, so he could impress. Heck, Randy has professed to love drummers. Talk about originality; not sure how he would work it into the performance, but it would definitely get people talking (and voting, if successful).
When I was a teenybopper, I lurved Mark Lindsay’s version of “And the Grass Won’t Pay No Mind” from the “Silverbird” LP. Y’all remember Mark from Paul Revere and the Raiders, right? Yup, I got me an eclectic music collection arranged in alphabetical order by artist/artist’s last name (I’m a librarian, after all). Mark Lindsay shares a shelf with John Legend, the Lemonheads, John Lennon, Level 42, Los Lobos, Lene Lovich, the Lovin’ Spoonful, and Nick Lowe.
I am one of Jason’s fans who thinks he can sing almost anything, so it’s probably most important for him to like his selections and believe in them. That said, breaking out the drums for “Red, Red Wine” and the geetar for “Solitary Man” or “Play Me” would make me very happy.
I know some lovely, happily married women of a certain age who wouldn’t miss a Neil Diamond concert and still consider him their “boyfriend”(shades of Claymania!). I’m sure nobody around here has any celebrity “boyfriends” they never met. Ahem. Anyway, they’ll bump up AI’s ratings tomorrow night, but hopefully they will be sufficiently discouraged when they pick up the phone for ArchuD2 and the line is busy.
Terrie
My son is a producer for cbs radio, former dj…in Portland OR and Mark Lindsday has a cool club there.
oops typo..of course thats Mark Lindsay.(paul revere & the raiders). Everyone thought “he” was the hot one in the group. sorry gettin’ off subject.
Our friend, faith, shared the following Neil Diamond quote with us:
My voice is unadorned. I don’t try for perfection. I try to be honest and truthful and soulful with the voice I have. If I make mistakes in notes, or there are cracks in notes, I don’t fix them. That’s the way it is.
I think he’ll get Jason.
DC/JC Top 2 - I can dream
Please, I hope this is true. 10 ND songs might do me in.
The Neil Diamond week Idolatry video is up:
http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/04/idol-neil-diamo.html
Ohmygosh they’re so right about Syesha singing Red Red Wine. She would do amazing with it, and maybe save herself and get Brooke kicked off instead. Hmm…
I post my ND list… I go to work…I return 211 posts later. Yep, it was a good day. Thanks, all.
Red Red Wine would be good for Syesha if done in a hip hop style. Problem is, she goes for the obvious, and that is not an obvious choice for her. I just don’t think she’s creative enough to come up with something like that.
With that said, I am starting to think Jason is going to do it, esp if it is true that he has been working on the bongos this week. I actually hope this rumor is true.
Where did the rumor come from?
Could Brooke get away with doing a Joni Mitchell song on Neil Diamond night?
Joni probably wouldn’t release the song.
Thanks for the vid Cheese…
Joydrop–Syishia sings “Red Red Wine”could be very big night for her.
CJ: hide that kid’s cell phone. hide it, hide it.
Trina: listen to the studio recording of “Innocent” — it’s really good. Not a song you can excerpt easily to fit into a two-minute idol slot. The whole thing makes much more sense when you hear it in full.
As for song choices….yeesh. As others have suggested, anything ANYTHING but “You Don’t Send Me Flowers” and that goopy brand of Neil Diamond. I can’t help it, I’ve always adored “I’m a Believer,” one of the great teenybopper ecstasies. I think and maybe even hope nobody will touch it, especially DC who likes to walk on the wilder side (except during AWL week). “Solitary Man” and “Sweet Caroline,” also “You Got to Me,” groovy. Here’s some advice from USA today, including someone who doesn’t get DC at all — he considers him Mr. Anguish and Pain — where was he when David sang a delightful rendition of “Happy Together”?
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2008-04-28-coaches_N.htm
I read the bongo rumor on another board - but I just mentioned it in passing. I didn’t post it originally because I didn’t know the original poster and I didn’t know how reliable they are. Also, I can’t remember which board I read it on. It may have been Survivor Sucks, in which case, you can really take it with a grain of salt. It was either there or IDF since those are the only other two boards I even glance at. So really, BIG grain of salt on the rumor of the bongos!!!
I just really want them all to do Will Ferrell’s version. So. Badly.
David Cook “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” might sent me through puberty a second time. I also think Jason Castro could do a really kickass version of it.
I also think either David Cook or Brooke White could kill with “Hello Again”. They both have the vulnerability to really milk that one. “Play Me”, too.
“Song Sung Blue” was pretty much written for Castro, wasn’t it?
Maybe “Cherry, Cherry” or “You Got To Me” for David Archuleta? Be nice to see him bring some of the “Shop Around” vibe back. “I’m A Believer” might work, too, although Castro or Cook would also be fun on that.
And Syesha… oh, man. I actually think she could put a cool R&B funk on “Cracklin’ Rosie”, but she could balance plates on her head while curing cancer and I’m not sure it would matter at this point.
Hey, David Cook fans!
I thought I had seen about everything that was out there of David’s. But I was rummaging through old posts at the VTFW forum - this video was posted by someone way back in January. It’s from an Oklahoma travel website, shows a performance of David’s as a promotion for a solo show he did:
http://oklatravel.net/#/Video/16274
So cool!
Rita
ooh ty rita i love it
wish i knew how to rip these vids lol
Go DA
Oh that hair, do something david. anything. shave it. spike it like Dave
Go DA
I was listening to UB40’s “Red Red Wine”, and I was totally into the idea of Jason singing that one. Alas, it’s not to be….. Watch Cookie pick that one up. His song choices shake me to the core because they are so NOT obvious. Maybe I can use some telepathy to communicate with him…. “Must bring Les Paul, must bring Les Paul….”
They’re have a similar plan for Jason. It’s very hush hush. Code word is Delilah. Still trying to figure it out…
ETA: Oh, I know! He’s going to sing “Hey There Delilah†next week. That must be it!!!!!1111!!!
Thanks for the article colette!
I love this part:
“Nobody else but David C. can do Solitary Man, Cherry Cherry or Kentucky Woman. He’s a man among boys. And all he’s got to do is let his performance reflect that. “
Innocent is a great song. The Idol live feed started in the middle of the song. Simon was all into the jacket……. Thye full length version is really nice
“Innocent” is actually one of my favorites…along with “BJ” and “ABMB”.
Joan left her first hint at popwatch:
I’m going to start the spoiler thread…
@colette - Don’t worry, she won’t be able to find it any Tuesday evening for as long as JC is still in the running. MWAHAHAHAHA! Actually, I think I’ll use her cell and mine to vote for DC. I may have to hide in the car to vote, but that’s a small price to pay.