For a few splendid minutes tonight, "American Idol" was everything we could hope for: Two of the greatest songs ever written were performed by the two best people in the competition.
Here are a few of my comments; please add yours:
1) Those best-songs-ever? "Me and Bobby McGee," sung by Crystal Bowersox, and "When a Man Loves a Woman," by Michael Lynche. To hear them back-to-back was a great pleasure.
2) That got me thinking about just what might be the 10 best songs ever. I've put my tentative, primitive, maybe list at the end; please add your own. Yes, it includes the two songs above; it also has two by the same writer.
3) Sure, the judges were semi-harsh on Michael's "When a Man"; they said he sang it like many people do. I disagree; he sang it like many people TRY to do. It's a big song that needs to be sung in a big way and sung well. Big Mike nailed it.
4) Siobhan Magnus? Tonight, I loved her voice and hated her hair. She arrived with the best hair on "Idol"; I don't know why anyone had to mess with it, trying to make her look like a contestant for Mrs. America of 1962.
5) And let's face it: No "Idol" contestant has ever done a primal scream as well as Siobhan. It's not that easy to get it right; just ask Danny Gokey.
6) Lee Dewyze also sang well tonight, even though his look -- gold chains on black -- made him seem like the lounge singer for a Mob-controlled casino.
7) Others singing well: Aaron Kelly, Casey James and Katie Stevens.
8) Katie was the one who most obviously had a connection with Miley Cyrus, who was mentoring them. As for Casey, "I'm a big fan ..." he said, as Miley started to grin, "...of your father." It was an honest note from Casey ... who started performing in clubs when this "mentor" was 6 years old.
9) That leaves the bottom three -- Paige Miles, Tim Urban and Didi Benami. Didi had the advantage of being late in the show, which is important for a show that runs two hours. I think Paige will go.
10) Now my very tentative list of the 10 best songs, inspired by hearing two of them tonight. Those two, as I mentioned earlier, were "Me and Bobby McGee" and "When a Man Loves a Woman." The others, in no particular order: "A Change is Gonna Come," "Crazy," "Stand By Me," "Imagine," "Summertime," "Memory," "Where've You Been" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night." That makes Kris Kristofferson the person with two songs on the list, with "Bobby McGee" and "Help Me Make It"; lots of greats -- Sam Cooke, John Lennon, Willie Nelson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, George and Ira Gershwin -- are tied at one apiece. Then again, I'll probably change my mind soon; please correct me and add some more.