Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 25

The top 5, Beatles week, judges choice. The judges weigh in on the cultural impact of the Beatles. Ben asks Zack what makes the Beatles music still relevant 40 years later? Zack’s answers, “It was the songs.” I watch the show for the insights of the professionals into pop music and by extension, into the heart of pop culture. I watch and watch and watch.

I loved the Beatles because they wrote their own songs, they wrote great melodies, they sang two-part harmony in a way that left room for you to join in in a way the Everly Brothers didn’t, they could sing and look cool at the same time and mostly because when they weren’t doing music hall or psychedelia, they could rock in a way I’d never seen white people do.

Earl has to go first – a serious disadvantage at the final 5 stage and beyond. The judges have picked With a Little Help From My Friends. Earl’s voice is made for this and I’m into it from the first note. Wearing a suit coat over a tieless dress shirt, topped off by a porkpie hat, he stands at the mic clutching it like he’s afraid the undertow will pull him out to sea. Never saw him this concentrated. Maybe his surprise appearance in the bottom three last week woke him up?

It seems Earl has been listening to some of the forum criticism (he never gets any from the judges, and that’s too bad – the guy is a great natural talent, but he’s got serious flaws, too). He’s focused tonight – so focused I don’t remember him opening his eyes during the entire performance. The band is a razor. When he gets to the, “Do you need anybody,” call and response section he resists the temptation to try to out Cocker Cocker and underplays his part, surprising me. His most focused performance so far.

Come Together is Mookie Morris’s assignment. With his British Invasion vibe, he’s a natural for this. Love the foot work, the boots and the marching band jacket. The arrangement is his own and it impresses. He does unexpected things with the phrasing. It’s a good job, but you know, I wish they had given him one of the early ones. Twist and Shout? Hard Days Night? Maybe even the iconic She Loves You? Gives me chills to think.

Theo gets Long and Winding Road. Theo takes a wrong turn. The judges rave and I can’t figure what the hell they were listening too. He totally missed the heart of the composition. Where was the wistfulness and longing? He friggin’ tried to power-sing one of McCartney’s few exercises in vulnerability. It’s one thing to change the melody to make it your own – it’s quite another to change the emotion. Yeah, you can get away with it sometimes and it’s brilliant when it works (remember Marty on Rockstar doing that acoustic version of Hit Me Baby One More Time?), but for me this didn’t do it.

Mitch should get down on his knees tonight and thank god for the judges’ choice. In My Life is perfect for his thin, trembling voice. He starts the piece a capella, just him and the back up singers. When the band does join in a harpist ushers them to their places and the string section keeps the synth player on the bench. The song choice of last week and tonight’s have been pitch perfect for Mitch and he is looking confident. I still can’t see this guy as a pop idol, though.

What did they put in the Kool-Aid? With the exception of Theo’s stinker, every performance tonight has been a gas.

Drew finishes the night with a revelation. He does While My Guitar Gently Weeps, playing as well as singing. He sweeps up to falsetto twice in the first stanza and you can see he’s going to go for it. And for the first time in the competition, he looks like a pop idol. Boy, this guy and Mitch are getting stronger the longer this competition goes on. And Drew gets better looking, edgier, too. Zack actually stands up in ovation after telling him he believed him for the first time.

Mulroney says that of all the shows they've done he has never wanted one to go on longer more than this one. Couldn’t have said it better myself. I haven’t got a feel for who’s going down, but I’m thinking Theo will be in the bottom three again.