Let’s Have Tom Jones Teach Canadians How To Sing!

I’ve been sort of looking forward to combing through YouTube clips and blog recaps of the previous night’s Canadian Idol episode on Tuesdays, but reading that Tom Jones was the mentor this week dimmed my excitement a bit. Then, the theme is top ten UK hits? We’ve slipped quite a bit from David Bowie week, haven’t we Canada?

At the very least, Canada finally wised up and dumped Toronto “actor and writer” Sebastian Pigott. Best of luck with your career not singing, Sebastian. It’s tough when our dreams are crushed, but be glad it happened in the comfort of Canada. You got to meet Gavin Rossdale. Not everyone can say that, can they?

The unfortunate news about the bottom three was that Mookie was in the mix. Our beloved Mookie? I’ve learned from a number of CanIdol blogs that the voting on the show is almost entirely geographically determined, so it’s possible that those precious Toronto-area votes that the Pigott fellow was pulling in will swing towards the Mook. Hey, the surprisingly leathery Tom Jones likes him.

What was most frustrating about Top Ten UK Hit week was the duller than dull song selections. Did we really need a “Bleeding Love” cover so soon?

Or “Put Your Records On”?

Or “Change Your World”?

Take a look at the options available if you only restrict yourself to the songs that hit No. 1 across the pond. Why choose a Leona Lewis track when this track hit the top spot on Jan. 27, 2001?

What about the Sept. 15, 2001 top track, Bob the Builder’s “Mambo No. 5”?

Heck, I would have taken any of the four Pilot songs that made the UK top 40. Instead we get Theo Tams doing a Joss Stone track. What a magical combination.

Mitch MacDonald, who performed “Blue” by the Jayhawks one week, at least took on a John Lennon song, “Jealous Guy.” That track didn’t make the top forty for Lennon, but did make number one for Roxy Music.

Then, of course, the “rock” guy does “Creep”–not the TLC version, which was eligible, but the Radiohead song, complete with somewhat strange backing vocals probably not imagined back in 1993 by Thom Yorke and company. There are at least twelve Radiohead singles that fit the theme, but who can resist “Creep”?

Next week’s theme hasn’t been announced yet, but in two weeks, we get Anne Murray night, which should be a real delight. I hope Mookie’s still around to take on “Snow Bird.”

Canadian Idol Recap: The Top Seven Perform U.K. Hits [The Ampersand]