February 26, 2015

Nick, Quentin, Savion, Qaasim, Clark, Rayvon, Adam, Daniel, Mark, Trevor, Riley, Michael.

In that order.

Clark Beckham had been my favorite up until last night, but then he went and sang a song that I not only have disliked for half a century, but that just yesterday morning I'd been going on about not liking. And getting ready to write this post, needing to rave against it once more, I found myself paraphrasing it as I would kill my best friend if that's what my psycho girlfriend wants.

25 comments:

Meade said...

When a man loves a woman
He can do her no wrong,
He can never want
Some other girl.
Yes,When a man loves a woman
I know exactly how he feels,
'Cause baby, baby, you're my world


What's wrong with that?

MadisonMan said...

That young kid is creepy. And to sing a Michael Bolton song is to invite doom on Idol, IMO.

Thought the guy from Brooklyn who closed the show was a great entertainer.

I'm still at the stage where I don't know the names.

Ann Althouse said...

"He'll trade the world for the good thing he's found/If she is bad, he can't see it, she can do no wrong/Turn his back on his best friend if he put her down..."

Man, your girlfriend is ruining your life.

Yeah? Well, you just don't know the meaning of high class love. And you're not my friend anymore.

bleh said...

Maybe Althouse has unhappy memories from school dances in the mid-1960s, where that song surely was one of the most popular slow dances.

MadisonMan said...

The guy from the Twin Cities with the hair...I liked his voice, but maybe I'm too old to appreciate the hipster doofus look.

Also...too many beards in general on the show.

I am a little tired of that song, but though Clark did okay with it. So I hope he goes through.

Ann Althouse said...

"Maybe Althouse has unhappy memories from school dances in the mid-1960s, where that song surely was one of the most popular slow dances."

I have no memory of ever dancing to that song.

I wrote about that song on this blog in March 2004 (2 months after starting the blog) and in the context of blogging "American Idol":

"Personally, I'm not a young girl, but I once was, and I remember very well how I felt about idolizing singers. I was interested in male singers who seemed to be boys, not men. I wrote a few days ago that the group Them wasn't quite what I liked at the time. This was the reason: Van Morrison sounded like a man. For the same reason, I wanted nothing to do with something like, say, Percy Sledge singing When a Man Loves a Woman. Young girls are interested in a singer who is an idealized boyfriend. That's why they liked Clay Aiken so very much. That's why we loved The Monkees."

"When a Man Loves a Woman" came out in 1966. I was 15, and Percy Sledge was a 26-year-old man getting all extreme about his heavy relationship with a "high class" woman. I doubt very much that our school would have played that for the slow-dancing purposes of 15-year-olds.

If I had to guess a song we slow-danced to that year, it would be "Michelle" by The Beatles. 

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...


It's a guy thing.

For anyone who still thinks men and women are not wired differently, the reaction of Ann to 'When a Man Loves A Woman', is exhibit 'A', that they are.

Guys understand that song.

CStanley said...

Clay Aiken= idealized boyfriend. Heh.

SHTSI- I'm a woman and I get that song, and have always liked it. I think Ann is overthinking it by examining it as a morality tale when it is about the pure emotional pull of a love affair.

Ann Althouse said...

"Guys understand that song."

Yeah? Well, how about building some character and strength and maybe you could get a high-class woman instead of having to sleep out in the rain because of that psycho girlfriend your friends keep trying to tell you is no good.

Laslo Spatula said...

Crazy stalker song. Most love songs are.

I am Laslo.

MadisonMan said...

How am I supposed to live without you

That's just as bad. I'm always thinking when I hear it Oh get over it

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

Me: "Guys understand that song."

Ann: Yeah? Well, how about building some character and strength and maybe you could get a high-class woman instead of having to sleep out in the rain because of that psycho girlfriend your friends keep trying to tell you is no good.


I rest my case.

Laslo Spatula said...

Sometimes a Man's Love is so strong even a Restraining Order can't stop him.


I am Laslo.

Ann Althouse said...

"How am I supposed to live without you/That's just as bad. I'm always thinking when I hear it Oh get over it."

Yeah. I think: "and so you're back/from outer space/I just walked in to find you here/with that sad look upon your face...."

Ann Althouse said...

"'Cause baby, baby, you're my world'...What's wrong with that?"

Why would a woman want to be a world as opposed to a person in the world with the man?

What is the good of being someone else's world? Where is this world and what does it mean for her to attempt to live in it? If he's her world, then they are, oddly, in 2 different worlds, a couple of weird planets, doing who knows what?

Ann Althouse said...

(Speaking of coming back from outer space...)

Ann Althouse said...

@SomeoneHasToSayIt

So men are from Venus, women are from Mars?

bleh said...

Women love rom-coms and gossip about relationships, but in my experience men are the true romantics. Women are more often cynical or jaded about these things. For example, women are more likely to scoff at the notion of "one true love" or laugh at cheeseball sentiment.

That said, when a handsome, earnest and kind man sweeps them off their feet, they become jello.

virgil xenophon said...

I dunno. I'm in agreement with critic Oliver about Simeon's pick/performance being the worst. ANYTHING by Michael Bolton is, to this little Indian, ABSOLUTELY beyond the pale..

CStanley said...

What is the good of being someone else's world? Where is this world and what does it mean for her to attempt to live in it? If he's her world, then they are, oddly, in 2 different worlds, a couple of weird planets, doing who knows what?

Sheesh, again with the overthinking.

To my ear, the song is an expression of the strength of the emotion. If morality enters into it, it's as a caution to not exploit the other person. IOW, I see far more reason to criticize the woman in the song whose love is "heartless" than the man who is struggling with a natural tendency.

Bob Boyd said...

Best moment in your life or any man's life is when that woman walks into a room full of people, stares across that sea of faces into yours and says, "He's the one!"
Most times its happened to me has been in a police line up, but what the fuck? - Otis Lee Crenshaw

'Women Call It Stalking'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyM8UTEsRUg&list=PL150218B8892B17E1&index=2

Bad Lieutenant said...

No, Ann is being honest. She knows she's not worthy of that kind of love, can't even comprehend it, and certainly is incapable of reciprocating. Trouble is chickie you're spoiling it for everyone else.

Smilin' Jack said...

Ann Althouse said...
"He'll trade the world for the good thing he's found/If she is bad, he can't see it, she can do no wrong/Turn his back on his best friend if he put her down..."

Man, your girlfriend is ruining your life..


Jesus, the song is in subjunctive mood. He's not describing a particular girlfriend, he's talking about how love feels. AI must be rotting your brain as well as your ears.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...



"subjunctive mood"

Excellent, Smilin' Jack. Go to the head of the class.

Laslo Spatula said...

Now THIS is how a Love Song is done.

"(You're) Having My Baby"
(feat. Odia Coates)

[Paul:]
Havin' my baby
What a lovely way of sayin'
How much you love me
Havin' my baby
What a lovely way of sayin'
What you're thinkin' of me
I can see it, face is glowin'
I can see in your eyes
I'm happy you know it

[Both:]
That you're havin' my baby

[Paul:]
You're the woman I love
And I love what it's doin' to ya

[Both:]
Havin' my baby

[Paul:]
You're a woman in love
And I love what's goin' through ya

[Paul:]
The need inside you
I see it showin'
Whoa, the seed inside ya
Baby, do you feel it growin'
Are you happy you know it
That you're

[Both:]
Havin' my baby

[Odia:]
I'm a woman in love
And I love what it's doin' to me

[Both:]
Havin' my baby

[Odia:]
I'm a woman in love
And I love what's goin' through me

[Paul:]
Didn't have to keep it
Wouldn't put ya through it
You could have swept it from you life
But you wouldn't do it
No, you wouldn't do it

[Both:]
And you're havin' my baby

[Odia:]
I'm a woman in love
And I love what it's doin' to me

[Both:]
Havin' my baby

[Odia:]
I'm a woman in love
And I love what's goin' through me

[Paul:]
Havin' my baby (havin' my baby)
What a lovely way of sayin'
How much you love me

[Paul:]
Havin' my baby
(havin' my baby)

[Odia:]
I'm a woman in love
And I love what's goin' through me


I am Laslo.