May 21, 2018

Maddie Poppe sings Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide"...



... on the "American Idol" finale last night. The results are revealed tonight, in a show that will include, among other things, Maddie Poppe singing her audition song, "Rainbow Connection," with Kermit the Frog. I don't know what you like to watch on TV but Maddie Poppe singing "Rainbow Connection" with Kermit the Frog sounds like the best thing that's been on TV in years.

Here's the audition version of "Rainbow Connection" (one of my all-time favorite songs):



ADDED: "If not for american idol i may have never heard her artistry.she is so cute.when i hear her sing it makes me want to ride a merry go round at the county fair" — a comment on this video from last year, before the TV-show competition began:

43 comments:

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

She picks perfect songs.

tim in vermont said...

SHe seems to see the stuff in songs that maybe inspired them, but was hidden by all of the glitz and production.

rehajm said...

Already a winner with a bright future.

Leland said...

I miss John Denver too.

MadisonMan said...

The problem with Idol in May: It's light 'til about 9, and I'm outside, and then I go inside with no wish to watch TV.

Wince said...

From the outside, this contest (coronation?) seems more dragged-out than the Mueller investigation.

Is there anyone actually competing against her?

Henry said...

Every time I watch one of these clips, Katy Perry creeps me out. There's this weird parody queen bee thing she's doing, as if she were an animatronic prop for each show's theme. You're dressed in a costume? I'm going to be more dressed in a costume. You're blond and cute? I'm going to be more blond and cute.

I love the church social atmosphere in the first video.

Danno said...

Ragbrai, is she from Iowa?

Ann Althouse said...

"Ragbrai, is she from Iowa?"

Yes.

She's from Clarksville —  "a city in Butler County, Iowa, United States, along the Shell Rock River. The population was 1,439 at the 2010 census... The per capita income for the city was $14,811."

Jupiter said...

Cute kid, but lose the uke.

tim in vermont said...

I guess this is more on the bringing a flat text to life riff.

Ann Althouse said...

Is the Iowa Clarksville the Clarksville of "Last Train to Clarksville"? Probably not:

"It has often been presumed that the song refers to Clarksville, Tennessee, which is near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the home of the 101st Airborne Division, which was then serving in Vietnam. However, according to songwriter Bobby Hart, that was not the case. Instead, according to Hart, "We were just looking for a name that sounded good. There's a little town in northern Arizona I used to go through in the summer on the way to Oak Creek Canyon called Clarkdale. We were throwing out names, and when we got to Clarkdale, we thought Clarksville sounded even better. We didn't know it at the time, [but] there is an Army base near the town of Clarksville, Tennessee — which would have fit the bill fine for the storyline. We couldn't be too direct with The Monkees. We couldn't really make a protest song out of it — we kind of snuck it in"."

By the way: "[Bobby] Hart got the idea for the lyrics when he turned on the radio and heard the end of The Beatles' "Paperback Writer". He thought Paul McCartney was singing "Take the last train", and decided to use the line when he found out McCartney was actually singing "Paperback Writer". Hart knew that The Monkees TV series was being pitched as a music/comedy series in the spirit of The Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night, so he was hoping that by emulating The Beatles, this song might lead to a successful single, which it did. To help ensure that, he decided to include a distinctive guitar riff and wrote in the "Oh No-No-No, Oh No-No-No" lyrics as a response to The Beatles' famous "Yeah Yeah Yeah"."

traditionalguy said...

Those Deplorables sure raise cute kids. Thank God she was not aborted by Planned Parenthood killing teams.

Christopher said...

Wow, she's great, I wish her every success.

I probably couldn't listen to ukelele nonstop for a long time, but it adds great variety--and as simple as the RAGBRAI clip sounds she has precise control of that instrument.

Love "The Reason." Some of it has a very strong Weepies-esque feel to it, if any of you remember them. Loved them too.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

He thought Paul McCartney was singing "Take the last train", and decided to use the line when he found out McCartney was actually singing "Paperback Writer"

If you listen carefully, it's clear that McCartney is singing covfefe.

Christopher said...

Every time I watch one of these clips, Katy Perry creeps me out.

Me too. Something snapped inside.

SGT Ted said...

Just doesn't do it for me.

MadisonMan said...

he decided to include a distinctive guitar riff and wrote in the "Oh No-No-No, Oh No-No-No" lyrics as a response to The Beatles' famous "Yeah Yeah Yeah"."

You have to like a songwriter with a sense of humor.

Ralph L said...

She's wearing anti-Nicks knickers.

tim in vermont said...

I love these origin stories for pieces of art. Reading Twelve Rules, Peterson quotes a paragraph from Dostoyevsky that probably was the inspiration for Pygmalion. George Bernard Shaw no doubt read the book, and I think he acknowledged Dostoevsky by using the same girl's name, "Liza."

I certainly never took that song seriously, but now I will at least listen to all of the lyrics.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Maddie Poppe sings Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide"...

Am I the only one who finds that song way overdone? I haven't had a chance to watch the above clip, but I've never heard a version of Landslide that wasn't a chore to listen to.

Ralph L said...

My sister has a Polish-English friend who makes her living playing the ukelele in Europe and America. I guess you have to travel with it--people can only take so much.

tim in vermont said...

Wow, that story is the key that unlocks the song. I was a child when I used to watch The Monkees and I guess I just filed the verses away as incomprehensible filler.

As for Ukeleles, they beat those canned accompaniments a lot of singers use.

Rick.T. said...

Jupiter said...

"Cute kid, but lose the uke.


Well, a cute kid with a ukelele won a $1 million a couple years ago in a talent competition. It's a proven formula.

Rick.T. said...

Jake Shimabukuro seems to make a fair living playing the uke.

who-knew said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
iowan2 said...

The cute kid with a yuke, from a couple of years ago AGT? What ever happened to her? Not sure, but I thing she performed all her original writing. A lot of talent packed into a 12? year old.

who-knew said...

So, I went out and played all the clips I could find of Maddie Poppe. I think she's fantastic. The best one might have been "The Reason" from RAGBRAI. The simpler the better for her arrangements. And I disagree with the Ukelele haters, I like how they sound behind a singer. Mid-life lawyer is right, she has great instincts on song selection. Unfortunately, she seems to have a good chance of winning and I expect the American Idol producers to ruin her career with a overproduction and crappy songs. Every original she sings puts her official American Idol song to shame, but that's what she's stuck with as her first single.

Dude1394 said...

Very nice, thanks for the posting.

Bill Peschel said...

I haven't cared about American Idol since, well, ever. It helps I don't have cable TV. But it's nice seeing your enthusiasm about the show, and I'm actually watching some of the clips. Weird how susceptible to someone else's influence we can be.

michaele said...

She's adorable and I like her and her voice just as much or even more in the clip from before the competition. She's infectiously charming and her likability is through the roof. Hope she wins. I used to watch Idol religiously but lost interest during the Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj feud year.

Quaestor said...

American Idol is one of those two-shits-not-given things. However, a contestant doing K.T. Frog tends to reduce the whole thing by at least half a shit. Unless she sings "It Ain't Easy Being Green". Now, that's entertainment.

tonyg said...

"Am I the only one who finds that song way overdone? I haven't had a chance to watch the above clip, but I've never heard a version of Landslide that wasn't a chore to listen to."

Try Ann Hampton Callaway's version. Beautiful. No chore at all to listen to. And that's coming from someone who's not a fan of Stevie Nicks or the song.

Jim Gust said...

Ladies and gentlemen, the next Carrie Underwood.

Howard said...

She lacks heart and soul, but the voice is perfect.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Am I the only one who finds that song way overdone? I haven't had a chance to watch the above clip, but I've never heard a version of Landslide that wasn't a chore to listen to.

She's too young to sing that song.

Danno said...

Ann, Thanks for giving info on her Iowa roots. I have read much on Ragbrai, but have never felt like doing a multi-day bicycle ride in Iowa in their hot/humid summer. I see Clarksville is about six miles as the crow flies from Nashua, Iowa, where a couple I met in my month down in Panama City Beach, Florida was from.

eddie willers said...

I've always thought that the "Paperback Writer" / "Rain" single was a watershed moment.

For the first time, here were teenage pop songs that were NOT Moon/June love songs. Just a day in the life. Revolver, leading off with "Taxman", came next.

Rock & roll had grown up.

Jack Reagan said...

Ann - I totally agree with you on the Rainbow Connection. An absolutely lovely sone.

Mrs. X said...

...and she won! Voters got it right.

Snark said...

She's fine, but her sound is derivative of a particular trend in recent years from bands like Of Monsters and Men.

Be said...

Par for the course, if one's ear is similar to one's nose.

Be said...

Par for the course, if one's ear is similar to their nose.