Song Lyric Sunday: Saved By Mr Kidman

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I’ll be honest with you from the outset: this is the hardest challenge I’ve ever had to find a song for Song Lyric Sunday in the nearly two years that I’ve been doing this. As Jim’s post Shaping Music Trends tells us, this is the final week of ten that he has gone with a suggestion from Nancy, aka The Sicilian Story Teller, and whilst her previous nine have all been great this one isn’t really my thing. We are asked to play a song by a performer from the tv show American Idol. Firstly, I’m not American so this has next to no relevance to me. Secondly, I like proper music, not some overwrought screeching by a kid on a ‘journey’ after the death of their pet goldfish, which is why I don’t go near the UK equivalents of this. But as a regular participant I felt I owed it to Jim (and Nancy) to do my best, so I did some research.

The first thing I found was that, to my surprise, the show is actually broadcast here – though it is on one of the minor channels which is aimed at those whose age and IQ are in close correlation. Wikipedia has a page listing all 178 finalists over the 20+ years of the show, but I had only heard of just five of them, and liked none of them. But then I had a brainwave: these things employ established acts as coaches, mentors or judges, so maybe one of those might have played on the show, thereby counting as a ‘performer.’ Bingo! A guy whose music I enjoy had been a judge for four seasons, and returned as a guest performer for the final of the 2023 series: Nicole Kidman’s fella stepped up to the plate. This is what he played then, and while there is a video of his performance I’m going with the official one released to promote the song, as I prefer it:

And the lyrics:

Saw the man in black, spotlight in the airHeard a thousand screams, I saw my daddy stareFeel like I’ve been runnin’ since the day that I was bornEagle on my back, phoenix on my arm
 
This goes out to the driftersAnd all of the dreamers ready to flyAll those born to be rock starsLifting their guitars and painting the skyCan you hear me?All of you lost ones who aren’t really lost onesKeep shining your lightThis goes out to the wild cards and all of the wild heartsJust like mine
 
Now listenHas anyone ever told you, you’ll never amount to anythingYou’re just wasting your time chasing the tail of a dragon kind of dreamBut I’m here to tell you anything can happen in this lifeIf you got that heart and the passion and a God lit fire inside
 
This goes out to the driftersAnd all of the dreamers ready to flyAll those born to be rock starsLifting their guitars and painting the skyCan you hear me?All of you lost ones who aren’t really lost onesKeep shining your lightThis goes out to the wild cards and all of the wild heartsJust like mine
 
Oh, yeahWoo, haJust like mineOh oh, oh yeah, mm
 
Ooh and this goes out to the driftersAnd all of the dreamers ready to flyAll you born to be rock starsLifting your guitars and painting the sky, ooh
 
This goes out to the drifters (woo)And all of the dreamers ready to fly (hey)All those born to be rock starsKeep lifting your guitars and painting the sky (oh, hear me now)(Can you hear me?) Can you hear me?All of you lost ones who aren’t really lost ones (woo)Keep shining your light (uh, keep shining)This goes out to the wild cards who’s got the wild heartJust like mine
 
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Brad Tursi / Eric Paslay / Jennifer Wayne / Keith Urban
Wild Hearts lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Peermusic Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group
 
Keith Urban was born in New Zealand but his family moved to Australia when he was two, and he now holds dual Australian and American citizenship. He is very much classified as a country musician, but I think he is more a crossover into the rock/pop mainstream, and he is a very good guitarist. Wild Hearts was released in August 2021 as the lead single from an EP of the same name, and got to #1 in both the Australian and Canadian Country charts, #19 in the US Country listing and #97 in the US Billboard Hot 100. I like the positive message of the song, encouraging people not to give up on their dreams, which even an old curmudgeon such as I have to admit is a good fit for the tv show, and I liked the way that all of the other co-writers contributed as backing vocalists for the record. As my title references, Keith married Nicole Kidman in 2006 and they have two daughters together, the second having been born to a legal surrogate. The marriage doesn’t seem to have done any damage to either of their careers, does it?
 
I often play more than one song for these posts, and I thought I’d do the same again today. There is a clip which shows Keith getting emotional over another performer on the show, but I’m not going there. Instead, here is what I think is still my favourite of his songs:
 
 
This guy can rock with the best of them! Stupid Boy was first released in November 2006 on Keith’s sixth album, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, which got to #3 in the US, #2 in Canada, #5 in Australia, and was his first to enter the UK Albums Chart, at #73. It also got to #1 on the US Country Albums chart. The song was released as a single the following month, peaking at #1 in the Australian Country chart, #3 in the US Country listings, and at #43 on the US Hot 100. As I said, it has long been a favourite of mine, and I love the way he switches from acoustic to electric guitar for the second part. This won him the 2008 Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. I also rather liked the comment by a guy who uploaded another version of this to YouTube: “If you think he’s good looking, you should see his wife.”
 
That’s it for today, and I’m happy to have kept my long run of SLS appearances going, albeit it was a close run thing. Thankfully, next week’s is easier for me! And despite my (tongue in cheek) whinges about this one it was fun to do, and I’m grateful to Nancy for all of her suggestions. See you again for the next one, and there will of course be another Tuesday Tunes before then. Keep well and have a great week 😊
 
 
 

42 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Saved By Mr Kidman”

  1. Pingback: May(be) | Take It Easy

  2. These were good songs you found. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard some of his songs, but can’t remember what they were. I’d forgotten that sometimes the mentor/judges would perform on the show, so yay for the way you did the challenge. 🙂

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    • Thank you. No doubt you’ve heard him before, as he has been quite successful over there.

      I had to do the challenge that way: as I said in the post I only recognised five of the names and don’t like any of them. Choosing one of the UK variants would have been no better: they’re all crap!

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    • Chronologically the marriage came first, but if you don’t watch the show you wouldn’t have known he was a judge: I didn’t, until I researched this!

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  4. If you e seen the movie “Love Actually” you would have heard the first American Idol Kelly Clarkson, who also wrote the song – which is a beautiful ballad. That said, competition shows like that rarely produce stars they just make for “ bright lights big stage” TV

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    • I’ve seen it several times, a Christmas favourite. Am I right in thinking that Alex works on Kelly’s tv show? They’ve both done well, though all we see of it here is YouTube clips.

      I detest those competition shows: all noise and fake fun, with no true commitment to real music.

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      • Yes my wife created the daily talk show with Kelly and is the Executive Producer – they do a ton of music on it like a recent hour of songs and stories with Heart and they had Rod Stewart and Jools Holland on recently as well

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  7. And being a Pisces, I wear my heart on my sleeve, am quick to feel the bite of a sharp tongue and let my emotions guide me. Fortunately, over the years I have developed a thicker skin and let a lot slide. It’s not always easy and sometimes the teasing can be too much; that’s when this Sicilian volcano erupts! There are a lot of people who think they can get away with saying anything as long as it’s followed with “just kidding” or a laughing emoji.

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    • I’ve upset a few people on Twitter over the years with my sense of humour, and have now just about given it up to avoid doing it again! I try not to with my blog comments though – I try to keep them respectful 😉

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  10. Well done for pulling it out of the bag Clive!

    I’ve been thinking of checking out Keith Urban for a while, but haven’t quite got round to it. His look and sound on first impression seems a little more polished and ‘clean’ than I would normally go for, all a little self-aware. But I’ll make sure I listen to more of his stuff, he’s obviously this successful for good reason.

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  15. Nice choice going with Keith Urban and although I have heard his name a lot, I didn’t know much about him till I read your post, Clive. I really enjoyed the songs that you selected, and I am really happy that you were able to keep your streak going.

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    • Thank you, Jim. As I said to Nancy, the brief was performers, not contestants, which widened the field for those of us outside the US who won’t have heard of most of them.

      I’m pleased you enjoyed these – I think Keith Urban has been pigeonholed as country but is more than that. The streak continues!

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  16. By the skin of your teeth and a bit of a tap dance you managed to wind your way through what was, by your own admission, your slippery slope. Some purists may poopoo your selection today …. I mean, it is a bit of a stretch …. but in the end, it’s really not for me to say. After all, SLS isn’t my site; I only hijacked it for ten weeks! 😂

    When I made this theme suggestion to Jim, I didn’t realize American Idol would be such a limiting category. Fortunately, Jim saved this suggestion of mine for last! In hindsight, we could have expanded the theme to include countries outside the US; after all, the arm of the Idol franchise is far-reaching.

    A very fine post, Clive, and a nice bit of deductive reasoning. It doesn’t hurt that I like Keith Urban. A lot. 😁

    PS – Steven Tyler or Harry Connick would have been equally appealing to this reader. Just saying.

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    • I think my choice for today wasn’t much of a stretch – the brief did say performers on the show, not contestants!

      Expanding it to the UK and other countries would probably have had the same result for me, as I find all of these shows the antithesis of everything I like about music.

      I like Keith Urban too – and his wife! Glad you enjoyed the post. And the ribbing was, as I said, very much tongue in cheek 😊

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      • Ah, good point …. contestants v performers! You should be a lawyer!

        Please! I come from a house full of men so I know a good-natured ribbing when I hear one. My feelings needs to be grievously hurt for me to take offense. 😂

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      • No need to – I’m a Virgo by birth so innate pedantry is part of the territory!

        I thought you’d see that I wasn’t really having a go – just speaking in fun, as was the spirit of the post.

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