I’ll be honest with you from the outset: this is the hardest challenge I’ve ever had to find a song for Song LyricSunday 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 AmericanIdol. 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 air Heard a thousand screams, I saw my daddy stare Feel like I’ve been runnin’ since the day that I was born Eagle on my back, phoenix on my arm
This goes out to the drifters And all of the dreamers ready to fly All those born to be rock stars Lifting their guitars and painting the sky Can you hear me? All of you lost ones who aren’t really lost ones Keep shining your light This goes out to the wild cards and all of the wild hearts Just like mine
Now listen Has anyone ever told you, you’ll never amount to anything You’re just wasting your time chasing the tail of a dragon kind of dream But I’m here to tell you anything can happen in this life If you got that heart and the passion and a God lit fire inside
This goes out to the drifters And all of the dreamers ready to fly All those born to be rock stars Lifting their guitars and painting the sky Can you hear me? All of you lost ones who aren’t really lost ones Keep shining your light This goes out to the wild cards and all of the wild hearts Just like mine
Oh, yeah Woo, ha Just like mine Oh oh, oh yeah, mm
Ooh and this goes out to the drifters And all of the dreamers ready to fly All you born to be rock stars Lifting 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 stars Keep 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 heart Just like mine
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Brad Tursi / Eric Paslay / Jennifer Wayne / Keith Urban
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 😊
