Idol Chatter: The Final Three

So tonight, we finally get to hear two songs from the finalists; one they chose themselves and one the judges chose. I have a few thoughts on both. But first, my song choices for this week. Since our first song would be a choice of our own, I think I would go with something like this:

Now, for the judges pick, I can only speculate as to what they would choose. Maybe something a little more country rock. Sooooo maybe something like this:

And now onto the REAL contestants:

*Casey -- “OK, It’s Alright With Me”: Yet another lackluster snooze of a performance by Casey James. Standing there with his acoutstic guitar like he's done a million times. He made the mistake of singing a song that not a lot of people would know, and he sucked at it anyway. The guy has absolutely no heart or passion when it comes to singing. This has become evident week, after week.

His second song was "Daughters" by John Mayer. Kara and Randy picked this song for him, and I think they sent him on a suicide mission with it. The arrangement was WAY to slow, and whe whole thing was just as boring as the first performance. If he was looking to redeem himself with this one, it didn't work.

*Crystal -- "Come to my Window": I completely hated the arrangement for this. I know, it was vintage Crystal, and probably something that would show up on her debut album, but I didn't care for it, and the mouth organ didn't do her any favors either.

Her second song was "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney. I really wasn't impressed with this as a song choice, and though that Ellen really dropped the ball with this one. I mean having a girl sing a song that had repeating lines of "maybe I'm a man" probably wasn't really smart. But she still kicked Casey's butt, and probably solidified her place in the top two.

*Lee -- "Simple Man": This is one of my favorite Skynard songs ever. So, I was really excited to see what he would do with it, and man.....he didn't disappoint a bit. I thought it was fantastic choice. He sung it brilliantly, and really proved himself to be a contender.

"Hallelujah": I have to admit that I wasn't sure what Simon was thinking when he chose this song for Lee. It just didnt' seem like something he could excel at. And again, I was proven wrong, and pleasantly suprised. Lee hit this one out of the park. Probably my favorite rendition of this song since K.D. Lang did it at the Vancouver Olympics.

My thoughts are that Casey is going to be going home tonight. I think that is a no-brainer. But everyone has expected a Lee/Crystal finale for weeks. However, where I once thought Crystal was a lock to win it all.....now I'm not so sure. She needs to really blow it up next week. It's gonna be an interesting final outcome.