Posted on 04/19/2009 4:24:54 AM PDT by rhema
For sheer goosebumpery, Susan Boyle was at least as effective as Paul Potts. Why I fall head over heels for video clips from a British television show called 'Britain's Got Talent'' is mystifying. We have on our shores 'American Idol,'' which I imagine is similar — unknowns hoping for a big break and a recording contract compete for the attention of the show's hosts and the viewing audience.
But I don't watch "American Idol,'' other than to glimpse it while passing through a room, and I have never been alerted to or been sent a clip from "American Idol,'' which suggests to me that here in America, our amateurs have a needy sheen of entitlement. They aren't necessarily endearing.
There is less underdog factor.
Ah, but the Brits are perfecting the ascension of the underdog. Susan Boyle, for example, appearing last week, might as well have brought onto the stage the bushel basket she had been hiding her talent under up in her village in Scotland.
I was goosebumped the first time in June 2007 by a fellow named Paul Potts. Same thing. I was alerted to a YouTube clip, my first exposure to "Britain's Got Talent.'' Potts, we learned, was on leave from his job as a manager of a cell phone store. He was 37 and had been singing most of his life but had suffered a few injuries — chief among them a broken collarbone — which prevented him from pursuing his dream of singing in the opera.
But beyond his essential anonymity, Potts had the look, as would Boyle two years later. Potts looked like a fellow who believed he should always sit in the back of the class and not raise his hand. His suit didn't fit like anything off Savile Row, and he appeared to have maybe one or two teeth too many, if you know what I mean.
He was not handsome, or so we think.
And, as I have caught on, the panel, led by Simon Cowell, relishes the opportunity to bring out these wallflowers and then treat them poorly with smirks and rolling eyes and nudges of the elbow. If that is choreographed, it is done brilliantly. And then the poor contestant is asked, condescendingly, "What is it you would like to sing for us?''
Potts said opera or Puccini or something like that, and this caused a great sighing and slumping of shoulders in the audience, which was the same as saying: "This chap? This dork is going to sing Puccini?''
Potts sang Giacomo Puccini's "Nessum Dorma.'' Well, he more than brought down the house. The goosebumpery meter went off the charts. He was brilliant. It certainly is reassuring to remember that it must be in our deepest nature to cheer such things, to cheer away the hurts or the doubts suffered by others. Potts is now a star.
Susan Boyle fit the template even better than Potts. Boyle, 47, a church volunteer from Blackburn, Scotland, said she's never even been kissed. She said that laughingly, as if to pronounce the absurdity of such a fate. She tried to be flirtatious, but it made you ache. She said she wanted to be a singer "like Elaine Paige,'' who is only England's first lady of song, and this caused the expected guffaws in the audience, the smirks, the rolled eyes.
Cowell, especially, seemed to be having fun at Boyle's expense, her dowdiness. Even her age got a laugh. She was dressed in something that had perhaps been in her closet forever.
She was not at all lovely, or so we think.
Boyle sang "I Dreamed a Dream'' from "Les Miserables.''
"I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living."
The goosebumpery meter went through the glass, just shattered the meter. She was at that moment and now remains the loveliest woman in the world.
But one song could not have done that, one song cannot make someone handsome or lovely. It is always there, but we don't see it.
I’ve seen the clip 15 times at least since it had 11 million views and my eyes have been wet at the end of every viewing. I think that this is God’s way of honoring Miss Boyle for the sacrifice of taking care of her mother.
Oh, that is very nice.
The world fell in love with this beautiful woman. She brought so much joy to millions around the world in a matter of a few days. I’ve watched the video over and over and shared it with friends. Hope all her dreams come true.
Isn’t it wonderful, the gifts God places in the most unexpected places?
I like to think, it is to help us learn, to never underestimate anything of His making :)
Tatt :)
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6112697.ece
The above is her rendition of Cry Me a River from ten years ago. A bit grainy, but it’s still there.
Someone put an mp3 of Boyle’s Cry Me a River at this link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?onzznzrv03i
I’ve watched the Dreamed video and listened to the Cry audio over and over.
Raw talent is what everyone was cheering. Not the person, not the clothes, not the face....the voice. Nothing else matters when you experience pure talent. It is all about the experience of feeling something so honest and unique and wonderful.
Unfortunately, American Idol is not looking for talent. It is looking for...”does it sell”. The face, the look, the salesmanship ...thinking that is the only thing that matters, the only thing that “sells”.
This is one of the most remarkable examples (a parable, if you will) of the kind of love that God has for us.
On first glance we saw a dowdy, plain woman (well “plain” just doesn’t do the image justice.... face it, the judges and the audience mocked her).
Then she began to sing. And we begin to see the image of her that God sees. The REAL her, the beautiful her. In her song, we saw into her soul and found something altogether different there. Suddenly her dowdyness was invisible. It was as if she had been covered over by something that now made her beautiful to look at.
Comparing this to our own lives. How does God view me? Well, no doubt He should be seeing the “warts”, the “ugly sins” ... and the truth is we all have them. But instead God sees me covered over by something else, something that hides the ugliness. Because when Jesus died on that cross, He paid the price for my ugliness and sins (it’s called atonement .... and it really happened). So now God sees me “singing” if you will. My “song” is the love of the Holy Spirit that rings as loud and clear and lovely as the song did from Susan Boyle.
We can all find our own “song” and sing it and amazing things can happen. If you need more instruction on this, just read your Bible.... it’s all there.
A quick tally of the ‘this week’ views of the various versions of the Got Talent appearance totals about 58 million views.
The Cry Me a River video is at 2.38 million views.
Sad but such a true Cinderella story would likely never happen on American Idol. True talent like Susan Boyle's would go no place with a boorish American audience who's musical tastes go toward twanging country or ghetto rap and who seem more enamored with performers with strange hair and dubious talent.
What people are responding to is that unlike Barack Obama and the Hollywood crowd that loves him, Miss Boyle is not in love with herself, yet her talent surpasses so many.
beautifully said!
Yes, I hadn't thought about it before, but I believe you are indeed right. In each of us, even in the atheists, there is an innate understanding of justice and somewhere deep down we know when we have been unfair to judge another.
You could also literally be right about Susan being an angel sent to teach us. I would not be at all surprised.
I’m probably responsible for 20 of those hits. I’ll add to it again today.
Everytime I read something in the news that makes me angry, the handshake with Hugo, the rant from Ortega, the comments from Garafolo...well, I just go back to Susan Boyle and heal inside again. :)
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