when interviewed on my fox news station and asked if she thought simon was right about it being a DA knockout... Paula very quickly rebutted that she indeed did not think it was at all a knock out and that it was "too close to tell"

she admitted that DA was at his best tonight... but she also praised DC for being the first to ever sing three new songs in the finale.

Kinda agreeing with you on that.

I somehow look for those side smiles or smirks in his performances. Usually, if they are present, then it means he is actually quite ok. Like the innocent song, something was not rite.. can see it in his eyes..

But, still good performances by Cook.

cookey's fan, read my review a few posts up from yours. we agree

I've you heard this on the radio ???

* Nigel said that after DC's last song, he and his mom gave each other a looooong and tender hug (more than 1 minute), during the commercial break ... He also said it was private and could not be caught on tape.

* DC said he felt DA was like his little bro and it was impossible to dislike him.

What a cutie !

I can't wait to hear him sing "Time of My Life." Should be an amazing moment.

that's greenday right? cause for some reason the theme song to dirty dancing the movie keeps playing in my head when i read that. LOL

Good Riddance is the Greenday song, but yes, a lyric says "hope you had the time of your life"...

Good Riddance is the Greenday song, but yes, a lyric says "hope you had the time of your life"...

where did we hear he was singing that? i only 1/2 listened to the radio broadcast this morning because my boss was in my office!!

'Time' is now for American Idol Songwriter winner
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
Whether David Archuleta or David Cook prevails in Wednesday night's American Idol finale, Regie Hamm will be having the time of his life.

In the closing four minutes of the two-hour show (Fox, 8 ET/PT), the newly crowned David will sing Time of My Life, Hamm's winner in the second American Idol Songwriter contest.

Yep, it's inspirational, says the Nashville singer/songwriter, who calls Life "a midtempo anthem, no surprises. (Fans) can wave their arms and light their lighters, all that cool stuff. We've all heard those finale songs, so you know the parameters and almost by osmosis what the moment is all about."

The song was among "tens of thousands" submitted and combed through by 19 Entertainment's more than 60 Artists & Repertoire staffers, who winnowed the list to a manageable pile before Idol creator Simon Fuller and his team pruned to 20 semifinalists, says Jeff King, 19's U.S. head of digital entertainment.

The task is "daunting," he says. "Not unlike the show, you get a wide variety, from comical to genius."

More than 500,000 voters chose Time of My Life from the 20 audio clips posted online. What gave Hamm's tune the edge?

"Its feel, its groove, the message," King says. "The lyrics aren't too sappy, and it's contemporary."

In a departure from Idol custom, producers decided against using the coronation song in competition. The Davids each picked another tune from the 10 songs that received the most votes in the contest to sing Tuesday. Cook, 25, chose Dream Big by Emily Shackelton; Archuleta, 17, selected In This Moment by Ryan Gillmore. Both are on iTunes, which also will sell tonight's rendition of Life by the new Idol.

A year ago, the first song contest yielded melodramatic This Is My Now, a natural for pop singer Jordin Sparks and a handicap for beatboxer Blake Lewis, who was thrashed by the judges. That mismatch didn't trigger this year's shift, King says. The show simply wanted to offer the finalists flexibility.

At a cost of $600 and with help from friends, Hamm composed and recorded Life the week before the contest deadline.

"I tried to keep the show in mind, but it's autobiographical," he says. "It has to do with living in the now and letting the good times carry you through the bad times."

Hamm, 40, says his victory is a reversal of a career slump that began when he and his wife, Yolanda, adopted their daughter in China. Isabella, now 5, has the rare genetic disorder Angelman syndrome, which causes severe developmental delays. (They also have 19-month-old son Gabe.)

"I've been a housedad while my wife works at Starbucks, which provides insurance," Hamm says.

"When we find something (Isabella) responds to, we stick to it," he says. "The really bad singers on Idol make her laugh hysterically. We started watching because of her. When better singers come along in the top 10, Isabella loses interest, but then we're hooked."

Born in Nashville, Hamm traveled the country with his Pentecostal preacher father and played drums in the family band. He wrote his first song at age 9. Influenced by Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Don Henley, Merle Haggard, Randy Newman and the Gershwins, he switched to piano and enjoyed some success writing and recording. On Thursday, his gospel/country Starlight EP hits iTunes. He co-wrote Something About Us, which is on Clay Aiken's new CD. (Attention, conspiracy theorists: Hamm also co-wrote the ballad In the Name of God with Scott Krippayne, who co-wrote 2007's winning Idol song.)

"I've made records and rubbed shoulders with people in the music industry, but nothing like this," Hamm says of his Idol conquest. "The last five years have been the toughest of my life. This one song has turned my career and my life around. It's a shot in the arm."

But is it? The clout of the coronation song has waned since 2002 inaugural Idol Kelly Clarkson released A Moment Like This, which sold 987,000 copies in combined singles and downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Sales of 2003 runner-up Aiken's This Is the Night exceeded 1 million copies.

Numbers have drooped since then, as has Idol enthusiasm for the typically schmaltzy launches. Taylor Hicks, 2006's Idol, didn't put coronation single Do I Make You Proud, which sold 654,000 copies, on his album. A year ago, Sparks left the Idol gate with This Is My Now, the first Idol debut single that failed to reach Billboard's top 2. It has sold 263,000 downloads.

No, it's not the Green Day song. It's the winner's single...

No, it's not the Green Day song. It's the winner's single...

Source.

I listened to the song again, and Cookie can definitely do the song. Though, there is a lyric about a "magic rainbow" and the first time I listened to it I automatically turned it off and wrote it off as "omg-No", but if I over look that little flub in writing, he can pull it off. Here's to Cookie singing the coronation song tonight!!!!! DAVID COOK FOR THE WIN!!!!

Dial Idol looking GOOD. I'm voting with my eyes closed.......need sleep. One more hour......

WE CAN DO THIS!!!!

4. be so incredibly sexy?

I agree! I was so excited and so nervous.....most other years I didn't care (except for Clay). I am SO happy he won. Just to see his emotion really touched my heart too. I LOVE this guy!