American Idol & the Curse of “River Deep, Mountain High”

Last week’s American Idol shocked viewers when Pia Toscano went home in ninth place. There are various theories about why the audience did not vote for the excellent singer, who reportedly will come out okay with a new record contract anyway. Perhaps voters felt confident that Toscano would advance and so did not vote for her. Some have argued that this season’s judges — without Simon Cowell — are praising everyone to the same degree, so the judges do not help viewers distinguish the wheat from the chaff. There is another possibility: Maybe Toscano lost because of her divisive song, “River Deep, Mountain High.”

“River Deep, Mountain High,” originally by Ike and Tina Turner with a Phil Spector production, is both loved and hated. Some see it as one of Phil Spector’s last great songs, while others see it as overblown crap. Rolling Stone magazine recently listed it as number 33 on the “500 Greatest Songs of All-Time,” as ranked by people in the music industry and updated last year. But in The Heart of Rock & Soul (1989), critic Dave Marsh did not even list the song among the top 1001 singles every made. He explained that the song is not on his list “because it sounds to me like a muddle, an album’s worth of sounds jammed onto one side of a 45, with a little girl lyric that completely contradicts Tina Turner’s true persona as the Queen of R&B Sleaze.” (p. 545.)

When “River Deep, Mountain High” was released in 1966, critics gave it mixed reviews. The song went to number 5 in the U.K., but on the other side of the pond, it flopped and only went to number 88 in the United States. As one critic later reasoned, “The general consensus in America was that the record was too black for white radio stations to play, and too white for the black stations to play.”

Even the recording of the song was divisive. Tina Turner noted that working on the song was like “carving furniture.” One of the songwriters threw the finished acetate across the room in disgust. In her autobiography, singer Darlene Love described the sessions as “a miserable experience,” adding that only Phil Spector was happy with the results. The now-incarcerated Phil Spector later explained that “River Deep, Mountain High” “was like my farewell. I was just saying goodbye, and just wanted to go crazy, you know, for a few minutes—four minutes on wax, that’s all it was. I loved it, and enjoyed making it, but I didn’t think there was anything for the public.” After the disappointing public reaction to the song, Spector went into early retirement and into his decline with personal demons.

So maybe when Pia Toscano sang the song on American Idol, the haunted song was too much for the public. Or maybe some viewers did not like her singing a song unfortunately associated with men like Phil Spector and Ike Turner. I do not know if the song choice had anything to do with the American Idol elimination. I just know I am in the camp that loves the music. Every time I hear it, it gets stronger in every way.

Bonus “River Deep, Mountain High” Versions: Although Ike Turner is listed with his wife on the original recording, Darlene Love later recounted that he had nothing to do with the sessions for the song. Tina Turner later recorded another version of “River Deep, Mountain High.” In addition to the American Idol Pia Toscano version, there is a recent Glee television show version. Both do a good job, and it is great to see the song still appearing in mainstream performances, but neither rivals the original Tina Turner version. As far as I can tell, the song only appeared on American Idol once before. Amanda Avila sang it when she was in the top 16 during Season 4 (2005). The judges did not love her performance. And, like Pia Toscano, she was eliminated after her performance of the cursed song.

[May 2012 Update: During the 2012 season, Hollie Cavanaugh sang “River Deep, Mountain High” when she was among the five finalists. Perhaps she broke the curse, as Skylar Laine, not Hollie, was sent home after that show. Hollie was in next-to-last place.]

What do you think of “River Deep, Mountain High”? Was Pia Toscano’s elimination the most surprising ever on American Idol? Leave a comment.

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Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York. View all posts by chimesfreedom