"Idol" Ratings on Par; Cook Tops iTunes Charts; Disney Details

Despite a season-long ratings drop, last night's season-ending episode of American Idol kept pace with last season's finale as 31.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the final round of Archuleta vs. Cook. Meanwhile, David Cook is already enjoying his victory lap on iTunes where his first post-Idol single "The Time of My Life" has already rocketed to the number one position on their Top Songs list. Collective Soul have a debt to pay to Cook as their "The World I Know," the last song Cook performed on Tuesday night, is also charting. In other post-finale news, the details of the Jordin Sparks-endorsed DisneyWorld attraction "The American Idol Experience" have surfaced. Opening in January 2009, it will allow participants to perform in mock auditions, with each day's best singer winning a "Dream Ticket" that will allow them to audition for Idol without having to wait in lines.

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  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
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  MOVIES 'Great Gatsby' Is a Crushing Disappointment
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  TV Why You Should Watch 'Happy Endings'
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  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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