Link to original blog: There Was A Man

The defining moment of my fandom came during Neil Sedaka Night on American Idol 2 when Clay sang "Solitaire".

There was a man, a lonely man Who lost his love, through his indifference A heart that cared that went unshared Until it died within his silence And solitaire’s the only game in town And every road that takes him, takes him down

And by himself it’s easy to pretend He’ll never love again

And keeping to himself he plays the game Without her love it always ends the same While life goes on around him everywhere He’s playing solitaire Another day, a lonely day So much to say that goes unspoken And through the night, his sleepless nights His eyes are closed, his heart is broken And solitaire’s the only game in town And every road that takes him, takes him down And by himself it’s easy to pretend She’s coming back again And keeping to himself he plays the game Without her love it always ends the same

While life goes on around him everywhere He’s playing solitaire

There was a man....a man that sang his heart out week after week, but who we never knew if he would make it until the end. The judge's seemed to have other ideas as to who should win the competition. The defining moment came when I knew no matter what happened Clay would be okay, that he would have a career, and when I knew that I would hear him sing beyond American Idol. At the end of Neil Sedaka night, Neil said he "lost my song forever to you, it will always be a Clay Aiken song" and said he would kill to produce one of Clay's CD's. Clay had set himself apart from his competitors. His true talent shone like a beacon on a lighthouse,(well that might of been the Son of God lighting he had that night, but nonetheless his talent could not be denied. Yeah, the man with the vox of gold was not going anyplace. All would be well with the world. "Solitaire" was a WOW moment in AI history. One of those performances that is head and shoulders above performances that came before or after it. Clay had many excellent performances and more than one WOW, but Solitaire was sung with a heartfelt passion that came from somewhere deep inside. It wasn't until Learning to Sing, Clay's inspirational memoir was published that we learned that emotion came form memories of his birth father.

"My memories of Vernon are few and fragmented. The most vivid image I have of my birth father is of him sitting in his easy chair in his living room. It was a long, narrow room, with couches on two sides and a television at the end. Every time I'd visit, I'd lie on one couch, while Grandma Grissom, his mom, would sit on the other couch an crochet and he would sit in that La-Z-Boy recliner and play solitaire on a big piece of plywood. He rarely said anything. He just sat in the chair and played solitaire.

I would be lying if I didn't admit that when I sing this song, I think about him." Another day A lonely day So much to say that goes unspoken. And through the night His sleepless nights His eyes are closed His heart is broken.