It’s down to the Top 3 on American Idol. During the two-night finale (May 20 & 21, 8pm, ABC), the young talented contestants will sing three songs each. Caleb Lee Hutchinson from Dallas, Georgia will sing his original song “Johnny Cash Heart”, Johnny Cash‘s “Folsom Prison Blues”, and the 1988 Keith Whitley hit “Don’t Close Your Eyes.” After a long battle with alcoholism, Whitley got sober one year before the song was released. However, one year after the song became a #1 hit, Whitley died of alcohol poisoning. He was 34.
The song “Don’t Close Your Eyes” is about a man pleading with the woman he’s with to not think about her ex lover when with him. In the lyrics, he pleads with her: “Don’t close your eyes, let it be me/ Don’t pretend it’s him, in some fantasy/ Darling just once, let yesterday go.” At the time of the song and his death, Whitley was married to country singer Lorrie Morgan, mother of his son, Jesse Keith Whitley. The winner of American Idol will be announced on Monday, May 21.
