After he forgot his words during his performance on American Idol last week, we were getting worried about crowd favorite David Archuleta. We wondered if the pressure of the show had gotten to the timid teen crooner.  Apparently, it hasn't. David's smooth performance of "The Long and Winding Road" on Idol's Beatles night had the judges declaring that David is back.  Whew!

Other standout performances last night included Syesha Mercardo, who straightened her hair and straightened up her act on stage.  The performance was praised by Simon as her best yet.  Syesha's family, who attended the show for the first time, might have been her good luck charm.

Carly Smithson soared with her performance of "Blackbird," but Simon didn't understand why she chose a song about a blackbird.  Carly had to explain that the song could be interpreted on a deeper level.  Simon really isn't the sentimental type, is he?

David Cook rocked it as always with his performance of "Day Tripper," but Simon said he was getting predictable and looked smug on stage. And speaking of confidence, Amanda Overmyer, who sang "Back In the USSR,"  almost sounded cocky when she started going on and on about showing America what they'll get at an Amanda Overmyer show.  Simon pointed out, "Your tickets aren't on sale yet."

The rest of the singers gave performances that weren't neccessarily bad, but didn't exactly blow the judges away either. As always, Kristy Lee Cook was criticized for being boring. Michael Johns was criticized for singing the wrong song and not singing it well.  Poor Paula tried to ease the blow of the criticism by saying she understands that the Idol singers are getting used to wearing earpieces, and that's probably what caused problems in his performance.  Too bad Michael admitted that he wasn't wearing an earpiece.

Dressed in yellow, Brooke White gave a not-so-sunny performance of "Here Comes the Sun."  It was called awkward, safe, and terrible by the judges. Can you guess which judge used the word terrible?

Cutie-pie Jason Castro was called out for not connecting with his song "Michelle," which he sang in French and English.  His goofy personality might be to blame for the lack of connection with the song. Did I mention he's a cutie pie?

I was really rooting for Ramiele Malubay, but her performance of "I Should Have Known Better" was called amateurish, though the judges agreed it was much better than her performance last week.  "It sounded like Chikeze on harmonica," Simon said.  (And if you saw Chikeze playing the harmonica during his performance of "I've Just Seen A Face," you would realize why this was an insult.) At least Chikeze's performance, which went from a slow ballad to an upbeat, bluegrassish song in less than 90 seconds, was praised by the judges for having "some good parts."