By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American Idol's dueling Davids faced off on Tuesday as the two remaining finalists each performed three songs in their attempts to win the hit talent show's seventh season.


Despite rocker David Cook's surge in recent weeks, the judges were unusually united in proclaiming that teenager David Archuleta, had outperformed his rival.

"You came out here tonight to win, and what we have witnessed is a knock out," said Idol's prickly judge Simon Cowell.

Randy Jackson concurred, proclaiming "the best singer of season 7 is right there" after Archuleta's rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine," a song that earlier in the competition brought him some of his best feedback.

Cook, 25, and Archuleta, 17, performed in the live telecast before 7,000 people at Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre.

One song was chosen for each by Sony BMG executive Clive Davis, who assigned U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" to Cook, and the Elton John ballad "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" to Archuleta.

Cowell, who earlier on Tuesday predicted in a television appearance that Cook would triumph, firmly stated "Round 1 goes to David Archuleta."

The next set was chosen from the "American Idol" songwriting contest's top 10 submissions, with Cook doing "Dream Big" by Emily Shackelton, while Archuleta went for Ryan Gillmor's "In This Moment."

Cowell said that Archuleta had definitely made the better choice, calling Cook's "a bit of a lightweight."

Finally the singers were free to sing anything they wanted. Cook, the black-clad Kansas City-area bartender, opted by "The World I Know" by Collective Soul, which Cowell pronounced "completely and utterly the wrong song choice for you on the night."

Cook's said the experience for him was "a progression," so "why do something I've already done?" But that's precisely what Archuleta did with "Imagine." And he wowed the judges, who all but termed it a clean sweep for the baby-faced crooner from Utah.

Fans had four hours after the broadcast to vote for their favorite, with the winner to be announced at the end of Wednesday's live finale.

"American Idol" pits singers against one another in a months-long competition that awards a recording contract to the winner. Past winners such as Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have gone on to music stardom.

Several of the show's losers have had success as well. Rocker Chris Daughtry finished fourth in 2006 but has scored major chart success since, while Jennifer Hudson, who finished seventh in 2004, went on to win an Oscar for her performance in the movie musical "Dreamgirls."

This year has seen the second straight season of declining ratings for the show, which airs on News Corp's Fox network.

(Editing by Alan Elsner)
© Copyright 2007 Reuters.