I sang (if you can call it that) in front of actual people!
Posted on November 14, 2007 in Entertainment, Personal thoughts by DM
I must have traveled down a thousand roads.
Been so many places, seen so many faces,
always on my way to somethin’ new.
Ohh, but it doesn’t matter,
’cause no matter where I go,
every road leads back,
every road just seems to lead me back to you.
One of the neat things we did while out with friends for our anniversary on Friday night was give our first-ever live karaoke performance! Now I will say up front that I love to sing, but I am not very good at it. But we’ve had a home karaoke machine for a few years now, I have software to play karaoke CD’s on my computer, and I’ve gotten a little better since the days of caterwauling “Love Will Keep Us Together” in the back of my friend’s mom’s Ford Pinto station wagon. (I’ve also found a really neat website where you can hear OTHER peoples’ karaoke recordings and post your own if you dare… which I don’t.)
So the bar we went to after our anniversary dinner this weekend was having karaoke night, and after a little fortification I was ready to sing. The neat thing about this place was that everyone in the bar was singing along to every song - it didn’t really matter who had the microphone or whether they were actually any good, it was just the kind of place where everyone sang along and cheered regardless of your actual ability. Just the kind of environment I needed.
The first song I tried to do was “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison… I did this as a duet (though I use the term loosely) with a friend and quite honestly it was awful. I’m familiar with the song, but I don’t know it all that well… Cathy was completely “fortified” and wanted to sing it as a birthday gift to Hollie, but she needed a singing buddy… so she was drunk and I didn’t know the song, and needless to say our performance reflected those two key facts.
My next song was “Every Road Leads Back to You” by Bette Midler… this is a song I know inside and out, it is one of my all-time favorites, and I’ve done pretty well carrying the tune on the home karaoke machine. It went very well… I’m no Bette, but I didn’t totally humiliate myself either. My last song was “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin… I also know this song inside and out, but this time there was some drunk woman who came up and stood next to me and wanted to follow along - she was literally screaming the lyrics in my ear, and I could not get above it to find the tune. So I knew the song, but my rendition was about as far from “melodic” as one could get. Finally, shortly before we left, Steve and I got up together and sang “Don’t Fence Me In.” It went well, but again it comes down to knowing the song: the version we’re familiar with is by Riders in the Sky; the karaoke version was by Bing Crosby and was slower than the one we usually sing.
So, lessons learned: know the song (the melody as well as the “hook”), and find the line between “just enough fortified” and “too much fortified” so you don’t slur your words together or fall off the stool. At any rate, we had a blast. I’m in rehearsals now for a repeat performance, and Steve and I have selected another “signature song” to do together.
How about you? Like to sing? Any good at it? Ever done live karaoke?
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How about fight songs–”Dear Old Nebraska U?” “Fight CU Down The Field” (for the Cornhuskers’ next opponent) “Anchors Aweigh” “On Brave Old Army Team” “The Air Force Song” “Across The Field” (Ohio State) “On Wisconsin” “The Eyes of Texas” “Ramblin Wreck From Georgia Tech” “Far Above Cayuga’s Waters”
Hey good choice, Joel! I went to Wartburg College for three semesters, then to ISU for 3 years… but it’s the Wartburg fight song I remember! LOL ~ Janet