your karaoke set list

Not a big Chicago fan but kind of like that one.

Next question for clay: do people ever attempt proper two part harmony and if so how often do they succeed?

i have to say, last night we ended (in a friend's basement -- not in public) on a lovely 3-person rendition of End of the Road. I was the voice-over guy midway through the song who understands that his partner has cheated on him but is actually totally fine with that if she wants to come back, but also hurt, and then joined in on some of the harmonies in the chorus

I did a nice (for me) version of Electrolite and was told by a friend that it was his favorite "TBD karaoke song" now, so that felt nice. I love that song and yet it's not in my top 25 REM songs. it's really fun to sing. Golden Years was a strange mix of pretty good and disastrous. I really thought I could do the squeaky-high "angel!" parts, but no, I cannot, not reliably. Cate Le Bon went ok but I couldn't figure out which octave I was in. I wouldn't do that one in public because it's indie schmindie, but I was with friends so fuck it.

Wrecking Ball was a good one. again, wouldn't do in public, and wouldn't even do for most friends, but it was late in the night and we were at "singing karaoke while laying on the couch" mode, so it was getting quiet and it was ok, I think

my goto is Lita Ford’s “Kiss Me Deadly” and Stevie Nicks’ “Stand Back”

i hate when ppl pick a song that they just know the name of but haven’t heard in 20 years and are awkwardly stunned when they’re still struggling through American Pie after 4 minutes

also will never forget going to karaoke the night after Prince died and watching this super drunk intense dude do “Erotic City” while trying to make eye contact with women in the room ughhhhhhh it was so creepy lol

Ugh

I did Erotic City once but only because I loved the song and would often sing Prince

Karaoke creeps are the worst.

I had some drunk guy once approach the stage while I was singing, then climb on the stage and try to hug me.

He tripped and fell and ate it and I just moved to the side and didn't help him up.

(I have a thing about personal space and had he not ate it, I would have moved away quickly)

Also got stalked once. This woman kept emailing the karaoke host asking her to give me my number and showing up looking for me (I was v much not interested).

Di shared the email with me. Was asking for my email, phone number, abd a "direction to call her". Di refused every time.

Avoided that spot for month til she gave up and stopped going/emailing.

Also got stalked once. This woman kept emailing the karaoke host asking her to give me my number and showing up looking for me (I was v much not interested).

was this after the Erotic City performance? :D

lol

Lmao

Actually was after Beezelboss weirdly

looks like a dull karaoke Saturday! I might start a 77 karaoke night diary thread if anyone’s interested. There’s a half dozen little stories every evening I swear

I am totally interested

cosign

i do zoom karaoke with a bunch of weirdos on mondays and fridays if anyone is interested in joining

How do people feel about performers trying to sing way above their range. Are baritones trying to sing Roy Orbison hot or not?

Ain’t it fun
Ain’t it fun
Ain’t it fun

Peter Laughner?

I guess if things get too high one can strategically drop an octave but it can be tricky.

the rarely attempted but always powerful Shepard Tone karaoke performance

Lol

How do people feel about performers trying to sing way above their range. Are baritones trying to sing Roy Orbison hot or not?

― Jean Arthur Rank (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, September 11, 2022 5:50 PM bookmarkflaglink

lots of people who aren't singers don't even realize it when they pick it, I think

I am assuming you pay attention to such things though.

I don't generally like to do things out of my range or lower the key. even if it's just like 15 seconds of the song. which is why I've never done Richard Marx's "Hazard", despite wanting to.

besides sounding bad, main reason was I did most of my karaoking when I was performing a lot more and I didn't want to damage my voice and explain to the director the reason was "I totally thought I could sing Everything She Wants at karaoke and I was wrong"

Clay do you ban any songs?

Di used to ban "Picture" by Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock because she believed if you liked this song that you had no taste.

actually TWO hosts in town banned that one at around the same time.

Can you lower the key? Seems fixed from what I have encountered.

I don't think with all hosts, but Di and my friend Craig had mechanisms on their machines that allowed lowering the key a few steps.

every time I sing "Down in a Hole" with Craig he always lowers one half step for me

Clay do you ban any songs?

overtly racist stuff ("colt 45" has been requested a lot lately, idk if it went big on tik tok or something, and i've just had to be like yeah uh i don't have that one sorry. it's just gross), songs that feature the word "rape" in them, stuff like that, idk, i don't want anyone getting hella triggered because of karaoke of all things. it's supposed to be fun!

back when weezer's version of "africa" was blowing up i actually banned the toto version because it's impossible to sing well and it was getting performed horribly like twice a night and i couldn't stand it anymore. if i could ban "picture" i'd be a happier person but i'd be out of a job, people live for that trash. still not sure i've ever heard the original.

sometimes i consider adding on a required charge/tip for certain songs. just, like, you want to sing "summer nights"? "bohemian rhapsody"? "baby got back"? "fergilicious"? "picture"? "need you now"? "shallow"? that's $10 up front. sorry i just work here.

the software i use is kinda janky for karaoke tbh and i can only change the key by a half or one step. really the only people who care about this are total diva singers who love to drunkenly tell you about the time they auditioned for american idol and are constantly going off mic to yell at me like "MORE REVERB" etc, like c'mon have some chill about it.

otoh i've actually been enjoying the "audio engineering" side of things lately and spend more time eq'ing the board for individual singers and changing fx based on what's appropriate for the song and stuff. it's made me better at listening, if nothing else!

Ha, is "Fergilicious" some kind of karaoke favorite? I can see why but can also see why you wouldn't want to hear it.

They are understaffed tonight and may not do the karaoke 🎤 tonight. They are awaiting a ruling from the boss so I may not get to debut my new version of [NAME REDACTED].

IMO do it anyway, a capella

Thanks for the suggestion. Talking to all the young folks that have started working here in recent years with whom I am unfamiliar. Young Folks? Hmm.

Think like Spanish language records used to have the type of dance or form that went with each song- bolero, cha-cha-cha, danzon, etc.- maybe the karaoke box should have vocal ranges listed: soprano, mezzo, tenor, countertenor, lyric baritone, heldenbaritone usw.

Also wondering if doing “Rock Lobster” is on the far side of the thin line between clever and stupid or not.

Being able to go down 2 keys has changed the game for me!

A number of songs mentioned here I'd sure love to see in the Lucky Voice catalogue but never will

I keep wanting to do Yello's 'The Race' but forgetting. I only 'sing' in private rooms with friends tho.

i wish a karaoke night had this proper. this would be on my setlist. but alas, i can do it online only

https://www.smule.com/recording/faith-no-more-kindergarten-faith-no-more/870266080_4314720160

my actual go-to at k nights, but it's lost its luster after Di passed away :(

all Bee Gees is fun actually. like "Jive Talking", "Staying Alive","Nights on Broadway", "I Started a Joke", so many styles you can play w/. maybe the best karaoke song to sing really.

https://www.smule.com/recording/barry-maurice-robin-gibb-the-beegess-tragedy/870266080_3824804723

Based upon my research the only Roy Orbison tune I can sing the high note on is “Blue Bayou,” although maybe I could stretch a half step for “You Got It.”

lol "You Got It" is def the only one I could even come close to attempt and it would require some falsettoing

I substitute hosted karaoke several times, a few years ago

Gained a serious new appreciation for emo and pop-punk

I will typically sing “Love Is A Stranger”, “It’s Oh So Quiet” and “Head Like A Hole”. If I want to show off I do a perfect Colm Wilkinson impression on “Music Of The Night”

After about a month long layoff I went back to try out “Pancho and Lefty” along with “How Bizarre.”

Ppl still do karaoke? Sounds fun tbh

Still fun as long as it’s easy enough access.

I was happy enough with my "Pancho and Lefty" and my "How Bizarre" was okay but I kind of wished my audience knew the tune well enough to provide backing vocals.

I think I may have mentioned that sometimes songs get “orphaned” in the sense that for some reason they are selected but nobody gets up to sing them so somebody else has to self-volunteer. This happened a few times with Radiohead’s “Creep,” as I have said. I did it once which was sort of fun but I couldn’t really sing the high “run, run, run” part. I just was reminded that the same recently happened with “Wonderwall.” Feel like I was relatively accurately able to do the Liam snarl but, much to my surprise, as I always thought of this as one of the few Oasis songs I actually liked, there was no joy in it. Guess the only part I ever really like in the song is the “I Am the Walrus”-like cello.