Karaoke Forums

In Classickaraoke's Top 20 thread I mentioned that there's this guy in my room who only sings one song. Ever. His thing is "Play Something Country". And since he's in practically every night, that song gets sung practically every night. If I put up a Top 20 list it would look like that song is very popular in the room - I mean it's done every night - when in reality he's the only guy who sings it.

I've got another who's only song is "Kryptonite". That's it. A gal who only sings "Jack And Diane". A table of guys who only do "Walk" - actually several guys who only do that one. "Walk" would definitely qualify as one of the top 20 songs in my room.

Anyway I'm sure you folks have the same thing going on. Any one or anything stick out?

I'll have some people who start out with one signature song, but then usually move on to something else after time. It gets boring for the patrons to hear the same song all the time and I would think boring for the singer too. Most of my singers will sing more than one song, so it is rare to have a person only do one song all night. What I get is singers that get stuck on the same song to long, but it isn't the only song they sing. I try to encourage these singers to branch out more. The regulars are pretty good too in trying to help people come up with new song ideas.

The songs that I've had people get stuck on usually aren't current top 40 songs. Some I can think of are: Mustang Sally, Margaritaville, Turn the Page, Sweet Caroline, Pretty woman, Don't Let the Sun Go Down

Turn the Page is the song every newbie that comes in wants to sing. Aaarg ! I'm sick of that song.

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I believe the disgust is a factor of length as much as anything else. People would be a lot sicker of Folsom Prison Blues and Sweet Caroline if they were 5 minutes long.

We have one guy who gets likkered up and always does a bad falsetto of version of Sin Wagon. His friends egg him on. It was novel to begin with, but now it is getting a bit old. Thankfully he doesn't show every week.

I have seen plenty of females who are three trick ponies. I must have seen about 8 or 9 women who only do:

These Boots/Harper Valley PTA/Coal Miner's Daughter

I almost consider those now to be verses of the same song.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

One of the biggest surprises to me when I started hosting karaoke was the unbelievable popularity of "Turn The Page" as a karaoke song. Back in the day it wasn't even released as a single. It was an album cut. I would have suspected one of Bob Seger's hit singles like "Against The Wind" or "Shame On The Moon" would be popular, but those never get sung. Only "Turn The Page". Over and over and over... and along with "Picture" it's driving the whole room nuts.

If I never hear that minor third to ninth wailing sax intro again it will be too soon. Just the thought of it just gave me a cringe.

Hmm. I do "Against the Wind"... . Funny to, as I never would have done it had someone not asked me to and now its one of my regualar songs.

I got one guy who only does, "Okie from Muskogee".... Usually about midnight once he's feelin' good. I've even joked about:

"Alright folks, it Wednesday night at The Fort, so lets go ahead and get Al up to sing... I wonder what he's going to do tonight?"

And he replies laughing, "Alright then, this is my first time on this song."
When he's done the bar goes nuts...

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

Me too.

Songs that are easy to sing and don't require much range are pretty popular. And when they are 5 minutes long, the singer gets to hold the stage forever. I don't know why poor singers tend to select long songs, but it sure seems like they do it.

I have had people ask if I do Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, and I tell them I won't even learn it. I won't subject people to 7 minutes of a dirge. I have seen a couple of hosts sing it, which to me is ridiculous.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Turn the Page get's a workout with us, also. We used to have a real s-l-o-w version so we upgraded to the Sound Choice "live" version which is zippier and now it has a whole new life........but it seems the best way to get people to quit singing a song is to buy them a more expensive better version of it. Then it never gets sung again.

There is one guy who comes seasonally to our friend's show. He sings "Skip A Rope" and nothing more once a week for the summer and then he is gone until the next year and it's "Skip A Rope" again. He does a good job--has had lots of practice.

I let my personal tastes get in the way of keeping the crowd happy on "Picture" and tried not to buy it. When I had to due to popular demand I got a cheapo $5 for the whole disc version. Just noticed last Friday that instead of the lyrics reading "I was heading to church," they say "I was Head of the Church." Now we call it "The Pope Song." But still a drag.

Yup, that's the Big Country/Big Hitz/Supercore version we use too. I like The Pope Song, I'll use it on my wife if she ever wants to sing it again.

I don't know why, but in the first month we did karaoke she picked that song out of the air for us to do as a duet. We had never even *been* to karaoke before, so it wasn't that we knew it was a dubious icon. It just occurred to her.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

In our hicktown show there's always "Family Tradition" and "A Country Boy Will Survive." Maybe FILP. Now he has added Blake Shelton's song "When I Drink" or something like that. Same guy, same songs. But at least he's a decent singer.

Another dude that only does the old rap - Ice Ice Baby, Bust a Move, Baby Got Back. He changes the lyrics and the first time it was funny - now everbody thinks they need to smoke when he sings. Wonder if he'll make the connection. PS: He always reminds me, "Turn up the bass and give me more mic." Oh yes, I say, and pretend to turn the knobs. Gets old after a while.

Do you remember Riding the storm out, freebird or stairway to heaven being hit songs? No. They are staples of classic rock just like TTP. To this day, I have the double live Bullet album. Shame to hear it's been sung to death. One of the few songs I know every word to and have for 30 some years.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Yeah but "Freebird" and "Stairway To Heaven" aren't relentlessly beaten down in karaoke rooms like "Turn The Page" is. And you lost me with "Riding The Storm Out"... sorry.

Oh man that's great! I've been using the Supercore version since Day 1, and indeed it says "Head of the Church". I'm going to start calling it The Pope Song and see how long it takes the regulars to catch on.

My older brother had two of bob Seger's live albums, and both were great. I always wished SC or someone would do the live version of Katmandu, because the non-live just doesn't have as much energy. On the live version it starts out with some sing-song banter and guitar licks, then the piano descends into the real intro, and I think the tempo is little faster, which suits the song better.

Turn the Page is a guy song like Crazy is a lady song. I don't think it will ever lose its popularity.

If Crazy was 5 minutes long, we would be hearing complaints about it.

Thank goodness no one is currently doing Turn The Page where I am. We have had "accidents" with a couple of long songs. No longer will you find the long version of War Pigs, Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad, or the live version of Friends in Low Places at our shows. American Pie and PBTDL have always gotten excised on sight. They exist on my disks, but nowhere on any computer.

Maybe it's time to have an accident with Turn the Page. Ooops! Well maybe that's taking it a bit too far.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Interesting, at my brothers show he has 2 girls that alway do "Bring me to life". One of the girls comes in every few months with her dad ( she's probably a little over 21 ) and as she sings he looks around the room to see peoples reaction to her singing. She does it very well and the song does require a decent set of pipes but after 20 times it just isn't impressive anymore.

It just seems to me that she isn't interested in learning any other songs because she thinks that "Bring me to life" will get her the most attention. Now I'm all for proud parents but they never stay long after she does her one song and there have been times when they showed up late and were miffed when they were told she wouldn't get to sing. Almost like a "how dare you attitude" because she is different than the rest of us.

The other girl is actually a friend who only did Evanescence songs more so because she is a huge fan of theirs. It became a running joke with other patrons at the venue because every time she came up to sing she always did "Bring me to life" first. This girl never misses a show so it has been sung 30 or 40 times in the last year. My bro finally told her in the most diplomatic way he could that she was a good singer and why not learn a few other songs to expand her vocal ability. She has since learned several more songs and is glad she was told to do so. So was I! Rudy.

I dont have any regulars that are more than 50% one song. I do have a couple that have a list of 2-3 songs that they will rotate through as a second or third song of the night though. A few of them will get to drinking and when they realize it is thier turn again, they will sing an old standby.

Of my 20 or so biggest regulars, they all have at least a dozen songs.

I did have a few semi regulars that did the same song the first 3-4 times they went to the show before spreading out.

As for overplayed songs Moonage Daydream by Bowie gets too much play, but it is being sung by a rotation of at least 6 different regulars.

Not in the venues I started out in... Freebird and Stairway were WAY overdone.

My biggest problem with Picture and TTP is the drunks RUINING it. I've sange the dreaded TTP, but I can NAIL it, which changes people's opinions of it... although I've learned not to sing it except on special occasions, because everyone that's a karaoke snob groans when they hear the sax intro.

I have no problem with a song being popular to sing... nor do I have a problem with song length, although if a singer all the time is picking the long ones, I'll take them aside and tell them if they keep it up, they'll get one turn for every TWO everyone else gets due to the song length issues! The hosts that ruin or convieniently lose a song due to popularity or song length crack me up.

Karaoke is about the SINGERS, not you. If someone came into my show and said blankety blank host won't let them sing a certain song, I'll show them to the table, and open the songbook to that song!

Amazing! Guess I'm just a different kind of host I guess! Oh wait, maybe because I AM a host, and not just a KJ.

Gotta love Legends. I use their version of "Friends" and Pigs". Both truncated. PBTDL I've let back in with the understanding that it'll cost both singers their turn in the round.

I've only had one complaint about "Friends" and oddly it was last Sat. The guy said "Hey wait a minute this isn't the live version!" and I said "Yup".

Legends "War Pigs" everyone's fine with. And actually I don't mind that one. It isn't done more than a few times a month.


Wishful thinking Micky but we all know just like "Picture" it's gotta be there. Just like Knightshow said. And when people sing 'em I thank them just as warmly as the rest.

Actually both "Picture" and "Turn The Page" have something in common. A high "B" no one can hit.

What's the length on that? I use the Dangerous version, which is a still-long but not-outrageous 4:48.


Oh absolutely. I was kidding, of course. 5 minutes isn't that long. If a song is more than that, I might take measures. I just kind of hate it when you get singers who do all long songs.


Bob Seger has always been a tenor, bu Kid Rock can hit a high B? I assume you mean the one above the baritone's high F. If he can do that, count me amazed, because he has a great low range. I can hit a G reliably if the interval is not too great, but no higher. Maybe you mean the Sheryl Crow part, which is too high for my wife.

I don't have the song on CD or MP3, so I can't listen to it. I don't recall it having any notes I had trouble reaching.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

The "Drink" in "I was off to drink you away" is indeed a B4 in "Picture". Bob Seger only hits B4 on the original cut of "Turn The Page" but not on the live version where he fudges and moves it down to the minor third "G" IIRC.

Full voice B4 is at the very tippy top of my range and I've got a fairly high voice. It's up there. I can hit a full range C5, but only if I'm really rested. Otherwise it's falsetto from there on up.

Edit: I just fired up the karaoke computer and the Legends version of "War Pigs" is 4:43. But that's about average for the type of material commonly done in my room.