Good songs for a high-schooler to lip-synch?

February 7, 2008 3:12 AM

Good songs to lip-synch?

My sister is participating in a high-school lipsynch competition with two guys from her class. The only problem is, she doesn't know what to sing - it has to be something relatively short, because they'lly only be performing for about 2 minutes; it has to be fun but unpredictable; and it has to be (relatively) appropriate for school. Any ideas?

posted by slowcat to media & arts (14 comments total)

Any boyband/bubblegum pop song from the 90s would work well, particularly if you overact it.
posted by divabat at 4:57 AM on February 7, 2008

They could totally kick ass with an edited-down version of Bye Bye Beautiful - it's good for pitting male against female parts and - lo, behold the video - the parts very much lend themselves to theatrical overacting.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:54 AM on February 7, 2008

The Beatles' Oh Darling is funny and allows for melodramatic performance with easy lip-synching. She could probably find a section that would work; I don't know how long the actual song is.
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:27 AM on February 7, 2008

I really like 50s/60s novelty songs for this sort of thing -- I'm thinking of things like "Leader of the Pack".
posted by loiseau at 6:28 AM on February 7, 2008

Or, wait, are they performing as a team, all singing one song? Or is she competing against them and singing a song by herself?
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:29 AM on February 7, 2008

Johnathan Coulton's "Re: Your Brains"
posted by 23skidoo at 6:42 AM on February 7, 2008

"Love Shack" (B-52's, of course. video) might sound tired to us grownups but the high school set doesn't have the overexposure that we all do from having heard it for 20 years. And there's plenty of great parts for a co-ed group. Anything from the B-52s, really... they could go the novelty route of "Rock Lobster", etc. ABBA is another co-ed band with lots of songs that could play well to that audience.

"Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun (lyrics, video). Super-cute for a co-ed team although the boys would have to trade off on the male part. If they played it as siblings, that would work.

"It's Oh So Quiet" by Bjork is totally unexpected (video), only there isn't much lip-synching for the guys; they'd really be the foil for your sister.

"I Knew You Were Waiting For Me" by George Michael and Aretha Franklin (video) is a really great pop duet that is often overlooked, and it's also got wholly age-appropriate lyrics. If they went the super-cheesy 80's-style performance route (big hair, clapping with the audience, etc), it'd be a sure winner. It goes about four minutes but the end is just endless repetitions of the chorus, so it would be very easy to cut to length or just fade out.

"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee (video) would be okay, if they did a really over-the-top 70's performance, with afro or Dorothy Hamill wigs, leisure suits, lots of Hustle-style moves.

HSM, Grease-- all are very heavily used in this age group, over-used if you ask me, and I'd skip them if I were her.
posted by pineapple at 6:47 AM on February 7, 2008

It's longer than two minutes, but she could probably at least find some inspiration in this awesome version of Flagpole Sitta.
posted by asuprenant at 6:51 AM on February 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

I don't understand if it's the three of them competing against each other, or together against other people. If it's each person on their own, The Devil Went Down To Georgia is a good one, in my experience.
posted by inigo2 at 7:18 AM on February 7, 2008

If it's the three together, She Hangs Out by the Monkees has a neat call-and-response vibe, and some lyrics that can be acted out. And it's a very bouncy, catchy tune.

How Do You Do? also has male/female parts, and is a nice poppy kind of tune.
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:55 AM on February 7, 2008

How good are they at lip syncing? I think going for a DIFFICULT song would be awesome. "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", there's a song that'd win a competition.
posted by InnocentBystander at 12:09 PM on February 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

Just to clarify, the three of them will be performing all together, NOT competing against one another. And thanks for all the suggestions...she'll have a lot of ideas to choose from now.
posted by slowcat at 1:47 PM on February 7, 2008

Yves LaRock - Rise Up?

Two guys, a girl and lots of rope skipping. Easy tune and lyrics.

Your sister and her friends could be simply jumping up and down? Hehe. Funny because it's so silly.
posted by lioness at 3:11 PM on February 8, 2008

How bout "I Got A Man" by Positive K? That's a classic.
posted by howgenerica at 10:32 AM on May 12, 2008