Karaoke help

December 2, 2005 11:44 AM

What should I sing at karaoke tonight?

Friday night karaoke has become a bit of a habit, and I always draw a blank and spend half the night flipping through the stupid book. When I do this, all the stupid hipsters get their tickets in first.

A few details. When I was in 6th grade chorus, I was an alto. I don't know what I would be now. My voice is low for a girl's, a bit raspy from bar night chain-smoking.

Songs I've done (with moderate success/no high note straining):
American Pie, Interstate Love Song by STP, Hello I Love You by the Doors, Stuck in the Middle With You by Steeler's Wheel, Money by Pink Floyd (not easy to sing that one drunk).

posted by SassHat to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (41 answers total)

Best answer: Criminal by Fiona Apple
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:51 AM on December 2, 2005 [2 favorites]

Clapton's Layla is surprisingly fun to sing. Paperback Writer by the Beatles and La Bamba also don't require too much range.
posted by Alison at 11:55 AM on December 2, 2005

I'm with ThePinkSuperhero.

Personally, Sweet Child O'Mine is my favorite crowd pleaser as well as "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield.

Queen of Heart by Juice Newton is fun too. Never done that one but always fun...

Then again, I am not trying out for American Idol as some Karaoke fans seem to believe they are so I always go for the crowd.
posted by Lola_G at 11:58 AM on December 2, 2005

How about Jingle Bells?



What did I say?
posted by wheelieman at 11:59 AM on December 2, 2005

If your voice is raspy you should sing Son of A Preacher Man. F'in awesome karaoke song. Lola_g's got it.
posted by spicynuts at 12:00 PM on December 2, 2005

Now I want to sing karaoke tonight!
posted by Lola_G at 12:03 PM on December 2, 2005

Straight Outta Compton
posted by rxrfrx at 12:20 PM on December 2, 2005

Up-tempo Tom Petty. Mid-range Stevie Nicks.

Or Petty & Nicks: Stop Dragging My Heart Around
posted by Marnie at 12:21 PM on December 2, 2005

Well, you could always do Devo's "Whip It" and whip random members of the audience with the microphone cord.

That's what I've done anyway. Seems to be well received.
posted by Otis at 12:26 PM on December 2, 2005

"Silent Lucidity" by Queensryche can bring down the house. Kitschy but most people haven't thought about it in years.
posted by johngoren at 12:29 PM on December 2, 2005

People seem to like Gimme One Reason by Tracy Chapman. She's also an alto.
posted by wsg at 12:31 PM on December 2, 2005

My friend and I sang Ghostbusters once. Everyone hated it, but we felt pretty awesome.
posted by borkingchikapa at 12:38 PM on December 2, 2005

Patsy Cline. Crazy.
posted by matildaben at 12:38 PM on December 2, 2005

Two words: "Mac the Knife"
posted by kirkaracha at 12:43 PM on December 2, 2005

"By the Time I get to Phoenix." Segue to "Wichita Lineman."
posted by xod at 12:46 PM on December 2, 2005

Best answer: "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel with a blindfold on.
posted by Falconetti at 12:52 PM on December 2, 2005

I fucking kill with "Add it Up" by the Violent Femmes. And I saw a girl with a raspy voice own Total Eclipse of the Heart like Hurra Torpedo.
But go for any song that you know reasonably well.. Oh, and be aware that rap songs often have many more verses than you think. I got about four minutes into The Message once and then had a good two verses left to butcher...
posted by klangklangston at 12:56 PM on December 2, 2005

I'm also an alto, and my voice can get a bit scratchy after a night of barhopping myself. I live in deep, deep fear of karaoke, but if forced under penalty of death to sing, I'd go with "Ziggy Stardust" by Bowie.
posted by scody at 1:13 PM on December 2, 2005

You totally have to sing Hoyt Axton's "Never Been to Spain" (made famous by Three Dog Night). Everyone loves this song. Or should.
posted by Dr. Wu at 1:20 PM on December 2, 2005

The Rodeo Song
posted by Fat Guy at 1:26 PM on December 2, 2005

"Baby Got Back," by Sir Mix-A-Lot. Sexist, misogynist, and downright stoopid, but when sung in a karaoke setting by a woman, it becomes transcendent. (I've seen it.)
posted by skyboy at 1:35 PM on December 2, 2005

Ice Ice Baby or Superfreak. Two songs that are not only ridiculous to sing, but that you can also mime/act along to.

My 2 cents: just watching someone stand at a mic and sing is mildly entertaining, but watching someone stand at a mic and sing and get down a la Rick James or Vanilla Ice is wildly entertaining. If you choose the latter, you could finish off with "I'm Rick James, Bitch!"

Learn from my mistake: Living on a Prayer is excruciatingly hard to sing. Don't do it.
posted by missmobtown at 2:01 PM on December 2, 2005

Well, considering your range my two cents are:

Rainy Day Women by Bob Dylan "Everybody must get stoned!"

and

Me and Bobby McGee as done by Janis Joplin.
posted by CrazyJoel at 2:06 PM on December 2, 2005

You could probably get away with some Roy Orbison. No, really! "Only The Lonely", or "In Dreams" if you take the first part of the song up an octave.
posted by Vervain at 2:07 PM on December 2, 2005

I was a sixth-grade alto myself. I killed with Criminal. The Tide is High worked well, and if you are even considering Baby Got Back make sure to go over it before you try it, because there are a LOT of words in that song and I've seen people get lost in the weeds doing it more than once.

Of course my favorite karaoke number ever was "About a Girl" but you might not be a Nirvana fan. I was surprised that the dj even had it.
posted by pinky at 2:15 PM on December 2, 2005

If they have the Joss Stone version of "Fell in Love with a Boy," the audience will fall in love with you.
posted by justonegirl at 2:17 PM on December 2, 2005

my favorite album to sing along with in my car is tom petty's "full moon fever". i can imagine it might translate well to karaoke.
posted by booknerd at 3:04 PM on December 2, 2005

Best answer: Fuck her gently by Tenacious D?
posted by terrapin at 3:14 PM on December 2, 2005

Best answer: Billy Idol, Depeche Mode, and Cake are all very easy for this alto -- they don't have much range.

Get a friend to help you with Don't You Want Me.
posted by Aknaton at 3:41 PM on December 2, 2005

Response by poster: Falconetti: We were supposed to do We Didn't Start the Fire two weeks ago, and the guy messed it up and played "Why Are You So Angry All The Time?", so it turned into this big spoken word drunken speech by yours truly.

Aknaton: Cake! Yes...I can definitely do Cake.

Lola_g: Son of A Preacher Man is just too scary...I'm a wimp.

Terrapin: Yes.

I'm still bummed they don't have "Asshole" by Dennis Leary.

Thanks everybody!!!
posted by SassHat at 4:49 PM on December 2, 2005

My favorite to bust out is "Jump, Jump" by Kriss Kross.
posted by vagabond at 5:52 PM on December 2, 2005

Looks like you're off to the races.

But my favorite's YMCA.
posted by Alt F4 at 6:37 PM on December 2, 2005

Marty Robbins - El Paso

... From out of nowhere Felina has found me
Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side
Cradled by two loving arms that I'll die for
One little kiss, then Felina good-bye ...

... not a dry eye in the house ...
posted by Dag Maggot at 6:40 PM on December 2, 2005

God, El Paso is such a great song. Although I like Big Iron even more.
posted by cloeburner at 6:45 PM on December 2, 2005

Beastie Boys "Fight for your Right." Easy to sing, even if you don't know the lyrics very well. Hell, it doesn't require much singing. Yelling usually suffices.
Tenacious D's "Tribute" is also a fun song. There are some parts you can improv if that's your thing.
posted by jmd82 at 8:48 PM on December 2, 2005

Styx, "Mr. Roboto"

Well, if you're me, anyway.
posted by arto at 10:32 PM on December 2, 2005

Alto? Raspy voice?

Twisted Sister, "We're Not Gonna Take It (Anymore)." Get up there and rock it.
posted by booksandlibretti at 10:44 PM on December 2, 2005

Response by poster: UPDATE. I went to karaoke, got drunk, managed to back up some folks on their songs (date rape by sublime and mother by danzig). I bought the bartender shots before I sang, and that fucked up my mojo. Next week, though. Some Cake, some Tenacious D, all on the agenda.
posted by SassHat at 11:43 PM on December 2, 2005

Bette Davis' Eyes
posted by matteo at 7:32 AM on December 3, 2005

Those Three Days
posted by matteo at 7:34 AM on December 3, 2005

re: Lucinda's song. I promise that by the time you're belting out "You sleep like a baby, breathing / Comfortably between truth and pain" you will have killed them all already
posted by matteo at 7:36 AM on December 3, 2005