In honor of the airport karaoke setup, here are ten songs that I have belted out back when I did that sort of thing.
1. “Mack the Knife” – Bobby Darin
2. “What’s Your Name?” – Lynyrd Skynyrd
3. “Keep Your Hands To Yourself” – Georgia Satellites
4. “Still Rock ‘n’ Roll To Me” – Billy Joel
5. “Bad Moon Rising” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
6. “You Can’t Hurry Love” – Phil Collins
7. “Summer Loving” – from the “Grease” soundtrack (done as a duet, naturally)
8. “Stop Dragging My Heart Around” – Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty (ditto)
9. “Chattanooga Choo Choo” – Glenn Miller
10. “Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye” – Steam
I sang tenor in the choir in college, but my range is really more baritone-ish. You’d be amazed – or at least, I was amazed when I first discovered this – how many rock songs are done for a guy with a real high tenor range. Which I can do, in falsetto, which needless to say is teh suck when karaoke-ing. (No, you can’t sing them down an octave. It just sounds wrong when you do. Trust me on this.) Other than the last song, which was an object lesson for me in knowing which arrangement of a tune the DJ has on hand – I was familiar with the rendition done by the a capella group The Nylons, which is nothing whatsoever like Steam’s version – all of these numbers fit my vocal capabilities nicely. If we were travelling this Christmas, I might be tempted to check out the catalog at IAH while we waited. Thankfully for all involved, even if my daughters are too young to be properly embarassed by such paternal antics, we’re staying at home.