Kolossal K-Town Karaoke WeeKend

I'm very much looking forward to this.  Only two weeks away!  I know that when the time comes I'll be so excited and anxious that I'll have a really difficult time choosing songs I want to sing.  Then I'll end up picking songs I like but don't have any business singing for karaoke.  "Hey Good Lookin'" seems like a great idea, until you get up there and have to awkwardly bop from side to side during the 32 measure instrumental break.

To remedy this problem, I'm going to prepare a list of possible choices in advance so I have some certainties in mind.  Maybe I'll even bring it with me!  Things I'm going to take into consideration: the crowd/group of friends I'll be in front of, who I'd like to sing with, ability to wildly belt out the song, and sentimental value.  Choosing an effective karaoke song is an art in itself.

I'm not a phenomenal singer, but I can get by (at least that's what I tell myself).  Especially when doing Neil Diamond or Van Morrison impressions.  I would like to play/perform music more, and if I did start writing songs I'd probably be Dar Williams-y in style.

But anyway, back to karaoke.  I luhhh it.  It fulfills my almost sociopathic desire to perform without having to do any of the actual "work" (i.e. writing songs, playing the instruments, etc).  My friend Charnee and I had our first friend "date" together in Korea Town, hoping to find a place to sing.  We were very disappointed to find out that a) you have to be 21, b) our group of friends bailed on us for the night, and c) it's very expensive to rent a room with just a couple of people.  We ended up going back to my apartment and watching Neil Diamond's version of The Jazz Singer.  Two years later, we're going to try and rekindle the warm and fuzzy feelings of that night that signified the beginning of our friendship (which, I'll admit, had mostly to do with the "magical" pepsi we carried around).  Only this time, we want to SANG our little souls out.

Here's my list of possible song choices:

"Unbreak My Heart" by Toni Braxton (with Charnee, of course!  When we worked for our dorm office we would sing this loudly and probably scared away a few residents.)

"Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin (with Charnee...are you seeing a pattern here, yet?)

"Cracklin Rose" by Neil Diamond (with Michelle, perhaps.  Did you know the song is about playing Risk late into the night with Neil Diamond's mother?)

"Two Outta Three Ain't Bad" ("Paradise By the Dashboard Light" if I can get a friend to join me.  I must make up for that wretched performance from the last time) by Meatloaf

"I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (with Dave...I have a really vivid memory of blasting this in his car while driving around Rensselaer with both of us singing as damaged goods)

"99 Problems" by Jay-Z (no explanation necessary)

"Wild Night," "Brown Eyed Girl," or "Moondance" by Van Morrison (My friend Kelly and I sang Van Morrison with a street band in Washington Square Park one night.

"The Weight" or "Up On Cripple Creek" by The Band 

"You Shook Me All Night Long" - AC/DC

For later in the evening when we're all more tolerant of dance breaks and we'll all be a big trainwreck anyway:

"Love Shack" by the B-52s

"Dont Stand So Close to Me" and "Roxanne" by The Police

"Beast of Burden" by The Rolling Stones (prih-tee prih-tee prih-tee pri-tee gurhhhl)

"Last Train to Clarksville" by The Monkees

"Hungry Like The Wolf" by Duran Duran

"Psycho Killer" by The Talking Heads (I can only pronounce French late at night)

Anything by Herman's Hermits.

What are your favorite karaoke songs?

Any suggestions?