Karaoke Forums

Hi, I've not posted for a while, but I was thinking the other day about the different songs I sing and how long they are. Most are nice short up tempo songs that seem to be over very quickly. When I'm at someone elses show it means a quick song then off and a long wait (sometimes, usually due to their incompetance). Then others get up and sing slooooooooooow turgid dull songs that seem to go on forever. Thing is, I was thinking that maybe I should change the song I select to sing when at others shows. Does anyone else on here think about the length of songs when selecting what to sing? (I'm damn sure others do when at karaoke shows).

I don't worry with the over all length unless its American Pie. I've only done that one once at a show and then it was requested by a birthday girl. What I think about are the number and lengths of instrumentals in a song. I save the ones with long or numerous instrumentals for doing at home. The goal should be to keep the crowd in your song and doing long songs with instrumentals is a great way to lose them, regardless of the job you do on it.

Here's a prime example. I've been working on a mashed version of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" It's my own thing that leans more on the Guns and Roses version than the Dylan version but I think the G&R track is too long so I am using the Dylan audio version. It's much shorter but what I am doing with it packs a lot more punch than if I used the G&R version.

At someone elses' show i don't think it should matter what you sing...

YET, if you HOG more mic time from others by singing ALL 6-8 minute songs then you may be deemed selfish and/or inconsiderate by others...

My saying for when someone asks me "what song should I sing" is....... Fun, Fast, Familiar and under Five (minutes). You do that and everyone will be happy. Slow songs are necessary but not all night long

I like songs with good instrumental breaks so I can sip my drink or have a puff on my fag.

I don't think about song lengths when I select something to sing. I go by what I'm in the mood to sing, and also how I might gauge what the Audience's receptiveness to some of my choices would be.

There are one or two exceptions to my noting how long a song might be (and if I wish to sing it). Once in a blue moon, I like to sing Meatloaf's "For Crying Out Loud." That is a 9 minute song. I will only consider singing that if the Rotation is very small (and the place does not appear to have many participants), or if the KJ is doing "Two-fers" in each Rotation (where I would consider that song to be counted as two songs for my turn).

Lately, I have noticed a lot of the younger singers tend to gravitate toward songs of six to seven minute length. It's a situation that feeds itself, and becomes a room full of attention seeking wanna-be Divas in a contest of song length. What they don't realize is that once the others are on to it, they tune out and stop listening, sometimes even leaving the room for the duration. In many cases that wanna-be is singing to himself or herself for the last half of the song. This has led to a situation where almost nobody receives applause at the end of his or her song.

Personally, I prefer a song shorter than three minutes because that's about as long as you can hold the attention of the crowd. I like to get applause at the end of my songs. If the choice is rock the house with a short song or put them to sleep with a long song, I vote rock the house every time.

A few years back, a group of about six guys came into the bar and they all sang songs that were six to seven minutes long. It was obvious they were doing it intentionally, and it started to bother many of us who's songs never broke three minutes in length. Eventually, my turn came back around and I announced on the mic “since we are doing long song night, I thought I would treat you all to the first of my favorites” then I proceeded to sing Bob Dylan’s Hurricane. It’s a little over nine minutes long and is about the most boring, repetitive song I could think of at the time. When I finally finished, the long song singers came to our table and surrendered, promising to sing shorter songs from there forward. We all had a good laugh and a great time.

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KNOW THYSELF

Sometimes, you just want to do those songs, though. I do a lot of Frank Sinatra songs that have long breaks, and last night, I sang "Come Sail Away." For fun, when the minute-plus instrumental break came up, I grabbed a newspaper and pretended to read it. It got laughs, the song went on, and we all had fun with it.

Patrick

I am very tempted to steal that trick.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

Just don't overdo it, it does get old. We had a guy that would do that for almost ANY musical break - funny at first, not so much after the first couple times.

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I've never done it before, and probably won't again. I was feeling like being silly last night

Patrick

I bet you could really work the crowd with another talent, like magic or juggling, to fill the instrumental gaps. If you were a good breakdancer, you could do that during "Tequilla" and still 'sing'.


"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (parts I-V)

Over 13 minutes longs, lyrics start at 8:40