Karaoke Forums

The other night at karaoke I got up to sing "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2.  The KJ had it on a Backstage disc.  After the long intro, I sang the first line, but I was ahead of the swipe.  I figured I started too early, and paused for the second line, but when I sang it along with the swipe, the music didn't match.  By then I was completely off.  I stopped and told the KJ that there seemed to be a problem with the disc because the words on the screen weren't timed with the music correctly.

The KJ claimed that he played the karaoke disc at home along with the original recording and it matched fine.  I've been to this guy's shows many times and we get along well, so I don't think he'd tell me that just to spite me.  So I said, well, maybe it was just me, but it was throwing me so far off that I didn't think I could sing the song.

He let me do the next song on my list instead, which went fine, but I felt kinda bad that I didn't stick with the first one and just do the best I could, especially since the long intro to the first song, plus my attempt to sing it and then conversation with the KJ, took up a couple of minutes of time.

What's the etiquette here?  Should I have just either stuck it out on the first song or skipped my turn since I used up so much time?  Or was I OK asking for a different song?  I still think the KJ was wrong and that the swipes on the disc were mistimed, but that's not really the issue.  Would it bother you if you were waiting to sing and somebody in front of you did this?

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Reward: nine yen in drawer.

No it wouldn't bother me either way.  If a person waited their turn, and their was noticeably a problem that didn't appear to be a deliberate BS problem caused by either KJ or singer,  as somebody waiting in the audience I'd be reasonable enough to understand accomodating a customer is a reasonable thing to do if there might've been a technical glitch. If something seemed to be, or was technically off, as long as it's not 3 minutes into a song, I wouldn't give what he did to accomodate you a second thought..  There was something wrong with "the song", who knows... It didn't work... You weren't requesting to get an additional turn.. There was some type of glitch that you didn't opt to happen, nor did he... So he gave you a fresh start... That's reasonable... Since ALL would want that...ALL waiting to sing that is... This was an "iffy" issue,  it's unknown what the problem was...so nobody was at fault.


JMO

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Edit


(The past two days there's  been something wrong during some "sending post" attempts. I keep getting an "error Debug" can not send message, yet it obviously sends so this duplicate has been removed)


Sorry Tom..  Back on topic !

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

If the song is truly screwed up, I will let the singer chose another, and sing that one immeaditly.

But, more often, I usually have some drunk complain that the song is wrong, too fast, or something else.  I say "SORRY, just sing."

Was this a PC based show? Just curious as I have had sound acceleration problems a few times with directx....It happens once or twice a year and has something with how directx loads up. In some cases the words can be 2-3 behind the music. I have to close my hosting program, open up directx and manually change the sound acceleration from basic to standard and then back to basic and everything is good to go for the rest of the evening.

If it is a disc based show then there is no solution and I would offer to restart the song or they could pic another but I would not get into a verbal exchange with the customer and begin defending my disc. I would just say sometimes we get a bogus version and move on.

If it bothered you to sing the song, it is perfectly acceptable for you to ask for another one as it only takes a moment to have you up and running.

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

It was a disc-based show.

It would bother me less if I was certain there was something wrong with the disc.  It may have just been me not remembering right, or not hearing the music right or something.  But I sang four songs that night (five if you count the one I didn't sing) and that was the only one I had any trouble with.

No big deal, I guess.

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Reward: nine yen in drawer.

The KJ is either not listening to the song at home or he is flat out lying that the lyric swipe matches at home.  The Backstage version of that particular song was originally the Standing Ovation (Backstage bought or acquired the SO line) & that song has ALWAYS been so off, unless you know it by heart, it isn't even worth listing.  So there was no other problem except the disc is recorded that way & always has been!

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I knew it!!

Thanks Lonman, I feel better now.

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Reward: nine yen in drawer.

Wow! That's crazy. Sounds like you know your stuff Lonman.

For me, when I get up and there are problems I just wait them out. It's not something to feel bad about. If it was that bad, I'd first ask for another version to be queued up, or the next song I was gonna sing. I'd rather go sit down that completely hose up a song when I know I am about to completely hose it up. I did that sort of thing when I first starting singing karaoke and I try and avoid it now.

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The Truth Is Out There

I absolutely cringed when Backstage released the Standing Ovation and the Sound Images discs as their lineup... because although backstage was a crappy brand, it wasn't as bad as THOSE crappy brands! !

Off Topic a little - But even if the swipes are dead on, if you don't know the song
you're not going to be able to sing it.  If you try and sing a song you never heard before you're in trouble. By the time you see the swipe and your mouth decides to act --too late.  Many times with new Karaoke virgins at my show I try to tell them to JUST SING the song (assuming they know it) and use the screen just for the words but not the timing...Make Sense?

Kind of a side note here: this type of thing is one of the reasons us KJs can get anal about the brand of discs we get, because, unfortunately, there are alot of discs with mis-cued words, or even wrong words. You can also get discs where it's next to impossible to hear your musical cues, which is vital in karaoke.

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even soundchoice get the words wrong

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

I can live with wrong words provided it at least SOUNDS like what it's supposed to say.

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[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

Wrong words really bother me, when I know the right words.  I also often find that they will slip in an extra word and it isn't even supposed to be there.

Paranoid by Black Sabbath for example... I have never seen the correct word for the last word of the song.  It's either celebrate or collaborate but never Coagulate....Bugs me to pieces.....

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

Isis

Paranoid, I played it on last night, for the first time. I probably should learn it.   I have the ALL HITS 2000 version.  The last word is collaborate.  The catalog number of my disc is AH2006.  

Both DBK1009 and I agree that, muscially, AH2001 has the best rendition of Paradise By The Dashboard Light.

One of the first CDG's I ever purchased was Backstage's Billy Joel.  Not remembering very well how each song went, I listened to a Billy Joel tape I own before trying each karaoke version.  IN EVERY CASE, the backstage version was true to the original.  And when I sing a Billy Joel song out, I try to select the BS version because I have been "fooled" by other manu's versions, too often,

On Saturday night, I sang, for the first time, the SC version of Two Out of Three Ain't Bad , a song I have done many time before.   It had a mistake in the lyrics that I had never ever seen before on any other version.  I think it was in the wrong key, as well? Overall, I didn't particularly enjoy it compared to other versions I have done.
 
You'll never know what you'll find on a disc until you try it.  Keys can be wrong, tempos can be wrong, swipes maybe problematic, lyrics can be missing or wrong.
Why not have an area in this forum where people can inventory renditions of songs they recommend (and comment on pros and cons)?  For example, while the AH version of Paradise is the best musically, there is one part that is missing the words for the male part of the duet, and it doesn't have a recorded announcer for the "ball game".  The DK version is true to the original in terms of the lyrics and has a recorded version of the "ball game" announcer.  So, while I prefer the AH version, if I were asked to recommend the version to sing, I would recommend DK's version if I wasn't sure of how well the singers know the song.

Actually the last words of the song are

I tell you to enjoy life I wish I could but its too late.

I know the Sound Choice version is correct.  The All Hits version is not correct in a couple places.

Celebrate or collaborate is wrong.  Here are the lyrics FROM the Black Sabbath site.
http://www.black-sabbath.com/discog/paranoid.html
Scroll down about halfway.

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When a nephew of mine first started getting the bug he wanted some Doors So I found a cd on Ebay... Backstage....It sucked I finally got a small Legebds set which was at least better but the joke was for awhile Kennys gonna do some Back Doors

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Thanks Lonman regarding the AH version of Paranoid.  I've since downloaded a copy of the MP3 version, and will have to listen to it.  I won't bother "learning" the song until I hear the download.

See what you started, Isis?  Just kidding. I realize Tom actually started this thread.

Lonman's input provides all the more reason for my suggestion that the forum offer a separate posting area for this subject matters!

Some one can start a thread ever week on this subject. May be name the thread The Best version of....

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott