Karaoke Forums

Hi everyone,

Okay, obviously we're not talking about song requests from the living vs. requests from the dead (although usually around midnight, I feel like I may have taken a few of those, too  LOL ).  I'm distinguishing "live" song request as those you receive in a karaoke club vs. requests you may receive here on SS to sub a particular song. Here's the deal;

Some nights, depending on how heavy the rotation is, you might only get to sing 3 or 4 songs before the club closes. Last night I wanted to break in a new song, so I was the first one up and did that but then there were requests; from customers, the club manager, other karaoke friends, etc. At one point I had already subbed a song to do for a customer and she'd been patiently waiting for my turn up to do it - then the club manager comes up and he strongly requests that I do his favorite song which is one he has asked me to do every karaoke night for the past couple of weeks and I have done it. So anyway, he personally gives the KJ his song request for me and she's really sweet and when I'm "on deck" in the rotation she comes up with the 2 tickets and says "Which one of these do you want to do?" So I'm like, "Uh-oh, the manager's song or the customer's song?"

I was sure this was going to be the last song I'd get to do for the night and I'm practically stuttering to the KJ, "Um, um, ahhh." And she's like "Well, which do YOU want to do?" So I went with the customer's song because I figured a) it had been subbed longer then the managers b) if he's a good manager then he's more interested in his customer leaving happy then in his own song request. So I did the customer's song and she was thrilled and the manager acted disappointed so I promised him that it would be the first song I did on the next karaoke night. I think he'll live until next week.

There was at least one other request that I actually had to bump but because it was from a karaoke friend it wasn't a big deal 'cause other singers easily understand the situation. And then another request came from another singer and I finally just had to say "Man, I'm BOOKED tonight!" He understood.

But I started wondering - how do some of you handle multiple requests? I read somewhere on here that there was one singer who either refuses to do requests or limits his requests to 1 song a night. - and I'm actually thinking that's not a bad idea anymore. I mean, requests are obviously flattering since it means that someone likes you and your voice well enough that they want to hear you sing something that's special to them. It's truly a compliment and I would never want people to stop asking but how do you manage them or prioritize the requests you get? The KJs have to work a "singer's rotation" - so how do you other singers handle your "song rotations?"

Looking forward to hearing from you!  :yes:


ChristopherD

I've heard of KJ's getting requests.... but karaoke singers actually get requests also??  :shock: wow...


How does that work? Does the ticket offer space for making requests of other singers? Who turns in the ticket? The person making the request? Or does the requestor ask the singer and the singer turns the ticket in?

weird..

We really should go to more karaoke.

Hi SC, I am so glad you posted what you did because I was beginning to feel really foolish  :drool: after what I posted. I honestly thought that people approaching singers with requests to do a particular song or, sometimes more generally, to do any song of their choice by a particular artist, was just a normal part of the karaoke experience.

I've only been doing karaoke since around Dec. 2004 (I used to sing in a nightclub comedy act I did like 30 years ago but the requests were more like "Hey, would stop hitting on me? Bartender! Bartender!"  :D )  Anyway,  I've just gotten the nerve to go back on stage to sing again and so I thought having people come up to me in the club and say "Hey, can you please sing 'such and such' for me?" was as common as customers going up to a piano player in a bar and saying "Do you know how to play, etc. ,etc.."  Which, by the way, is almost as easy to learn the lyrics to as "such and such" because you just keep saying "Etc, etc., etc., etc." over and over again and then a long sustained EEEEETTTTTCCCCC. at the end for the big finish (which you shouldn't confuse with either jee or FinnPeter here on SS who both appear to be big Finnish people...but I digress).

But seriously, SC (and Crystal on SS will tell you that I'm a very serious person, especially when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet with plenty of nuts), I made this post about "song rotations" and found myself scratching my head (where the hell, I mean heck, is the scratching my head smiley when you need it) when no one was posting replies (and you're not no one, you're very much someone but you know what I mean where no one else might but someone else could. Okay, now I'm getting angry, where the heck is the scratching my head smiley).

But to answer your question which was........ oh, yeah, how the requests are made. Usually, it's just like you thought, people approach the singers and just ask them if they would do a song for them or I've had people fill out karaoke song tickets and ask me if I would do the song for them. So if I can then I'll just turn the ticket it in. And I'm not by any means the only singer who gets requests from others at the clubs I go to which I guess is also why I didn't see this post as being particularly unusual. I really expected a half a dozen or so other singers to reply with "Well, I know what you mean and here's what happened to me, etc. etc." (which shouldn't be confused with the song lyrics).

Now, there have been those rare ocassions while I was singing when an attractive woman would throw her panties up on stage with a request written on them but usually it just says..."Please have these cleaned and pressed and delivered back to me by Thursday. Don't bring them yourself or I'll call the police you weirdo!"   And, well, there was that one guy who threw his boxers up at me but I don't fill the kind of requests he had in mind.

Anyway, thanks for posting the one and only reply, SC! I'm sorry this turned out to be such a  :asleep: snoozer of a topic!  Maybe I'll make my next topic something we all can relate to more readily! Hey, I know, don't you just hate it when you're in the middle of your favorite song and a family of ducks decides to waddle through to the KJ just to enter the rotation with some old Partridge Family tune!? Geez, I HATE when that happens!

Hugs  :hug:  :hug:  to you.

Request from the floor for another singer to sing a particular number is not that rare. This is if that singer is awell known personality in that area or that club. So Christopher, you must be fairly well known person in your regular club.

There are two ways this is normally handle; the first way is that the singer will used the requesters turn in the rotation.The requester hand in the slip with a note to the KJ. The Kj will then announce that the next song is a requested song. The other way is that the normal way.

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

Ah-haaaahhh... so THAT's why you make with the funnies!! yer a comeeeediannn... And not a bad one I might add.. the 'true' comedians can't help themselves, the 'funny' just kind of... oozes out of them... (eww).

Anyway, I always enjoy reading your posts. They make me chuckle.

Oh!! And thanks for explaining that request thing for me. I have to be prepared... in the event that I start karaoke-ing on a regular basis and folks start flocking to me with requests. (heheheh)

And very funny line, Sheree... I hope someone requests 'crazy' from me sometime so I can use it.

Hope you get answers to your questions, Chris!

Hi Sheree,

I can't imagine any girl with as pretty an eye as you obviously have getting stage fright! I mean, all you'd have to do is just wink at them with that little blue heart and they'd all melt! You could then just sing your song without any worries at all!  :D

I really love singing live karaoke. The first time I got up the nerve to try it (it had been many years since I had been on stage) I remember holding the mike and my hand was trembling but I got through the song just fine and the hand got steady after that. Now I move through the crowd while I sing songs like "You lost that loving feeling," holding hands, getting down on one knee, really "working it" to deliver the best performance I can for the crowd. It just gets so exciting when I pick one girl from the audience, point at her and sing "YOU'VE lost that loving feeling!" or when I get down on one knee and sing "Baby, baby I'd get down on my knees for yooooouuu!" and the crowd just completely goes out of control for some reason and starts screaming and whistling! I mean, I love subbing songs here on SS, it's really fun and I love meeting all of you because you feel so much like "family" 'cause we have our love for singing in common but it's a completely different kind of "fun" then that live interaction with an audience. I just love it.

Okay, Sheree, I'm on one knee and holding your hand now. Here's a link to You've Lost that Loving Feeling in case you'd like to listen to it.  :D  If you do, I hope you enjoy!

Have a great week!

Hi Badsinger,

Thanks for your reply. Oh yeah, I'm definitely well known in the local clubs and that's why the requests are coming from regular customers, other singers, friends of customers or singers, management, etc, etc. I mean, it's a great thing to have people want you to sing their songs but sometimes it get's a little "crazy" and it's probably more my problem because I don't like to say "no" or dissappoint anyone who comes to me with a song request.  It wasn't a problem when there was only 1 a night at most but as people apparently became more familiar with my singing and the songs I do, they developed "favorites" that they like to hear. So while I'm interested in breaking in some new song material, they're still interested in hearing my old standards. Well,  LOL this is not a major problem, I just thought it would be an interesting topic for discussion to see how other singers handle similar situations.

Usually in our area when a customer gives a song request directly to the KDJ, it's because they want the KDJ to actually perform the song. I've never seen the KDJs act as the middleman for a song request to another singer.

Thanks again for your reply!
Nice to meet you!  :handshake:

Hi SC,

Yup, yup, yup, I'm a comeeediannnn. I've learned that it's best to just be upfront about it 'cause it saves a lot of misunderstanding later on. Nothing worse then making a joke and having someone sarcastically say "WHAT ARE YOU - A COMEDIAN?" And then you have answer, "Well, uh, yeah, actually I kinda am."  So this way I tell everyone and I can be myself and if I say something slightly offensive then people just say "Oh, well, he can't help it, and as long as he says he's a comedian we can't have him committed because being nuts is part of his job description."  I 'm glad you like my posts! I'm just here to sing my songs, make some friends and have some fun.  :dancin:  

You should go out karaokeing! It's really fun! The other singers are great people and really very supportive. I think in all the times I've been out karaokeing, I've seen maybe 6, no wait 7, no 8 other singers, 9 tops, have their mouths ducted-taped shut and tossed from moving vehicles along with their remaining karaoke song tickets. And most of them made it home and almost none of them was seriously hurt although I understand 3 of them had allergic reactions to the adhesive in the duct-tape and one actually decided not to remove the duct-tape and 'cause he's a pretty decent guy we still let him back in the club and we don't even kick the crutches out from under his arms anymore when he pretends like he's going to take off the duct-tape. So, you see, we're really just a bunch of nice people out to sing a few songs and have some fun! You should try it!

Well, I have to get going now. It's almost time for bed and DAMN THESE DUCKS - NO, I will not sing the Partridge Family theme song for you! Karaoke is over 'til Wednesday night! Geez, will you guys get a life!

Nite, SC.

I wish I had people requesting me to sing, then I know that I am good,which I know am not.

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

Seems like every time someone requests for me to do a song, I don't know the song!  So I have only done ONE request before.

The other night someone asked me to do "Harper Valley PTA". It is a pretty difficult song, I have it at home and tried it ONCE but quickly realized it goes very fast and I don't know it that well.  That same night, a woman was going around asking for someone to sing a patriotic song for her daughter on her anniversary from coming home from Iraq. I didn't know any songs like that that I could sing, but I suggested she find someone to do Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA, and she did find someone (he did it very well, too).

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~Suzanne Lanoue~

Hi Suzanne!

I know, don't you hate when that happens. They come up all excited and ask you to sing a special song and you don't know it! It makes me feel like a broken jukebox! Last time it happened I offered the guy a quarter. He said "What's that for?" I said, "it's a refund, I couldn't play your song!" He said "But I didn't pay you anything for it!"  I said "Well, that must be the problem! I'm not broken - you're just cheap!" Ba-dum-bum CHINGGGG (Crystal insists that I include the rim shot after my bum. Hey, that didn't sound right.)

Anyway, I'm thinking of becoming the first karaoke singer to offer a "money back guarantee."  If I buy a drink and the customer doesn't like the song I sang, the bartender has to give me my money back.  :drunk:

 :hug: to you Suzy,

sounds like a good idea to me...
Sometimes someone will just say, can you sing a song by X and I won't know any songs by that person.  

I just remember that once when we were singing in San Antonio with some friends, a kid asked me to sing an Elton John song for his dad who was there with him. I don't normally sing any Elton songs but I did one for him anyway.

So that was fun!

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~Suzanne Lanoue~

Hi! Hey, getting a request to sing a song by "X" is not so bad - when they start asking you to sing songs by "XXX" then it's time to check the club you're in for pole dancers and pasties and head for eXit fast!  :dancin: (you, running for the exit).

I recently subbed Elton's Bennie and the Jets and the only reason I even attempted the song was because a customer at the local club kept bugging me to sing it every week and I kept telling him "I just can't hit the notes. I'm sure I can't hit the notes." And he'd keep saying "Yeah, you can. You nailed Elton's Rocket Man and so you can do Bennie." So I figured, hey, I've got the backing, I'll give it a try. And I kept at it and kept at it and I guess it eventually it became performance-worthy because when I do it in the clubs people clap and stomp their feet to the song (course, come to think of it, they might just being trying to drown out my singing). The guy that requested it really likes it and he seems to know Elton's stuff pretty well. So maybe sometimes the customers know our singing abilities better then we do!

But the Elton song that to-date must have the highest range for me is the one I just put up today Someone Saved My Life Tonight Especially toward the end of the song. Last time I performed it in the club one of the KJ's said "Man, you hit that last note!" And I said in a high pitched voice "Yeah, thanks, excuse me but I have to go pack the family jewels in ice for the next hour and make an appointment for a hernia exam!"

Hey, but it's worth it! Have a great day, Suz.  :hug:

Hey  :wave:  GOODsinger! You can't convince me that you're a bad singer 'cause you know I've listened to your sub and it was great! Thanks again for listening to my Someone Saved My Life sub today! Have a great day! God bless!

And for the firt time I had a request to sing a song last night. And the best part was it come from a regular customer who is a very good singer himself. And of all the song , he picked me to sing 'For the first time' by Kenny Login. make me feel like a Badsinger turning to a  Goodsinger. heh heh

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

Hey GoodSinger! See that! You said you wished someone would request a song from you so you'd know you were a good singer and it happened! Ask and you shall receive! Congratulations! Now we all have to organize some sort of a "Change BadSingers's Name" pointraiser so you can change your name to reflect your talent! I think you need something like 500 points to do it! As you can see I only have a few points (I donated 25 to someone else recently) but I'll kick in what I can! Start thinkin' up some new names, GS! God bless!

Ahh... so that explains those vans I see go whizzing by (on occassion) with remnants of karaoke tickets fluttering in the wind and flailing arms & legs... it's the Karaoke Police!! (good to know there is such a thing out there... heheh)



hahahah You would think the 'duck'-tape would have been enough of a hint for some folks.. sheesh

I HAVE been to karaoke... but only a couple of times. We just don't go out much. Most of the music stuff we do these days is here at home. We're sincerely thinking about getting the band thing started up again though, so there might be more 'playing around' (literally). Karaoke would be fun though... probably.... if I could manage to both sing and dodge flying beer bottles gracefully. At least in the band, we get PAID for the gymnastics (well, usually...) heheh

Nooooooo, the Karaoke Police don't use vans anymore, silly, they traded in the vans in 2002 for a fleet of Honda Jazz hatch-backs 'cause they sounded more musical! And they had them equipped with CDG players so they can scoop up potential karaoke offenders and administer karaokeizer tests to check off-key levels. A friend of mine was picked up once leaving a bar and he failed the karaokeizer test with a 2.1 decibel off-key level. Poor guy lost his place in the song rotation for almost a year and had to attend Karaoke Ed classes where they made him watch the movie "Duets" for 6 hours a day! By the time he was finished he sang great but kept getting thrown out of the bars for walking into the wrong restroom 'cause he thought he was Gwyneth Paltrow. But he actually looked pretty cute in a sarong and so we dated for about 3 weeks. (OK, OK I'm making up that last part...he looked terrible in a sarong and we just had coffee that one time...and we went dutch.)

But I'm just a member of F.U.V.K.S.M.H.A.T.C.U.D.T. (Friendly Urban Vigilante Karaoke Singers for a More Harmonious America Through the careful use of Duct-Tape). We even have custom-made hats and t-shirts but right now they only come in Extra Large because we can't fit the whole organization name on anything smaller. And we don't carry badges. No badges. Hey, we don't need no stinkin' baaadges! Just give us our duct-tape, a tuning fork and a fast car and we're ready to roll!

But I'm glad to hear that you at least tried the karaoke scene, SC! Maybe someday you'll try it again! Let me know where you'll be at and I'll organize a field trip for all the FUVKSMHATCUDT members. I know you can sing so you won't have anything to worry about...but, I was wondering, would it be possible for you to let me know where there's a hardware store not to far from the bar 'cause we ran out of duct-tape last night.

Oh, before I forget, about that guy in the crutches. Well, we let him take off the duct-tape and sing again. I don't know what we were thinking. Anyway, we all felt really bad about what happened before so we took his crutches and we all chipped in a few bucks and got him a wheelchair...but, as luck would have it, the wheelchair shop forget to put brakes on it and while we were driving him to the club to sing one night, well, he was singing Clarence Clearwater like we'd never heard it sung before..."Rollin' Rollin', Rollin' down the riverrrrrr."  Suddenly, the van door flew open (yeah, we find the vans still come in handy sometimes even with that design flaw in the door lock)...well, Clarence rolled, SC...and he rolled...and he rolled somemore. In fact, that was almost three days ago and I think Clarence is probably still rolling. What a shame. Well, it's off to the hardware store again! Bye bye

Oh, right... just in case 'someone else' should need it, right??  :shock:  :shock: hehehhe



Ok, now that you've made my sides hurt... heheheh

But of course, you WEREN'T joking this time, were you?? L-O-L