What should I sing?

"What should I sing?"

I get this question a lot. As the guru-oke, people hang onto my every word when the question comes up. "Hey Mister Revealador, what should I sing?" The room goes quiet until all you can hear is one lady in the back of the room saying "... and I don't ever want to catch you wearing my mother's..." Her voice trails off as she, too, cranes her head to listen to my sage advice.

"I dunno, sing something you know." The person who asked the question turns away and melts into the crowd.

It's good advice, but it sure sounds like a lame answer. And it is lame, too. Mostly cuz I don't know the answer. Well... not until now. I have spent hours digging through websites to pull together people's opinions about what karaoke songs are crowd pleasers. I reviewed 41 websites that had lists of crowd pleasing karaoke tunes in order to cull crowd pleasers. Altogether, I tallied 895 suggestions of songs, and found 594 different songs. (Or 593 if you consider Michael Buble's version of Sway to be the same as Dean Martin's. Personally, I don't. Buble's version is way better.)

The next time someone asks what to sing, I am armed with these lists!

Crowd pleaser karaoke duets
Duets seem to cause the most consternation, so I made a special category for duets. It is no big surprise to me that Love Shack was at the top. Lots of positive energy in that song. But, I have always wondered about the rusted tin roof thing, though. What does it mean?

I Got You Babe is also way at the top. Again, no surprise. Well, except that it's a dumb song. And it has no tune to it. And the words are hokey. And it Sonny had such a lousy voice. But, other than that, the song is great! I sang it once with a woman other than my wife. Bad move, BTW. Our couch isn't all that comfy.

Summer Nights is also no big surprise. That one (and the naughty version of it) get sung on my watch a lot. I'm still waiting to hear, however, a couple really nail the nasal harmony at the end. I am offering a free air guitar to the first pair that can bring it home.

And of course, there is Paradise by the Dashboard Light. No need for a naughty version of that, what ho? Proud Mary is another favorite of mine. And definitely the Ike and Tina version.

Here is the list of crowd pleaser karaoke duets...

Love Shack	B52s	9
I Got You Babe	Sonny and Cher	8
Don't Go Breakin' My Heart	Elton John and Kiki Dee	5
Summer Nights	John Travolta and Olivia Newton John	5
Paradise by the Dashboard Light	Meatloaf	5
Proud Mary	Ike and Tina Turner	4
I Had the Time of My Life	Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes	3
You're the One That I Want	John Travolta and Olivia Newton John	3
Islands in the Stream	Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton	3
Picture	Kid Rock Sheryl Crow	3
Endless Love	Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross	3

Crowd pleaser karaoke

What can I say? For those of you who know my fondness for Don't Stop Believin, you might think that I just put it there. Like maybe only two people said that they liked to hear the song? Or that the only people who mentioned this song were saying that it should be followed immediately by Clapton's song I Shot the KJ?

No really. People like the song. People get into the song. No ever sings it well, but it is the quintessential karaoke song. I love this parody:
 
Both singers they are unaware
that neither of them have a prayer 
of hitting half the notes they'd have to 
to sing this song, this song, this song...

Total Eclipse? Good song... I just don't hear it often enough though. Bohemian Rhapsody? Yeah. Another great sing-a-long. As is Sweet Home Alabama. 

I am frankly surprised to see Sweet Caroline be so far down on the list. I mean, this song has audience choreography! It's nothing like hordes of people dressed up to see Rocky Horror, but hearing everyone in the bar shake their fist in the air singing "Buh buh buh" is just a total rush. It's just so good, so good, so good!

Which reminds me... where's the salt? Why don't people do Margaritaville anymore? It only got three votes. Is Sweet Caroline doomed to that same pitiful obsolescence? Sad.

And the list for top karaoke crowd pleasers...

Don't Stop Believin'	Journey	14
Total Eclipse of the Heart	Bonnie Tyler	11
Bohemian Rhapsody	Queen	10
Livin' On A Prayer	Bon Jovi	8
Sweet Home Alabama	Lynryd Skynyrd	8
Friends in Low Places	Garth Brooks	7
Like a Virgin	Madonna	7
Sweet Caroline	Neil Diamond	7
I Love Rock and Roll	Joan Jett	6
Hit Me with Your Best Shot	Pat Benatar	6

What about country?
Some of you may notice that Islands in the Stream, Picture, and Friends in Low Places are the only country songs on the two lista. Well... Sweet Home Alabama could be counted as country, I suppose. But there was a definite dearth of country songs. Three or four out of the top 21 karaoke songs. Hmmm... Sorry, country fans. I did the googling. I dutifully recorded the results.

Pleasing and displeasing the crowd
Some astute and ardent readers may recall that I posted a blog in mid January about the worst karaoke songs. Those same astute and ardent readers may have already been looking at that post and comparing the lists. Lemme save you some time. Yes, there are four songs on both the best and the worst lists:

Paradise by the Dashboard Light
Summer Nights
Friends in Low Places
Picture

Go figger.

I hope this post helps you decide what to sing!!
John the Revelator
www.RevelatorKaraoke.com

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