This is kind of typical of me. Because I organized a small karaoke outing tonight and because it featured both new and infrequent members, I brought along a list of what I thought would be fun songs to sing as a group. I’d prepared this in advance, drawing on my own knowledge of easy-to-sing pop favorites as well as mining the advice of the requisite hip-guy-in-a-band in our production department. I compiled and edited the selections, then alphabetized a few dozen of them in an Excel grid, Bangles through Wang Chung.
Believe me, when you’re paying by the hour and you have but a scant two to cram in as many songs as possible, you don’t want to waste time with your head buried in the karaoke song directory.
But we didn’t need the list because we came up with fun group songs on our own, including the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine,” “When I Come Around” by Green Day, “Piano Man” by Billy Joel, “I Want You to Want Me” by Cheap Trick, “Here Comes Your Man” by the Pixies and “The Way You Make Me Feel” by Michael Jackson. Also, more of my friends know how to sing the Beatles’ “I Will” than I assumed; there’s no such thing as an obscure Beatles song.