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10 May 2006

What Can You Sing? What's in your shower repertoire?→[More:]I have a nice mixed bag of folk & 60s/70s standards, myself, ranging from Angel from Montgomery, Paradise and The Water is Wide through Ode to Billie Joe, American Pie and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. You?
post by: mygothlaundry at: 10:16 | 53 comments
Southern Girls by Cheap Trick
Flower by Liz Phair (naughty!)
Black Rose by Waylon Jennings
lots more, of course, but those seem to come up a lot.
posted by justlikekatie 10 May | 10:23
Showtunes, naturally. Depends on what is stuck in my head. Today, it's "You'll Never Get Away from Me" from Gypsy. Of course, I sing all the time, not just in the shower- I put my dog's name in whatever I'm singing, so that I'm singing to HER, not just to myself like a crazy person.

Hangs head in shame
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 10 May | 10:29
Help Me Rhonda - Beach Boys
One Night - Elvis
Run to the Hills - Iron Maiden
Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum
Built to Last - Sick Of It All

and more...
posted by Hugh Janus 10 May | 10:31
lotsa Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers tunes mostly...
posted by Mrs.Pants 10 May | 10:36
Queen
posted by sciurus 10 May | 10:37
TPS, I sing all the time too, sometimes to the dog and sometimes just because, you know, I can. It is not shameful, it is A Good Thing. Although I'm really trying to imagine singing Whiter Shade of Pale right now and failing, but I bet I could sing along with it on the car radio, because I must confess: I am a car radio singer alonger with.

Note: Any baby can be easily taught to sing Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys, leading to hours of amusement for you and your friends.
posted by mygothlaundry 10 May | 10:37
I'll sing whatever comes into my head, but Solomon Burke's "Cry to Me" is a favourite, as is "Always on My Mind".

As mygothlaundry says, there is a difference between what you can sing acappella and what you can sing if it's playing on the radio. I never can sing "Dust in the Wind" by myself - perhaps I just don't know it well enough.
posted by Orange Swan 10 May | 10:42
Bridge Over Troubled Water -- Simon & Garfunkel
This is the Last Day of Our Acquaintance -- Sinead O'Connor
Stay (Faraway, So Close!) -- U2
Soul To Squeeze -- Red Hot Chili Peppers
posted by initapplette 10 May | 10:43
I can sing I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover... in a Kermit the Frog voice.

hugh - I'm told there's a karaoke bar in Manhattan with Prowler in their arsenal. Weird.
posted by Hellbient 10 May | 10:46
"my smile is the MAKEup I wear since my BREAK up with yoooooooooooooooooou..."
posted by Capn 10 May | 10:47
mygothlaundry, the great thing about Whiter Shade of Pale is that you can whistle the Bach whenever you forget the words, and repeat the light fandango part to your heart's content. And I love trying to whistle in the shower when all the water is running down my lips and the bubbles interfere with the tone; it tickles and I want to smile but if I smile too much I won't be able to whistle, only giggle at my inability. Which is a form of playing in the shower, which is what showers are for anyway.

And likewise, you can get any baby to sing backup on "Help Me Rhonda":

Help!... Help, Help!...
Help!... Help, Help!....

Hellbient, I wanna go sing at that place. I've been to a pretty good karaoke (room) spot in the East Village that had Dead Kennedys, among others. An NYC karaoke (room) meetup would be fun. I hate karaoke bars, though.
posted by Hugh Janus 10 May | 10:50
Plenty, but the one in my head at the moment is "Stick Shifts and Safety Belts" by Cake.
posted by me3dia 10 May | 10:52
I tend to revert to showtunes. Les Mis and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, in particular. Mack The Knife is another favorite. (Guess I just lost the right to mock TPS' musical theatre dorkitude, huh? Damn!)

I also, oddly, sing a lot of hymns and gospel songs despite having no religious affiliation whatever.

And I love Whiter Shade of Pale, despite the fact that it has the worst video ever. Let me see if I can find it on You Tube. BRB.

posted by jrossi4r 10 May | 10:54
Rats. They don't have the one I was thinking of with Harry Dean Stanton in some Wild West brothel or somesuch. They play it on VH1 Classics all the time and it's wretched.
posted by jrossi4r 10 May | 10:57
Oh yeah, I also love singing Canned Heat, too, because I have no idea what any of the lyrics are, but the dude's voice is ridiculous and fun to imitate (in the shower only).
posted by Hugh Janus 10 May | 10:58
I totally forgot about hymns! Yes, I sing those, too. Not even hymns- more like the liturgical stuff we sing every week ("This is the feast of victory for our God, Alleluia, Alleluia, Allelu...")
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 10 May | 11:02
I usually sing along (very, very badly) to whatever's on the radio. I have the radio in the bathroom tuned to an oldies station. I'm often surprised at the songs I remember the words to.
posted by essexjan 10 May | 11:03
Hugh - I can try and find out where it is. I would go to a karaoke meetup, especially one that had Maiden and DK. Although one learns fast not to mess with the Dickinson stuff, or Priest (those high notes can prove embarrassing). Same goes with Cash and his low notes, in particular Ring of Fire and Walk the Line.

But perhaps I'm missing the point...
posted by Hellbient 10 May | 11:03
I don't sing in the house much, because it upsets one of my cats. He starts meowing, and then he hits me with his paw. I do most of my singing in the car, usually to whatever's on the radio or cassette. If I ever do karaoke, I will sing "Crazy," a la Patsy Cline.
posted by JanetLand 10 May | 11:08
The only time I ever did karaoke I did Dixie Chicken with a friend of mine. We'd each had about 3 or 4 margaritas, so we were in good voice and we got lots of applause from all the people who'd had even more margaritas.
posted by mygothlaundry 10 May | 11:12
Did anybody ever see that old Jon Stewart (back, I dunno, ten years ago when he was on the Late Late Late Show or something) with the pudgy guy who came out singing in the voice of Patsy Cline? He was amazing; I thought it was lip-synching until they turned off the backup and he did it a cappella. Amazing!
posted by Hugh Janus 10 May | 11:18
The first time I did karaoke, my gf somehow convinced me to do that duet song from Grease, you're the one that i want.... I kept telling her I didn't know the verses, but she convinced me I would remember once I starting hearing it. She was wrong. I had no idea what I was doing. Then she was telling me to sing my parts, and it'd say "I need a man" on the screen. Clearly not my part. We actually got in a little tiff during the song. The irony. Not my best moment.
posted by Hellbient 10 May | 11:21
An NYC karaoke (room) meetup would be fun. I hate karaoke bars, though.

Awww... I love karaoke bars and think booths are too expensive and too secluded for my inner cabaret singer to have fun.

I want the adulation of random drunk people and having them get up and dance with me. One time I went by myself and had a really random hot twinkie gay guy be my backup dancer for Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason". Can you do that in booth karaoke? HELL NO!

On preview: Ever heard David Sedaris do Billie Holiday? I would pay beaucoup bucks to listen to him do a reading and singing session somewhere.
posted by TrishaLynn 10 May | 11:22
"I got chiiiiiills, they're multiplying
And I'm loooooosin' controwowllll,
'Cuz the power you're supplyin'
IT'S ELECTRIFYIN'!"
posted by TrishaLynn 10 May | 11:23
yeah, it helps when you're a girl and you listened to the damn song 3 million times as a tween.
posted by Hellbient 10 May | 11:32
See, I prefer fun with friends over waiting for strangers. Bad singing is forgivable when it's someone you know; I hate feeling catty (or hearing my friends get nasty) about someone they don't know who's dying up there. And then you get some fucker who thinks their great voice entitles them to show you how to sing the song you picked.

I make more enemies than friends at karaoke bars. I like to sing more than I like the attention I get from singing (though, deep down inside, I wish I liked both).
posted by Hugh Janus 10 May | 11:33
I just wish booth karaoke wasn't so fracking expensive! Or that Village Karaoke hadn't closed.
posted by TrishaLynn 10 May | 11:45
If any of you heard me sing you would want to scoop out your eardrums, and maybe the underlying auditory cortex, with a spoon. This is not an exaggeration.
posted by gaspode 10 May | 11:45
I've been known to belt out the occasional Scott Walker tune. In particular, "Big Louise", "The Plague", and "Montague Terrace (In Blue)".
posted by Atom Eyes 10 May | 11:47
If any of you heard me sing you would want to scoop out your eardrums, and maybe the underlying auditory cortex, with a spoon. This is not an exaggeration.

All the more reason for you to go on the NYC karaoke night then.
posted by essexjan 10 May | 11:54
Two scoops of eardrums
in a package of Kellogg's Eardrum Bran!
posted by Hugh Janus 10 May | 11:58
Ry Cooder's version of "Jesus Is On That Main Line". Ella Fitzgerald's anything and everything. Elvis' "That's All Right". Various Indian chants and bhajans. Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly".
posted by Specklet 10 May | 11:58
Remember that Flintstones where Fred discovered that Barney could sing really well, but later learned it was exclusive to the shower? So, for the talent show or whatever, he wheeled him out in a tub.
posted by Hellbient 10 May | 12:00
Yay for Elvis singers! I also sing "Little Sister" in the shower sometimes.

On preview, yes, hellbient, I remember that clearly, though I haven't seen it in a good twenty-five years.
posted by Hugh Janus 10 May | 12:01
I sing all the time, but I have special shower songs. The reverberation really helps create the sense that you're in an acoustically perfect opera house. One fave is "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables."Come by the Hills", the old Irish song, is nice too. And "Green Pastures".
posted by Miko 10 May | 12:11
Does anybody here sing as a reaction to loud noise, like when a subway or a bus goes by?

I totally do, every time. Particularly when a subway comes into the station, I start belting out whatever's in my head at the time. I have this crazy theory that it protects my hearing.
posted by Hugh Janus 10 May | 12:39
Beer beer beer beer beer beer beer beer beer beer beer beer we love beer.

That's payback for "Killing Me Softly."
posted by mudpuppie 10 May | 12:45
I sing softly to myself on buses and subways. I always figure there's so much noise anyway no one will hear me.
posted by Orange Swan 10 May | 12:55
I used to sing the "Ave Maria" by Gounod as a warm-up in the bathroom just outside church. The "o ra pro nobis" part was my favorite to do because I could actually trill my Rs.

I don't sing in the shower much anymore because I take mine at 6:30 am and my roommates would lynch me if I did that.
posted by TrishaLynn 10 May | 13:02
I mostly make up the songs I sing in the shower. I'll recount something that just happened or sing some random thoughts. That happens much more than singing an actual song.
posted by safetyfork 10 May | 13:03
....I dont know what to do, i'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and givin' off spaaaaarks....
I really need you toniiiiiight....
- Bonnie Tyler (Total eclipse of the heart)

(Thats my bath anthem)
posted by ramix 10 May | 13:17
I have an amazing ability to not know the words of any given song. I can listen to a tune for five days straight (Morningwood's Jetsetter, most recently) and not remember a damn word of it save half the chorus. It's a gift. I'd say the only song I can remember most of the words to is Nina Simone's "If I Should Lose You", and even then I generally forget a verse.

I love singing karaoke, though. I'm fine when the words are in front of me. Must be my frontal lobotomy.
posted by eamondaly 10 May | 13:18
Lately all my random singing-to-self jags have been replaced by attempts to freestyle. In the shower, it tends to go like this:

"my legs are hairy/damn that shit's scary/don't let the dull razor phase ya/wearing shorts would amaze you/my man legs/ain't tan legs/" and so on.

I can only do this without feeling completely mortified because I shower mid-day, when my roommates are away at their jobs and such.
posted by SassHat 10 May | 13:26
heh! I just got out of the shower, where I was singing a song I just learned.

Big Ted

Big Ted's dead , he was a great old pig
He'd eat most anything, never wore a wig
Now he's gone like snow on the water, good bye
He was getting old so the farmer said
"Sell him to the butcher just to make a little bread"
Now he's gone like snow on the water, don't cry
Ted may be a moo cow next time around
Giving sweet milk to the people in the town
He'll be whatever he will choose on air or sea or ground
The sows are busy with the piglets fine
I'd put them in the forest now if they were mine
cause I know they like acorns and I don't like bacon
Boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy
Squidly, squidly, squidly, squidly, squidly, squidly, squidly
Boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy
Sham sham sharoo, oh sham sham sharoo
Big Ted's sold and gone
He came into the kitchen while we were away
He took all the rice and he forgot to pay
He´s gone like snow on the water, good bye
He never cared to do the boogaloo dance
All he ever thought about was food and romance
And he's gone like snow on the water, good bye
Ted may be a moo cow next time around
Giving sweet milk to the people in the town
He'll be whatever he will choose on air or sea or ground
The sows are busy with the piglets fine
I'd put them in the forest now if they were mine
cause I know they like acorns and I don't like bacon
Boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy
Squidly, squidly, squidly, squidly, squidly, squidly, squidly
Boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy, boochy
Sham sham sharoo, oh sham sham sharoo
Big Ted's sold and gone


the boochy boochy squidly squidly sham sham sharoo is exceptionally fun while spitting shampoo.

posted by reflecked 10 May | 13:42
for the past two days the only song in my head is "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You" looping over and over

i would like it to stop
posted by ethylene 10 May | 14:09
One fave is "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables."


Yep. That's my standard. The version on the London soundtrack with the big "as they turn your dream to sha-a-ame!!!"
posted by jrossi4r 10 May | 14:53
Beer beer beer beer beer beer beer beer beer beer beer beer we love beer.

That's payback for "Killing Me Softly."

You rat! I specifically did NOT mention The Beer Song, even though I DO sing it in the shower, so that you wouldn't get it stuck in your head!
posted by Specklet 10 May | 16:19
Sorry, kiddo. "Killing Me Softly" was unforgiveable. I know you had no way of knowing this, but still. It demanded action.

For anyone else who wants to get "Killing Me Softly" out of the noggin: Beer.
posted by mudpuppie 10 May | 16:27
I mostly make up the songs I sing in the shower. I'll recount something that just happened or sing some random thoughts.
safetyfork, do you also shower with Jonathan Richman and Randy Newman?
;)
posted by Hellbient 10 May | 17:27
I sing pretty much all the time unless there's some compelling reason not to. Such as being at work in an open-plan office.

If I'm in a good mood and nothing else is rolling around my brain, I tend to default to Mozart.

TPS, I do the substitute-my-dog's name thing, too. "I Loves You, Porgy Crosbie."
posted by tangerine 10 May | 19:50
The version on the London soundtrack with the big "as they turn your dream to sha-a-ame!!!"

Exactly! "Sha----muh!"

Whoops -- I forgot Summertime, too.
posted by Miko 10 May | 22:24
I have caught myself singing along to whatever is on my iPod while walking to the train station in the afternoons. I sing along to music in the car all the time, to the disgust of my kids (on the plus side, I have now got them requesting me to play things like The Doors and Queen).

God, karaoke *shivers*. When i was travelling in Asia for work, I used to have to do this with clients, but I had to get really drunk to get up enough nerve. My first time was in Surabaya, Indonesia - a trio of us (all falling-down drunk, of course) did "House of the Rising Sun". We were awful, but the crowd loved us. The rule on these trips was that nobody was allowed to mention any of these things when we got back to Australia. You know, "what happens on the road, stays on the road".
posted by dg 10 May | 23:02
I got such a tickle outta this thread yesterday... (I was dyin' to comment then, but the wireless at my school was down, alas).

Grease brings back memories. I can't believe that was 1978. I saw that movie seven times; twice in one night, which was finally enough. I was in junior high. I had this black, "bad"-Sandy leotard I used to put on and model for myself, standing on the edge of the tub to get a full-body view in our bathroom mirror (something I wouldn't dare try now -- it would be a little different view, I'm afraid). Really, though, I prefered Rizzo, and her, "There Are Worse Things I Could Do," was a shower favorite for years; my parents' bathroom, with a shower stall, had the best accoustics, too -- I never sounded so good.

Now and again I also get hooked on "Time of Your Life" (I think that's what it's called -- the fork stuck in the road song...), and will sing the parts I remember on an endless loop while soaping my hair.
posted by Pips 11 May | 09:36
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