Thursday nights are alright

One night – almost two years ago – I found something I didn’t know I had in me. I found the courage to get up and sing in front of a bunch people on a karaoke night at my favorite little pub. I’d done it before – mostly with other people though. But it was different on my own. At first I would wait until I had a drink or two and then stand their nervously. I’d think of songs to sing and spend a week learning them, googling lyrics, memorizing all the words, playing them over and over in my car. And people said I sounded pretty good, so I kept on singing.

Now, I keep a list of songs I want to sing on my phone. Maybe I’ll learn them ahead of time, maybe not. I don’t really get nervous. I’ll sing even without a drink in me and I’ll get up there as often as I can. I’ve had people come up to me and say, “You’re the girl who sings at the Rover.” I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, but I think that’s a riot.

Karaoke night, at least at the Rover and most of the other place I go to, isn’t just about who sounds good. It’s about having the guts to get up there. I have heard people who sound like they should win a Grammy and people who sound like they belong in an insane asylum. My friends and I like to come up with themes (80s nights, guys singing chick songs, power ballads) and try to out do each other with our awesome song selections. We’ll try things out, team up for duets, steal each others’ songs. We cheer for the newbies, but also do our best Simon Cowell impressions. Mostly, we sing along and have a lot of fun.

I thought I’d share some of my favorite things to sing.My list of songs has gotten really long!…

Stay by Lisa Loeb: One of the first songs I sang solo. Don’t need the words on this one!

Madonna’s greatest hits: I love to sing Madonna. Borderline is probably my favorite, but I’ve also done Like a Prayer, Material Girl, Lucky Star, Into the Groove, Crazy For You, Live to Tell, Like a Virgin, Dress You Up, Open Your Heart. Can you tell I’m a child of the 80s? I’m dying to sing Burning Up if I can find a DJ who actually has it.

Pat Benatar’s collection: Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Invincible, Love is a Battlefield, We Belong

Songs that kill my voice, but I love anyway: Joan Jett’s Hate Myself for Loving You, Scandal’s Good Bye To You, Laura Branigan’s Gloria, Bonnie Tyler’s I Need A Hero, Melissa Ethridge’s Come to My Window

Classic Rock: Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain, Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams

I wanna be Chrissie Hynde: Don’t Get Me Wrong, Back on the Chain Gang, Brass in Pocket and I’ll Stand By You

Going Gaga: Bad Romance, Poker Face, Telephone

Sheryl Crow: My Favorite Mistake, The First Cut is the Deepest, Strong Enough

Girl Groups: Be My Baby, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

More 80s: We’ve Got the Beat, Let’s Hear it for the Boy, It Must Have Been Love, Voices Carry

Favorite Duets: Because the Night with Dean, Walk Like an Egyptian with Randi, Total Eclipse of the Heart and Poker Face with Heather, Love Shack and Bad Romance with Josh, anything by Madonna with Marianna, Self Control with Karran, Don’t You Want Me with Jaime, Fire and Need You Now with Tony, Time of My Life with John, Beatles with Amanda

I told you that was a long list! (There’s also a list of songs I should never try again.) And I have to say, I never would have gotten up there to sing if it wasn’t for my friend Amy, who got me to sing Bohemian Rhapsody with her playing the American Idol game hanging out at Holly’s party in St. Louis. You created a monster!

Have you ever sung karaoke? What do you like to sing? And let me know if you have any good song ideas for me!

Credits: Kim Jensen and Kate Hadfield's Audaciously Awesome from Scrapdish; Miss Mint's I Rock