Yes, Virginia, Karaoke Can Kill You

When I read this in my local Sunday paper, February 7. I was shocked. Aren't you? Singing My Way will get you killed in the Philippines. Yes, you read that correctly. That classic, sung by Frank Sinatra is actually a very dangerous song in the Philippines. It's unknown how Many people have died singing, or trying to sing My Way, but it has happened. The police down there just don't understand it.

This isn't something new, this has been happening for years. People have been fighting, and some have been killed singing the song, so much so that it has been Called the My Way Killings. Why the song My Way? Paul Anka wrote it. It is a song about his career, it was a struggle. But in the end, the choices he made, he did it his way.

Butch Albarracin has trained several famous artists. His school, Center For Pop, in which he trains singers, is in Miami. He made this statement: " 'I did it my way' is so arrogant. The lyrics evoke feelings of pride and arrogance in the singer, as if you're somebody when you're really nobody. It covers up your failures. That's why it leads to fights." Is that really why people are killing each other over karaoke? Perhaps they are drunk, or maybe They just don't like the song very much. Just to keep the violence down, several karaoke Bars just don't have the song on their list anymore.

The people who do actually still love the song in the Philippines, are zipping their lips. To stay alive. Still that is not the only Song that gets people riled up. Karaoke killings are not just in the Philippines. The news story told of a Malaysian man Who was horrifically stabbed for taking up all the time on the microphone. Another story Is of a Thai man who murdered eight neighbors. What did they sing? John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads. In America, yes, even here in the good old USA, a Woman didn't like how someone sang Yellow by Coldplay and punched the man.

No matter where the killings or violence occurs, the Philippines are the major players when it comes to karaoke killings. Karaoke is performed everywhere there, and it seems that maybe there is a reason for the rage. The Filipinos that consider themselves true singers, probably cannot tolerate the one's who cannot really sing. It has been said that after a killing has occurred, it was because the person sang out of tune. Other people in the bar, then ridicule the singer. So, it is believed that the true reason for the violence Is hogging the microphone, picking on someone's bad singing, or repeating a song that Someone else has just sung.

Now, people tend to go to the karaoke clubs where they have privacy from strangers. Other clubs arrange it so the singer has to stop singing after three selections. People on American Idol just have it too easy, don't they? Nevertheless, if you are into Karaoke, watch what you sing, where you sing, and if you really don't know how to sing well, be prepared: it just may get you killed.