Dear readers,
Let’s get one thing out of the way: I have no interest in making you do karaoke. Like most enthusiasts (or so I assume), I don’t want to force anyone into a mysterious public humiliation, nor do I want to watch from the stage while you silently wonder what kind of downtrodden loser is being led to sing White City to a room full of drunk people who wandered in from an advertising conference at the Javits Center. Monday night.
I don’t know when my entire personality became Someone Who Does Karaoke and by extension Someone Weirdly Defensive. But as demonstrability goes, it’s pretty harmless — and as treatment goes, pretty cheap. More than that, something magical can happen when a room full of strangers come together to (voluntarily) do something that has nothing to do with their real lives, for no other reason than the joy of singing.
—Sadie
“To get into that karaoke mindset, you have to leave behind all notions of good or bad, right or wrong, in tune or out of tune,” Sheffield writes in this, the ‘Walden’ of karaoke memories . “THE head in the word karaoke is the same as that in karate, meaning “empty hand”. They are both ’empty’ arts because you have no weapons and musical instruments to hide from – only your courage, your heart and your will to inflict pain.”
Sheffield takes up karaoke for the first time, reluctantly, as a grieving young widower – and immediately finds an escape and a community. You certainly don’t have to do karaoke yourself to enjoy this touching tale of love lost and found, but Sheffield offers a testament to the odd comforts of the hobby, to say nothing of the song’s cathartic final lines of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” with a group of people you’ll never see again. This is one of the rare books that reliably makes me cry. It’s also why I first got the courage to perform a truly seamless version of “I Think We’re Alone Now” to a room of worried Frenchmen.
Read if you like: “High Fidelity” (Nick Hornby’s novel or Stephen Frears’ faithful film adaptation). “Here After,” by Amy Lin. “Total eclipse of the heart.“
Available from: Many good bookstores will print to order. but in my opinion this is a case for Thriftbooks and its ilk. (And, of course, there is one e-book.)
When a local institution named Dale Jepsen dies in a fire in Canada, the people of Crow Valley hold a memorial karaoke contest in his honor. Bryan’s dark comedy is part contrarian farce, part character study and overall a fun read – in the tradition of her previous novels ‘The Figgs’, ‘The Hill’ and ‘Coq’ – but my favorite parts are in which he skewers the strange world of karaoke lovers. There’s the guy who storms off when his duet partner can’t bring a harmony. the incredible irritation when someone else takes your song before you can get to it. the showboat that rules with deep show tunes. To borrow a description commonly applied in academia, it is so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.
Read if you like: ‘The Middlesteins’ by Jami Attenberg, anything by Louise Penny, ‘The Appeal’, by Janice Hallett
Available from: Where fine books are sold. why not patronize Owl’s Nestat the author’s home in Calgary?
Why not…
-
Can you hear someone who is deaf? Tim Falconer can’t sing. he has what scientists call amusia and we call tone-deafness. His 2017 book “Bad Singer” begins with Falconer’s experiences, followed by an exploration of neurology (often the subject) and the evolution of the human relationship with music. Exciting and fun.
-
Justify your dislike? If you dismiss karaoke as not just lame, but as a nationalistic opiate drone torn between the forces of conformity and exceptionalism, Yugoslav cultural critic Dubravka Ugresic has your back. Her excellent book of essays “Karaoke culture” (which covers a lot more than amateurs singing in public) also shows an attractive open-mindedness: “I’m not sure why I even thought of going to see karaoke in Amsterdam — maybe because of the paradox that sometimes turns out to be true, that the worlds open up where we don’t expect them.”
-
Mixing media? Hollywood’s portrayal of karaoke can be just as creepy as most people think real karaoke is. I give you “Duet.” But there are notable exceptions: “Booksmart” (excellent dramaturgy-children’s illustration) “500 Days of Summer” (the scene filmed at Redwood is by far the best thing in the movie). “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (bad singing realism) and “Lost in Translation”, because the karaoke scene it captures the randomness and ritualistic, controlled madness of the whole hobby.
Thank you for being a subscriber
Dive deeper into books in The New York Times or our reading recommendations.
If you enjoy what you read, please consider recommending it to others. They can register here. Browse all our subscriber-only newsletters here.
Friendly reminder: check your local library for books! Many libraries allow you to reserve copies online.
