I love to sing karaoke. When I tell people of my passion for this hobby, the first question they will often ask is “What is your ‘go-to’ song? I'm sorry, but I never give a clear answer.
I’ve been doing karaoke regularly since 2000. I’ve sung in many different venues with all sorts of audiences, every situation is different. The song choice depends on my mood, the vibe of the venue, the songs sung by the singers right before me.
The short answer to the ‘go-to’ song is Rockabilly or Swing songs, then 80s synth pop, then it branches from there. Sometimes I like to do Rap, sometimes it’s Country. Since I’ve taken this up as a hobby, I have accumulated over 400 songs in my wheelhouse- but of those, I have only done a small portion in public.
I created this website because I love making lists of songs, I like to ponder clever themes and build lists based on an idea, a word, or a concept. When I started to plan my return to visiting my local karaoke bar, I naturally made a list of songs I wanted to sing. Then I came up with an idea to sing a list of songs that went from A to Z. Some letters were challenging to find the right song for me, but it was a fun idea. In the actual situation though, if you sing them in alphabetical order, the song may not fit the mood of the club. I was too excited to not sing some of my favorites upon returning, so I abandoned the “A-to-Z” theme.
What I did do was to chronicle all of the dates and songs I sang in Google docs. I started June 8, 2022 and made Wednesday my regular drop in night. After a few weeks I noticed that I didn’t repeat any of my choices from previous weeks, naturally I wanted to see how many I could do before a repeat. That was the start of the current quest of ‘100 Songs at the Bamboo’.
Last night I dropped in on Dec 23rd, the Friday before Christmas. The crowd was light in the early evening and I was first in the rotation. I had done 3 songs in the first 20 minutes of opening. By the time the night was done, I finished my 97th song of my quest.
Here is the ‘Ralphie Rich’ karaoke playlist for 2022:
