Friday, February 6, 2009

101 - Singing badly

There's a person in my class who is oblivious to the fact that he is annoying. I preach honesty but I don't have the heart to tell him to his face that he sounds horrible when he sings. I'm absolutely positive he knows I hate his singing. There's no way he can't take the hint. I walk away, push him away, turn to someone else for mercy.

I ignore his singing, I don't join in. I shake my head in irritation, but he seems to think I'm joking, which only gives him greater incentive to sing further because it's apparently funny.

Everyone else in my class can't stand the way he sings randomly around others. They're not songs that everybody knows and they're not songs we typically listen to. He's tone deaf, and he can't keep the rhythm or the beat. He's off key, and can't remember the lyrics or how the tune goes sometimes. He tries to create instrumental noises with his mouth and thinks his whole performance sounds good.

I used to think I sounded good, until someone told me to record my own singing on a tape. Boy, I sounded bad, and I never thought I would sing again. In the past year or so, though, I have a new-found confidence in singing. I believe I can join in with the gang at the karaoke place if I don't lose complete control of myself. Singing is fun, at the karaoke place, if you know you sound okay. But it's not good to sing at school, for Heaven's sake. It's not good to sing when you don't sound good.

The person in my class also has boundary issues, verbally and physically, a whole range of them. When he sings, he sticks his head closer to yours to maximize amplitude, moves his chair closer to you to offer a greater acoustical advantage. Every time he starts singing, I feel my guts twisting because I want to be bold and tell him to shut up, but wow, I have a bigger heart than I initially thought I had.

Do you know anyone like this? Do you hate it too?

10 comments:

Douglas said...

The last time I sang in public was at the Eagle's Nest in Olongapo in 1968. I sang "Light My Fire" by the Doors. I was very, very drunk. I was very, very bad.

Anonymous said...

LOL @ Douglas, my last effort was a rendition of Steppenwolf's Born to be Wild, I was in a similar state. People actually gave me more beer so that i wouldn't sing it again.

AV
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Unknown said...

I think it's hilarious when people sing bad at karaoke. I'm not the best singer in the world but at least I'm not tone deaf and can keep a beat. That being said, I did sing karaoke with friends when we were very drunk. We sang "Material Girl" Four drunk college girls singing badly...we were asked not to sing anymore that night.

I'm not one for people getting in my personal space in general and singing at me would just annoy me even more.

J.J. in L.A. said...

I don't like to listen to people sing...unless they're doing it professionally. Even then it's iffy because I just can't stand someone who sings badly. Joe Cocker or Rod Stewart, for instance.

The last time Isang was at 7 years old. I had to perform Candy Man (by Sammy Davis Jr., who couldn't sing either) and I HATED the experience.

I think that's where I got the phobia to begin with. I can't even stand to listen to someone singing on tv or to someone else in the room. Or karaoke.

I'm tellin' ya, it's BAD!

Anonymous said...

i only sing in front of my friends. i have no guts to SING to the world knowing that i might be off tune.

well. yeah. i know someone who is overconfident about her singing, criticizing others who sing badly when in fact she's worse. it is hell annoying.

~C.

Anonymous said...

People singing badly, yes, that I can understand. Some people just can't sing, but it's fun and I guess that even they have a right to belt out the odd tune.

But you know what I REALLY hate? People who clap out of time. There is really no excuse for bad CLAPPING, is there? You stand with them in a big crowd - possibly at a concert - and everyone claps on beat, clap clap clap. And then THEY chime in: CLclapAP CLclapAP CLclapAP. I HATE that.

Madame DeFarge said...

I used to sing in the school choir, so can hold a tune and a note, though not necessarily at the same time. Having watched various X factor type programmes over the years with a horrified fascination, I am amazed at the number of people who are convinced they can sing. It's baffling. I'm with you on this one.

Frankie and Bella said...

God you story reminds me of this girl I used to work with, note the operative word, 'used' to.

She would sing whenever, and I mean whenever, a barely decent song came on the radio. She would sing and get all into it. Closing her eyes and rolling her head from side to side. And boy, did she sound terrible. Tone deaf and croaky. To make matters worse, we worked on a switchborad. So I'll be on the phone and she'd be bopping and singing away to the latest tune.

When she first started, she had a real croaky voice and I thought she had the flu. But as the weeks went on, she still had that horrible voice. And then the singing started. I would find myself totally bewildered, staring at her in disgust as I missed all the incoming calls. She even caught me staring at her once and asked me what was wrong...I just said that I had a headache.

God she was annoying!!!!!

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. Ok thanks.

Douglas said...

LittleJ, I do that on purpose.

Anonymous said...

Douglas,
How can you????