'My Way' can be killer karaoke tune in Philippines
Tue Feb 09 2010 (Toronto Star)
GENERAL SANTOS, PHILIPPINES–After a day of cutting hair, Rodolfo Gregorio went to his neighbourhood karaoke bar. Putting aside his glass of Red Horse Extra Strong beer, he grasped a microphone with a habitué's self-assuredness and briefly stilled the room with "My Prayer," by the Platters.
Next, he belted out crowd-pleasers by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Gregorio, 63, a witness to countless fistfights and occasional stabbings from disputes over karaoke singing, did not dare choose one beloved classic: Frank Sinatra's version of "My Way."
"I used to like 'My Way,' but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it," he said. "You can get killed."
The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling "My Way" in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fuelled.
But the media have recorded at least six victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the "My Way Killings."
The murders have spawned urban legends about the song and left Filipinos grasping for answers. Are the killings the natural by-product of the country's culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?
Filipinos, who pride themselves on their singing, may have a lower tolerance for bad singers. Indeed, most of the "My Way" killings have reportedly occurred after the singer sang out of tune, causing other patrons to laugh or jeer. "The trouble with 'My Way,' " said Gregorio, "is that everyone knows it and everyone has an opinion."
Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country's many Sinatra lovers are practising self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.
Karaoke-related killings are not limited to the Philippines. In the past two years, a Malaysian man was fatally stabbed for monopolizing the microphone at a bar and a Thai man killed eight of his neighbours in a rage after they sang John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads."
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