Singing, Covers, and Karaoke Confessions
June 3, 2025
Episode Notes
Good morning.
Morning there, Ed. How are you doing?
It is I, Edward. I am fine, thank you. And you?
I I couldn't be better. I got my cup of the bean.
And I got my cup of chai.
Right on. Hey, I thought I heard you singing a minute ago.
Indeed, I love to sing.
Yeah, me too.
I am by no means a good singer, but I do love to sing.
Hey, now that's interesting because I think I'm a great singer and my wife disagrees with me.
Well, I I think I'm a terrible singer and my whole family agrees with me.
So, are you living Are you telling me I'm living in a fantasy?
I'm telling you your wife is not very nice.
Oh, no. She's honest. I like to be clear. I like to know what I stand with people.
Why do you think you're a great singer and why does she think you're not?
I can't tell you why she thinks I'm not a great singer. That's a long deep topic. Now, as for why I think I'm a great singer, well, I don't know. I think just everything goes to my head.
I got a big head.
All right. What What do you like to sing?
Uh, classical music,
such as as All right. So, you're not singing words, you're singing music.
Yeah. It's halfway between singing and Gregorian chant.
Gregorian chant. I'm I'm So, I'm I'm much more a fan of singing lyrics than of just humming or or a tune. Um
Well, I I I follow the tune that comes into my head and 80% of the time I don't know the words or there are no words.
One of the two.
So I make it up.
Why restrict myself to words?
I suppose I sing um um sometimes I singchaikovski.
Tchaikovski is good.
I'm a big fan of so I I'll hum that like uh of course it's not going to come to mind now that I want it but Uh,
I know,
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies from the Nutcracker.
That's great.
Or or that type of thing. I would just it would come to my mind and I'd start humming it. But, you know, you know,
go
sometimes I get classical music from the movies.
Ah, yes. Yes. Yes.
I'm aging myself. I'm hating myself, but there was a movie called Breaking Away about a bicycle racer in America and he would listen
the the background music was Mendlesson.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent.
Really, really nice.
Um, and now I've lost my thought, but that's all right. I was going to say, uh, you know, living I got it. It came back. Living in Japan, Japanese people love to sing, and Japanese people are great singers. And what I mean is everyone in Japan has been a karaoke. Everyone in Japan can sing and and everyone in Japan seems to enjoy singing. So they're all great singers. The first time I went to karaoke in Japan when I was like
25 probably it was the first time I'd ever sung around other people in my life.
Okay. Yes.
So I mean I'm I have no experience. I'm not a good singer. And I'm fine with that. I enjoy singing by myself in the shower or walking around the house or whatever. But but Japanese people really love singing and are really really great singers. So in Japan, I really feel like the uh what? The ugly duckling of singing.
The odd.
Yes. Yes, that's right. The odd one out. The odd fellow. The ugly ducking. Not the black sheep, but I guess the black sheep of Japan.
No. No. Doesn't quite work. But I
I do enjoy karaoke.
Yeah. No, I don't like karaoke.
I really don't like karaoke.
Why not?
Okay, here's my bias. Um, when I hear a song and I like it,
that is the good version. If I hear a cover of that song, it's not as good. So, for instance, let's take an example. Now, this is just my bias. Uh, an example might be a YouTube song. When I was in the late 80s, I started to enjoy listening to YouTube. Uh, YouTube YouTube and I think I've heard one of their songs done by a different band and it's just not as good. It'll never be as good as the original in my mind.
And yes,
when I try to sing other people's songs, most of the time it's not as good. One of the exceptions is American Pie.
Okay. But would you say it's got to be the original version or it's got to be the first version you heard?
Because I find usually the first version a person hears of a song is the one they like the best.
And I you've uh you've you've said my idea better than I could.
And I think one of the uh really prime examples of this is the song um Killing Me Softly. I And so
and so most people
most people heard the Fuji's version sung by Lauren Hill in the '9s.
Okay. And so for most people in my generation and even the current generation, that's the version they assume is the original, but it's not. The original is by Roberto Flack done back in
version 70.
Both versions are great, but because most people the popular version that was around on radio all the time in the 90s and 2000s is the Fuji's version. So that's the version most people know.
Yeah, I don't know that.
And there are quite a few songs like that in Japan. Uh uh oh, Gohidomi, who I love, who's a singer.
Okay.
One of his most famous songs is a cover of Oh, what is it? Um ah anyway. But again, that's one that for most Japanese people, probably the first time they heard it was the Japanese version by Gohiroi.
Okay.
Live la vira loca, which was originally um Ricky Martin, but even that maybe wasn't the original. Maybe it was Julio Eglacius or someone. Um so again, I think probably the the cover by Ricky Martin and the cover by Gohiroi became much more famous than the original. That's what most people know. But anyway, Matt, I'm gonna go I'm gonna go sing a song.
You're making me want to go sing. I might do some. Okay, see you next week. Ciao. Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Morning there, Ed. How are you doing?
It is I, Edward. I am fine, thank you. And you?
I I couldn't be better. I got my cup of the bean.
And I got my cup of chai.
Right on. Hey, I thought I heard you singing a minute ago.
Indeed, I love to sing.
Yeah, me too.
I am by no means a good singer, but I do love to sing.
Hey, now that's interesting because I think I'm a great singer and my wife disagrees with me.
Well, I I think I'm a terrible singer and my whole family agrees with me.
So, are you living Are you telling me I'm living in a fantasy?
I'm telling you your wife is not very nice.
Oh, no. She's honest. I like to be clear. I like to know what I stand with people.
Why do you think you're a great singer and why does she think you're not?
I can't tell you why she thinks I'm not a great singer. That's a long deep topic. Now, as for why I think I'm a great singer, well, I don't know. I think just everything goes to my head.
I got a big head.
All right. What What do you like to sing?
Uh, classical music,
such as as All right. So, you're not singing words, you're singing music.
Yeah. It's halfway between singing and Gregorian chant.
Gregorian chant. I'm I'm So, I'm I'm much more a fan of singing lyrics than of just humming or or a tune. Um
Well, I I I follow the tune that comes into my head and 80% of the time I don't know the words or there are no words.
One of the two.
So I make it up.
Why restrict myself to words?
I suppose I sing um um sometimes I singchaikovski.
Tchaikovski is good.
I'm a big fan of so I I'll hum that like uh of course it's not going to come to mind now that I want it but Uh,
I know,
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies from the Nutcracker.
That's great.
Or or that type of thing. I would just it would come to my mind and I'd start humming it. But, you know, you know,
go
sometimes I get classical music from the movies.
Ah, yes. Yes. Yes.
I'm aging myself. I'm hating myself, but there was a movie called Breaking Away about a bicycle racer in America and he would listen
the the background music was Mendlesson.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent.
Really, really nice.
Um, and now I've lost my thought, but that's all right. I was going to say, uh, you know, living I got it. It came back. Living in Japan, Japanese people love to sing, and Japanese people are great singers. And what I mean is everyone in Japan has been a karaoke. Everyone in Japan can sing and and everyone in Japan seems to enjoy singing. So they're all great singers. The first time I went to karaoke in Japan when I was like
25 probably it was the first time I'd ever sung around other people in my life.
Okay. Yes.
So I mean I'm I have no experience. I'm not a good singer. And I'm fine with that. I enjoy singing by myself in the shower or walking around the house or whatever. But but Japanese people really love singing and are really really great singers. So in Japan, I really feel like the uh what? The ugly duckling of singing.
The odd.
Yes. Yes, that's right. The odd one out. The odd fellow. The ugly ducking. Not the black sheep, but I guess the black sheep of Japan.
No. No. Doesn't quite work. But I
I do enjoy karaoke.
Yeah. No, I don't like karaoke.
I really don't like karaoke.
Why not?
Okay, here's my bias. Um, when I hear a song and I like it,
that is the good version. If I hear a cover of that song, it's not as good. So, for instance, let's take an example. Now, this is just my bias. Uh, an example might be a YouTube song. When I was in the late 80s, I started to enjoy listening to YouTube. Uh, YouTube YouTube and I think I've heard one of their songs done by a different band and it's just not as good. It'll never be as good as the original in my mind.
And yes,
when I try to sing other people's songs, most of the time it's not as good. One of the exceptions is American Pie.
Okay. But would you say it's got to be the original version or it's got to be the first version you heard?
Because I find usually the first version a person hears of a song is the one they like the best.
And I you've uh you've you've said my idea better than I could.
And I think one of the uh really prime examples of this is the song um Killing Me Softly. I And so
and so most people
most people heard the Fuji's version sung by Lauren Hill in the '9s.
Okay. And so for most people in my generation and even the current generation, that's the version they assume is the original, but it's not. The original is by Roberto Flack done back in
version 70.
Both versions are great, but because most people the popular version that was around on radio all the time in the 90s and 2000s is the Fuji's version. So that's the version most people know.
Yeah, I don't know that.
And there are quite a few songs like that in Japan. Uh uh oh, Gohidomi, who I love, who's a singer.
Okay.
One of his most famous songs is a cover of Oh, what is it? Um ah anyway. But again, that's one that for most Japanese people, probably the first time they heard it was the Japanese version by Gohiroi.
Okay.
Live la vira loca, which was originally um Ricky Martin, but even that maybe wasn't the original. Maybe it was Julio Eglacius or someone. Um so again, I think probably the the cover by Ricky Martin and the cover by Gohiroi became much more famous than the original. That's what most people know. But anyway, Matt, I'm gonna go I'm gonna go sing a song.
You're making me want to go sing. I might do some. Okay, see you next week. Ciao. Bye.
Bye.
Bye.