Jazz on the Half Shell

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NY Times

By NORIMITSU ONISHI

Published: February 6, 2010

GENERAL SANTOS, the Philippines — After a day

of barbering, Rodolfo Gregorio went to his

neighborhood karaoke bar still smelling of

talcum powder. 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 the Platters’ “My Prayer.”

 Next, he belted out crowd-pleasers by Tom Jones

and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Mr. Gregorio, 63,

a witness to countless fistfights and occasional

stabbings erupting from disputes over karaoke singing,

 did not dare chooseone 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 fueled. But the news media have recorded at least

half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them

in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”

The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?

Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country’s many Sinatra

lovers, like Mr. Gregorio here in this city in the

southernmost Philippines, are practicing self-censors

hip out of perceived self-preservation.

Karaoke-related killings are not limited to the

Philippines. In the past two years alone, a

Malaysian man was fatally stabbed for hogging the

microphone at a bar and a Thai man killed eight of

his neighbors in a rage after they sang John

Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

Karaoke-related assaults have also occurred in the

United States, including at a Seattle bar where a

woman punched a man for singing Coldplay’s “Yellow”

after criticizing his version.

…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 Mr. Gregorio, “is that

everyone knows it and everyone has an opinion.”

Others, noting that other equally popular tunes have not

provoked killings, point to the song itself. The lyrics, written by Paul Anka for Mr. Sinatra as an unapologetic summing up of his career, are about a tough guy who “when there was doubt,” simply “ate it up and spit it out.” Butch Albarracin, the owner of Center for Pop, a Manila-based singing school that has propelled the careers of many famous singers, was partial to what he called the “existential explanation.”

“ ‘I did it my way’ — it’s so arrogant,” Mr. Albarracin

said. “The lyrics evoke feelings of pride and

arrogance in the singer, as if you’re somebody

when you’re really nobody. It covers up your

failures. That’s why it leads to fights.”