Sing-along Café 2025-02-06

We always talk a lot about the songs we sing, about the lyrics, the artists, the eras and genres, ideas, beliefs, our families and life, everything. I think that this Black History Month playlist generated the most discussion of all my playlists.

Part of the inspiration for the discussion was our current need for more connection, some sympathy/commiseration as we deal with all the scary news. And, we all agreed that we needed to sing more, "okay, we need to sing now", for the release and escape and joy we feel. I am thankful for this opportunity to hear other people express the thougths in my head, the people sitting in the fellowship room with me, and the people who created the songs we're singing.

Here's a list of some of the songs we listened to and sang:

Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill (local black artist, and brother of Lawrence Hill)
Blinding Lights by the Weeknd and by Tebey (both local black artists)
Wake Me Up by Tebey
What's Going On by Marvin Gaye
Living for the City by Stevie Wonder
Ball of Confusion by the Temptations
Get up, Stand Up and Jamming by Boby Marley and the Wailers
Texas Hold-em and If I Were a Boy by Beyoncé
A Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shabozey
The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson

We all agreed that we should continue with this theme next week, and maybe throughout February. I think we will listen to some love songs for Valentines Day though. We did talk about the fact that some of these really meaningful songs about peace and social justice are from singers of wonderful love songs too. So, we'll sing about love, peace, and justice. Sounds perfect.

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Thursday, April 18 Sing-along Café Review

The theme for the evening was: Songs with La-las (and other nonsense: ooh, doo-dah, na-na, scoobie-doobie, bum-ba-bum, hey!). I call all of these little non-word lyrics la-las. They're often my favourite part of a song. Everyone can sing those words, usually. With scat singing, not usually, and with yodeling, not everyone. But, think about the Beatles song Hey Jude. At the end, everyone can sing along with the na-nas and some of us even like to harmonize with them. When my daughter was writing songs, I urged her to put some nonesense la-las in her songs. Don't worry about finding beautiful, powerful words for all the verses, or all the lines of the chorus. Sometimes, the lack of words makes a melody more powerful. Here's the list of songs we sang and listened to: Can't Get You Out of My Head by Kylie Minogue Everything by Michael Bublé Those Were the Days by Mary Hopkin Hey Jude by the Beatles Tom's Diner by Suzanne Vega &DNA De Do Do Do, De ...

Thursday, April 11 Sing-along Café Review

The theme for the evening was: Songs with Instumentals that We Sing. The easiest way to introduce this theme is "Sweet Caroline, BA-BA-BA!". Everyone sings along with the brass section, singing like trumpets. There's also a little instrumental interlude that I sing along with. I almost always sing la-las (or ba-ba, da-da, nya-nya, doo, dit, bop...) for the instrumental introductions and interludes in songs. I sing with classical instrumental music, joking that "I know all the words." I'm not the only one. You do this too. Here's the list of songs we sang: Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond A Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass Wipe Out by the Surfaris The Fool on the Hill by the Beatles I'll Never Fall in Love Again by Dionne Warwick Windy by The Association Careless Whisper by George Michael True by Spandau Ballet Down Under by Men at Work Feeling Good by Michael Bublé More Than a Feeling by Boston Baker Street by Gerry Raffer...

Trinity Newmarket Singers

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