I want to learn a Chinese anthem to sing at KTV

[vellocet]

Like most of  you, I have my go-to Chinese songs that I sing at KTV.  For a long time I just did 小苹果 .  But now I think that's lame and it's also outdated.  But after watching a Chinese person choose a song and the whole room applauded when the title came up, then everyone immediately joined in, I got jealous.  I hadn't heard the song before so I don't know what it was.  It was obviously an anthem.  

I want to learn the Chinese equivalent to Stand by Me or  Bohemian Rhapsody, though perhaps not as old-fashioned and dated as those.  Bohemian Rhapsody is great but it takes a long time to sing, and it's got to be at the right time of the evening. Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard  is good too, but for long stretches of the song people don't know the lyrics, though the words on the screen help.  But everyone can sing the refrain.  

 I was once at KTV with  a visiting Italian opera troupe and  I put on Gangnam Style...this was past the singing part of the evening and everyone just wanted to dance.  I was surprised when the distinctive opening bars of the song started and one of the Italians came at me saying, "Gimme the mic, gimme the mic, gimme the mic!"  He actually knew the lyrics in Korean. That's not a song everyone can follow along with but enough is in English and anyone can say Opa Gangnam Style.  But it sure gets people dancing. 

So, I'm in search of a good song that isn't too long, everyone will want to sing along with, isn't too old (plenty of old anthems out there from movies and TV series but young people don't know them.) And hopefully anyone who won't sing will at least want to dance. 

It could be a duet, those have a good chance of getting  the boys and girls to sing their parts.  Eh, but maybe not, if it flops then I'll be singing alone.   I have to memorize the whole thing regardless.  Everyone please list your suggestions, with a link to the song please because Chinese songs can be frustratingly difficult to find by title only...endless mazes of web pages telling you you have to download and sign  up for their app before they let you listen.  

Remember, the success of a KTV song   isn't how great a job you do of belting it out, it's how many people join in to sing it with you! 😁

[Jim]

Kids always yodelling this on the school run:

 

陈奕迅【孤勇者】完整版歌曲_腾讯视频 (qq.com)

 

陈奕迅 孤勇者

 

你破旧的玩偶，你的，面具，你的自我

他们说，要带着光，驯服每一头怪兽

他们说，要缝好你的伤，没有人爱小丑

为何孤独，不可，光荣

人只有不完美，值得歌颂

谁说污泥满身的不算英雄

爱你孤身走暗巷，爱你不跪的模样

爱你对峙过绝望，不肯哭一场

爱你破烂的衣裳，却敢堵命运的枪

爱你和我那么像，缺口都一样

去吗，配吗，这褴褛的披风

战吗，战啊，以最卑微的梦

致那黑夜中的呜咽与怒吼

谁说站在光里的才算英雄

他们说，要戒了你的狂

就像擦掉了污垢

他们说，要顺台阶而上

而代价是低头

那就让我，不可，乘风

你一样骄傲着，那种孤勇

谁说对弈平凡的不算英雄

爱你孤身走暗巷，爱你不跪的模样

爱你对峙过绝望，不肯哭一场

爱你破烂的衣裳，却敢堵命运的枪

爱你和我那么像，缺口都一样

去吗，配吗，这褴褛的披风

战吗，战啊，以最卑微的梦

致那黑夜中的呜咽与怒吼

谁说站在光里的才算英雄

你的斑驳，与众不同

你的沉默，震耳欲聋

You Are The Hero

爱你孤身走暗巷，爱你不跪的模样

爱你对峙过绝望，不肯哭一场

爱你来自于蛮荒，一生不借谁的光

你将造你的城邦，在废墟之上

去吗，去啊，以最卑微的梦

战吗，战啊，以最孤高的梦

致那黑夜中的呜咽与怒吼

谁说站在光里的才算英雄

 

Easy to join in with the belted out lines like 谁说站在光里的才算英雄

[Lu]

I'd love to help but I only know old songs. The songs I learned in uni that were new then are old by now, and some songs were old then already.

Good for dancing and belting along: 我的心里只有你没有他 by 黄小琥

Good for having everyone sing along: 朋友 by 周华健

Good to really impress people: 牛仔很忙 by Jay Chou. It takes some serious practice to learn this one, because it's so fast, but it's doable and then people will be really impressed. I was living in Taiwan and loving KTV when this one came out, didn't think it would be possible to sing this one. But then I saw a Taiwanese guy do it and I thought, if he can do it, I can learn it too. And I did. Here's the lyrics and some advice on an (also old, by now) blog of a friend of mine.

 

I used to be really good at KTV... I don't mean my singing (though that was alright too), but picking songs, knowing which songs to pick when, getting a group of foreigners going (the key is starting with some Abba). I think it's been seven years since I last sung 😞

[becky82]

I've been fond of 光良's rendition of 约定.

[vellocet]

On 8/2/2024 at 5:28 PM, Lu said:

I used to be really good at KTV... I don't mean my singing (though that was alright too), but picking songs, knowing which songs to pick when, getting a group of foreigners going (the key is starting with some Abba). I think it's been seven years since I last sung 😞

I hear ya.  Keeping the evening going is an important skill.  Nothing worse than everyone having a great time and someone puts on a slow 10 minute song like "American Pie".  😬

Definitely like that cowboy song, I like that it's got a  yee-hah in it.  As a Texan, I don't get nearly enough good yee-hahs  here.    But dang, hard in Chinese, I think that would be a challenge to keep up with that speed in English.  

Yeah,  in the old days I spent too much time in KTV and it got old fast, the warm beer, the fruit plates and the English songs my parents would have considered dated.  For a long time I was allergic to KTV. But I've had a bit of a renaissance these past couple of years. Now that I know how to "do" KTV, I've learned  a few Chinese songs which are more fun,  and that I'm not forced to come to KTV makes a big difference. It's a lot better.   I don't go all the time but it's entertaining as a change of pace.  Plus, the English selection has noticeably improved from the old days.  One kind of machine, that unfortunately I've never seen again, had this internet option controlled by an app, and it had just about everything on it, including "obscure" stuff like entire albums from They Might Be Giants. I was loving that. 

[honglam]

Quite hard. There are so many pop songs today and the taste of the juveniles varies. As a native Chinese I don't fancy the idea of going to karaoke with my friend as well since our tastes are completely different.