[Piedmon]

Hello everyone! I'm new here and I just had a question. The other day I was singing the song "Memory" and one of my friends, who is a die hard Cats fan, just started yelling at me telling me it's not right for a guy to sing that song and I was ruining it and anyone who liked Cats would be furious with me. So here's my question, would any of you be furious with a guy that started singing "Memory"? I wasn't doing it for a production or anything, although I was throwing some movements in there, but that's not the point. What's your opinion?

[demeter_cat2010]

wow...okay I am a die hard cats fan and im not furious...haha thats kinda strange of her to think that... go on..sing it loud and proud...

[Nemi]

...It's a song?

If a die-hard Music Man fan told me I wasn't allowed to sing Seventy-Six Trombones, I'd laugh in his face.

Sing whatever the heck you want, friend.

[Mungostoffelees]

They sound like a pyscho! It's a free world!

[saratk]

I'm not a die hard cat's fan, but I would not recomend guys singing that song, they just look silly. If you ever do it at an audition, you could get blackballed big time, so cut out the memory and do rum tum or something if you must do cats/

[Drumdraper]

Memory is a song that can be sung by anyone man or woman. I saw this video on youtube of a Spanish version of American Idol where a male singer sung Recuerdas aka Memory. It's in the forum archive somewhere. Then there is a CD recording of some famous opera singer, singing the best of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Memory is on it.

To quote Sesame Street:

"Sing! Sing a song. Make it simple to last your whole life long. Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear. But sing! Sing a song! La la la la la la la la!"

[Pounce]

I think the spirit of the question is does "Memory" work for a male voice? I mean, anyone is free to sing any song (unless there are copyright issues but that's a special case) but a bad singer can be offensive to those within earshot. But even if a male has a good singing voice, is "Memory" an appropriate choice? The only notable male singer I know that performed it was Barry Manilow but I haven't heard it. Littlgriz put a link to a spanish version sung by a male singer but in my opinion the singer forgot the spirit of the lyrics and sang it his own way and in my opinion, it didn't work. Not many males choose to perform "Memory" so maybe there is a good reason or has the song been typed as being only for females?

Play it safe Piedmon. Drop the song and back away from it real slow like...

[Spanish_Rumple]

Ok I love Cats, and my friends know me for that (I'm known to be quite an annoying thing when I bring up my ideas of making English classes with Cats stuff or such...hehehe). I certainly don't mind about that song being sung by a man or a woman as long as it sounds nice. Even a man can bring back the tears and the emotion...well as long as it is for a normal song, I mean I just can't imagine a man with that wig, costume and make-up on him... but anyway... who knows... Most of the amateur productions have girls filling up male roles because of the simple fact that they lack boys, which is pretty normal in this profession... So why couldn't a group lack girls (it wouldn't be that normal...ejem!) and fill up that particular role. But then again, I don't mind at all about the sex of that song...er I mean the sex of the singer...hehehe I hope I made myself clear... I've just came back from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and Jack Sparrow again got me and my mind a bit crazy...hehehe Johnny I luv ya! (sorry for bringing in something out of topic...hehehehe)

[Nemi]

It's a majorly female song because a female's the one that sings it on stage. Same goes for Music of the Night being a male song.

I sing songs that are sung by males all the danged time, just because they're fun to sing.

He's not performing it or auditioning with it... he's just singing, and it seems like his friend was angry that he was even *singing* it. Even if it's sung poorly, it'd be more of a "You know, you can't sing that song too well, so don't sing it around me," rather than an "ZOMGsors! A GUY shouldn't sing MEMORY *die die die*."

So no, if a guy just started to randomly sing memory, it'd be kind of dumb for anyone to get mad about it just because of what song it is.

[Natasha]

Who cares if the song is "male" or "female"

Jose Carreras (I hope I spelled it right) sang "Memory"

Sarah Brightman sang "Music of the night" and other "male" songs

So what?

I thnk it's okay for a guy to sing "Memory", why not?

[brizejellicle]

I also sing 'male' songs all of the time because some of my favorite songs are by males...both in musicals and in country. One of my good male friends always use to sing Cosette's songs from Les Mis because he liked them. We sang The Elephant Love Medley and Come What May from Moulin Rouge with reverses gender....he sang Satine's lines and I sang Christian's. We've done it with POTO as well.

Linda Eder is another singer who did a lot of 'male' songs on her CDs.
On the Street Where You Live (Freddy, My Fair Lady), Anthem (Chess), The Impossible Dream and Man of La Mancha (Man of La Mancha)...these are just the ones I know of off the top of my head.

If you're just singing the song for fun who cares if you're the 'correct' gender for the role....it's different if they were actually trying out for a role but singing for fun is just that.....for FUN.

[littlgriz]

[Misto]

Ben Vereen (Wicked, All That Jazz on Broadway) sang memory at a benefit. So, my advice is, sing what you want! Don't let some strange fan girl stop you.

[Pawzxx]

go for it...sing watever!

[Moongewl]

Anyone should be allowed to sing any song, if it's just for his or her own personal enjoyment. I've been singing songs about the girl who broke my heart, the girl I love, how the girl became a lesbian after she broke up with me, etc. for ages. No one's about to stop me.
Besides, "Memory" has been slaughtered a thousand times over. Just think of how many times it must have been done on karaoke.

[Piedmon]

Thanks everyone for replying. It's good to see that most of you agree with me on the fact that you should be able to sing whatever you want. Besides, even if everyone thinks it should only be song by a woman I've had to do it enough times for plays I think I've earned that right...

[Mungostoffelees]

If your that worried dress in drag so as not to offend the scary fans mwhahaha!!

[MrsJemimaMistoffelees]

I think you should be mad at your friend for saying a sexist comment

Veel Liefs,
Jemima ^_^

[Alonza0]

I totally agree with MrsJM. That's ridiculous!

Unless you were singing really out of tune. I could see why your friend would tell you to shut up if that were the case.

[audreydarling]

yeah..you should totally be able to sing anything you want..I mean don't expect to play Grizabella anytime soon...(just kidding)..it's not the song that's a "female" song..it's only the character and a lot of people have misconceptions about that..I totally sing "male' songs all the time..granted I'm in a higher key/an octave up half the time as I have a very high range..but don't take any offense..I know it';s hard when people tke things too seriously and lash out at you for no reason..keep singing

[Quaxo's Black Cat Magic]

It doesn't matter who sings it as long as they get the whole point of the song and/or the story behind it...like if someone is singing 'Memory' and they are smiling the whole time then I would tell them what they did wrong, but if they are performing the song well then they should be allowed to perform it.