Part 267: Singing in the Store

MR TROLOLO

RECORD STORE TALES Part 267:  Singing in the Store

What do you think about people singing in public?

Hey, I’ve done it.  I used to sing along to the music in my store.  Inevitably, a co-worker would say, “Hey, who’s singing this?”  I’d answer, “Oh, it’s Van Halen,” or whatever.  The punchline back to me:  “Well then why don’t you let them sing it?”

Hah hah.

I had one customer who used to whistle all the time.  He’d be browsing away, whistling a pleasant melody.  Some hated the sound of Whistling Man.  I’m not sure why, I’d rather listen to somebody whistling happily than the two girls over on Listening Station #3, shrieking “Oooh, that’s my shit, that’s my shit.”

It was always comical to hear people singing along to their headphones on the listening stations. Many were oblivious that anyone could hear them. Others were tapped on the shoulder by embarrassed family members. If I had a camera on my cell phone in those days, I would have been able to create some classic viral videos.

It was a little scary on one occasion. A kid who seemed a little disturbed was listening to some Kid Rock, and started swearing along, quite loudly and angrily. At first I didn’t know what to do; after talking it over with one of the bosses I gently interrupted him and asked him to stop singing along. He said OK, but about 10 minutes later, he was singing again.

I saw this kid a lot. That summer, he was coming in every day, usually in the morning. He often listened to a CD, sometimes two, and usually stayed an hour without buying anything. We didn’t really have any store rules about this kind of non-customer except to use your own discretion.

When he started singing again I had to cut him off. I told him that he’d listened to enough for today and showed him to the door. I think this is probably the only customer I’ve ever had to kick out for singing in the store.

To come back to my original point, I don’t mind a little singing in public as long as it’s unobtrusive and pleasant. I don’t need to know that your “shit is bananas”. But if you have a pleasant little melody in your head, what’s wrong with humming a happy tune?

23 comments

  1. I’m a bit prone to singing Tom Jones ‘Green Green Grass of Home’ and/or ‘Just Help Yourself’ in unguarded moments. With proper support and counselling my family are doing okay though.

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  2. Around our house I’m, known as the ‘broken record’ – my inability to remember lyrics means I unknowingly keep singing the same phrase or two on repeat. Though I don’t think I’ve ever sung out the fruit b-a-n-a-n-a-s loudly at least!

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  3. I have a general idea of public singing to be bad, but I feel sympathetic to you now that you’ve mentioned it.

    I have a nervous singing mechanism. When I’m working and I’m doing a task I sort of go ‘do do do do’ to songs that don’t exist. You’d think with how much I talk, write and think about music it would at least be real songs.

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    1. Yeah I’d imagine you have enough real songs in your head bouncing around waiting to be sung! I tend to sing melodies without really knowing what they are, and then I realize, “Shit, it’s Katy Perry.”

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        1. YES! Did you happen to see the relaunched Beavis and Butthead? The “Twilight” episode was quite excellent… Also the one where Beavis starts his own Cornholio cult by accident.

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        2. Yes, we watched some episodes from the relaunch, but my pvr has not worked for a while now, so the TV I watch has to be live. And I don’t watch much evening TV any more. But I love Beavis and Butthead!

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        3. I like them more now than I did then. Back then when they used to make from of Winger and these bands, it didn’t seem as funny to me because I was rooting for a lot of those bands to have successful comebacks! Now of course everybody’s on the reunion circuit, even Winger.

          I’m the same, not much TV, but my PVR does work so I record what I want and watch later. I hope you get a chance to see Hawking.

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  5. I hear ‘don’t quit your day job’ at least once a week at work.
    To hell with them I say! I’ll keep singing at work. Have you ever worked in manufacturing? It’s dull. A little Meatloaf goes a long way toward moving time along.

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  6. I am told that I whistle a lot. I’m often not conscious that I’m doing it, but others notice it.

    And I do sing, but it’s most often kids songs. We’ve graduated past the Wheels On The Bus long ago, but some of the tunes from the videos my kids like get stuck in my head… If I catch myself humming or singing the theme from Stella & Sam, I have to put on some Maiden straight away to cleanse my head…

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    1. I’m glad that you have a head cleansing system to get those songs out! I didn’t like it when we used to only have the easy listening station at work. I had to turn it off, all this Celine Dion and Katy Perry and Jann Arden.

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      1. I recently made a CD-R for the car of all the Tragically Hip studio albums, no live stuff. From the self-titled through to Now For Plan A. I took all the track numbering off so all the tracks are in the folder alphabetically. It’s a great mix CD that way, even without hitting random play…

        Anyway, the point of the story is that this CD-R happily indoctrinates the kids into the wonders of the Hip by simply being there in their ears, and it means every so often Daddy gets music he likes instead of kids music. My daughter bopped along to it happily this morning, so it’s a winner!

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  7. I often want to sing along to songs in stores, and did often when I worked in a record store years ago. Here’s one, though – how many dancers do you have? I about fell on my face once, dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”. Nuff said….

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