Sinatra's "My Way" Prompts Karaoke Killings In Philippines

I know that listening to someone singing off-key can be extremely painful, especially at a karaoke bar where most people couldn't sing their way out of a paper bag. And usually those who don't sing very well happen to pick the most tiring of songs, that's why it has been a very long time since I spent any time in one. But as painful as it might be, and as much as I might want to put us all out of our misery, it wouldn't be enough to kill the hapless singer. However, in the Philippines where karaoke is practically a national pastime, people have been killed for as little, and oddly enough the shootings have mostly been inspired by one particular tune: Frank Sinatra's "My Way". Apparently, listening to that song has prompted so many killings it has been banned from many bars for fear of potential violence. Nicknamed the "My Way Killings", it is thought that the killings could be either a result of bad singing or what some people deem a certain arrogance in the song lyrics, but at least 6 people have been killed whilst singing the song in the past 10 years.

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In one fatal case Romy Baligula, 29, was shot dead in the city of San Mateoin 2007. He was halfway through My Way when a security guard shouted that he was out of tune. He carried on regardless and the guard shot him in the chest with a revolver.

Apparently, guns are a dime a dozen in the Philippines, and when you factor in alcohol, rage and a bad song- you have one dead singer who never reached his final note.

The Philippines isn't the only country with a major "karaoke rage" problem. Other countries in Asia have had their fair share of killings, though not necessarily from Frankie's song.

In Thailand two years ago a man shot dead eight of his neighbours after becoming enraged when they repeatedly sang John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads.

In 2008 Abdul Sani Doli hogged the microphone for so long in Sandakan, Borneo that listeners stabbed him to death.

Rodolfo Gregorio, 63, a karaoke singer in the Philippine city of General Santos, said: "The trouble with My Way is that everyone knows it and everyone has an opinion. You can get killed."

It would probably be a good idea to get rid of other rage-inducing songs from the play list, including "Take Me Home, Country Roads". Or maybe one should ban karaoke altogether, to spare the audiences from all those tone-deaf would-be Frank Sinatra's.

It is pretty strange considering the first stanza of the song is

And now the end is near

And so I face the final curtain

My friend I'll say it clear

I'll state my case of which I'm certain

I just wonder if they realized their end was near.