Have You Ever Forgotten Your Own Lyrics?

[john]

Hey

I am sure I can't be the only one do have done this... you are playing a gig, new material, all is going well singing a song you've played a hundred times and phut! your memory goes blank.

What do you do?

[FinnArild]

All the time!

[Roflcopter]

'We interrupt this song for a message from our sponsor, www.songstuff.com ...'

[Alistair]

Happens all the time! Not just with new material.

I usually look at the backing singer (who did remember the words) and laugh!

[hariossa]

I don't know any of my tunes, I usually record them and forget about it...

[hariossa]

I read a Dweezil Zappa interview where he said the same thing... but now he's playing his father's stuff from memory, I guess it's just practice!

[JohnSilk]

I remember my first ever gig, it was in front of around 150 people and i was was performing a track that was written a week before the show, so the lyrics weren't really set in stone in my mind, and everything was fine until i got to the second verse where i found myself singing the lyrics from the first verse but in the tune of the second verse.. But as no one had heard the track before no one noticed, but a few people did come up to me and ask why the lyrics where repeated..

[johnson115]

Hey

I am sure I can't be the only one do have done this... you are playing a gig, new material, all is going well singing a song you've played a hundred times and phut! your memory goes blank.

What do you do?

[crazypoet]

Improvise, of course. But then again I'm a lyricist, so words just fall into my head, and no-one notices any incoherence, because they think the song has hidden, cryptic messages!

A slight digression... A friend of mine posted a quote from a song on his Facebook profile, and I thought it was really cool. I commented on it, stating I wished I'd written that. "Uhm.... you DID write that." A bit embarassing, but also kind of cool.

[john]

nice one. Doh!

[BigBluesGuy]

I never gigged but if I did and this happened I'd likely try to make up new words but in reality I'd probably go uuuuhhhhh what were those words again? Lol

[Mahesh]

Happens a lot with me too but like many I just mumble words that fit,most people wont notice as compared to humming random syllables.

[MarlonRambo]

Yup it happens to me too all the time. I'm singing in 2 bands at the moment. Both bands have gigs booked. So I have to learn a lot of lyrics nowadays.

[MichaelJohnAnthony]

One time I sang words to the wrong verse but it slotted in okay. Another time I went into a mini instrumental verse while I tried to remember the words. I think the most important thing is not to lose the beat. Then you have a good chance of the audience believing it was intentional.

[Orrin]

Ahhhhh all the bloody time!

I can often riff something together on the spot, although that often breaks the pattern in my head which can just lead to further problems...

I really, really hate it when I'm really into a song and feeling the emotion from it and all is flowing smoothly... then I forget the lyrics and *poof* all that feeling just vanishes and I feel like a blubbering foooool.

[vocalcoachkentaylor]

Lol... yes, this has definitely happened to me. I usually sing whatever comes to mind, which is usually a combination of the verses together.

I can't think of a time that I went completely blank... but if I did, I'd probably try to play it off by introducing the band. HA!

[Superman]

Hahahahahahahah!

It happens all the time to me.

If it's an intimate acoustic setting, like a concert or something where the audience is there specifically to see me (or the headliner) I make a joke of it! The audience gets a kick out of a guy forgetting the lyrics to his own song!

If it's in a club, where most of the people are just there to party, I just sing whatever words come to my mind, until it comes to me. My band and I then have a good chuckle between us...Good times!

[Superman]

when I first started singing live, I was singing to some karaoke tracks in our local telethon, and my mind went completely blank. For the entire song!

Oh man i was completely mortified. You'd think they would have moved the cameras off of me to something else, but nope! The whole song I struggled to get the words but they weren't there. LOL!

The next week I was at one of the clubs with this chick I was chasing at the time (caught her, and married her) and this guy right out of nowhere points to me and yells, "Learn how to sing!" Hahahahah! I didn't think I'd ever get through that one.

[in2piano]

Funny thing...yeah I have.... When I send it to the studio now I read the danged lyric sheet ...lol...It's like hey stupid ya wrote it and you can't remember your own stuff//

If I screw it up I pay/,,,

[McnaughtonPark]

For me, the question is, "Do you ever remember your own lyrics?" Answer is rarely.