Still singing old Sinatra songs
The Karaoke Night That Blew My Mind and Made Me Feel Old
Crow’s Feet writing prompt #19
Karaoke was a hell of a lot of fun. It was for me anyway. No other time can you go to a bar and make friends out of total strangers over a song. A song that you sang.
Karaoke people
Karaoke people are a breed all of their own. They go from bar to bar to do what they love. To live out their dreams, even if it's in their imagination.
You see many of the same faces from show to show. Some of us actually follow our favorite hosts to each bar they perform.
Seeing the same people at each show makes it easy to make friends. One of the biggest conversation openers is, “What song are you doing next?” That opener leads to other conversations and can lead to lasting friendships.
As the years go by, though, lives change. People get married, change jobs, and have kids. People you first met are switched out for new friends. It happens every few years.
Next thing you know, 10 or 15 years go by. All the new friends are younger. In my case, 30 or more years younger.
Conversations become more difficult. You don’t have that much in common. No shared experiences. Different tastes in music. You even have different ways of thinking.
Making jokes or sexual quips became a problem. I would make a joke or quip and get looks like I was creepy. Two minutes later, a younger guy would say the same exact thing and the whole table would laugh.
Once I realized those things, I started feeling older. I didn’t fit in with the newer crowd. I started becoming quieter. More reserved. But there was one night that sealed the deal for me.
The night I really felt old
I went to my favorite place for karaoke. The place where it first started for me. It feels like coming home every time I walk through the door.
I don’t remember how old I was at the time. Maybe 50. I was talking to a friend while he was looking around the crowd. He turned to me and started talking about all the hot-looking women who were there that night.
I was in a bad mood. I think it had something to do with dealing with my mom that day. I scanned the room. Looked at who was there. Made an assessment. Looked at him and said,
They’re all young enough to be my daughter.
BAM!
That’s when it all hit me. No wonder I didn’t feel like I fit in anymore. I was old!
I thought about what I said and did the math. If I had started having children when I was 20, then a 30-year-old woman could be old enough to be my daughter that night. The average age in the bar was 21 to 26.
I never had children so I had never thought about the age of people around me. The younger people do, though. That’s why I wasn’t able to say and do the things I was able to 10 or 15 years earlier.
It was as if I was their parent and I was saying things that they couldn’t handle their parent saying. Nobody that young wants to hear sexual jokes from their parents. There are a few exceptions to that rule. Those are the ones I usually associate with.
I still like going out to karaoke nights. I still enjoy getting up on stage and making people smile. But now I either spend more time by myself between songs or hang out with an older crowd I can relate to.
I’m still friendly if younger people want to sit and talk with me, but I don’t show them who I am inside anymore. I don’t like being looked at as the creepy old man.
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