"I have no formal musical training." --- William Hung
Posted on 05/31/2004 9:22:59 AM PDT by Kaslin
TORONTO - William Hung butchered "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch of Sunday's matchup between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers, much to the delight of 22,225 at SkyDome.
The American Idol reject best known for his hyperactive, tone-deaf rendition of Ricky Martin (news)'s "She Bangs," shrugged off a brief smattering of boos and belted out the baseball classic off-key while fans egged him on. Some even joined in.
Hung's presence brought a gaggle of media usually indifferent to baseball to the game, including staff from Rolling Stone magazine. A team official said more media credentials were issued Sunday than on opening day.
The Blue Jays initially tried to bring Hung in opening day, but that conflicted with the release of his debut album, "Inspiration," which is nearing 100,000 copies sold.
"I still am surprised," Hung said before the game. "I can't believe it."
The record deal is certainly testing the limits on the Hong Kong native's 15 minutes of fame. A civil engineering student at the University of California, he's spending most of his time these days touring to promote the album.
Good grief. Isn't this guy's 15 minutes up yet?
I applaud the current trend to recognize the aspirations of the untrained and untalented. Time to hang out my Brain Surgeon sign.
If Hung plays this right, he could become the archtype for the off-key singer and never have to work again. Lucky stiff!
I love America!
"I have no formal musical training." --- William Hung
If he had, he could easily sue for malpractice on the part of his teachers.
Whew. I thought the title was referring to the jumbo kilbasas of meat cutters.
Proof that the music industry revolves around publicity more than talent. Good music is being overlooked.
Deliberately off key singers are nothing new. Mrs. Miller put out several albums in the 1960s and even toured Vietnam on USO tours.
Neither can anyone with good taste.
Whew. For a minute there I thought this article was about well endowed meat cutters taking someone out to do weird things.
I remember the records Mrs Miller put out very well. She was more on key though then this guy
Whatever happened to the dixie chicks...?
As many have said to me "Just because you're Hung, doesn't mean you can sing."
It's awful but it is still funny. I think I like the idea that people can laugh at each other without offending each other. We're all fools one way or another, Hung just manages to revel in it. He's a better man than I am for that. He's also possibly the only human alive who's singing voice is worse than mine.
"Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is not so sacred that it can't be butchered. I think it's funny, and Cubs fans will tell you all about horrific versions on a daily basis. Ozzy Osbourne's comes to mind.
The one and only time I had the good fortune to attend a ballgame at Wrigley Field, the song was sung by Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez. It was not exactly melodious.
He faces stiff competition:
Her debut album 'Mrs. Miller’s Greatest Hits' sold 250,000 copies within 3 weeks.
The eventual question was always- "Is Mrs. Miller in on the joke?" After all, this was a joke wasn’t it? The answer was illusive, intangible in an Andy Kaufman sort of way. Elva later revealed, "I don’t sing off-key and I don’t sing off-rhythm. They got me to do so by waiting until I was tired and then making the record. Or they would cut the record before I could become familiar with the songs. At first I didn’t understand what was going on. But later I did, and I resented it." Capitol told her that it was an "experiment" and Elva played innocent. Eventually she began to truly embrace the "so bad, its good" gag. A remarkable aspect of Mrs. Miller’s music, was her famous "ice-whistling" technique. She would hold a piece of ice in her mouth for 20 minutes before performing, in order to achieve a "good tight pucker" for her legendary whistle solos.
Ever hear Harry Carey sing it? Ouch!
Check out some of the Mrs. Miller audio samples on this thread. She does benefit from some production tricks like backup singers.
That could be this thread from the San Francisco Chronicle this month:
Girlfriend says 'Sausage King' wanted to grind up inspectors
Did he wear a basketball jersey to a baseball game in the summertime???
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