Top five oddest requests for a Singing Waiter

2019 saw us performing a number of Singing Waiter gigs and this year we already have quite a few booked in. In our relatively limited experience, we’ve already had some… interesting… song requests. Here are our top five (and by top five, of course we mean songs we really didn’t want to sing!)

5. Songs with a gazillion lyrics per line.

Singing Waiters are nerve wracking experiences. You’re basically standing up in front of an audience who didn’t know they were going to be an audience, singing songs you hope they’ll like, but there’s every chance they are thinking ‘can I not just eat my tea in peace?’ So if you add to this anxiety a song that squeezes as many words into each line as possible, we end up getting a few funny looks from guests as we start mumbling the lyrics under our breath, making sure we’re word perfect before we sing! And let’s not even talk about songs that include rapping…

4. The Proclaimers - what’s the obsession all about?!

I know we live in Scotland. I know The Proclaimers are Scottish. I also know that actually a lot of their songs are super catchy. But honestly, the number of times we’ve been asked to perform a song by the Proclaimers is still incredible. At one point last year, I had three gig requests come in one after another, and each one had a different Proclaimers song in the set list! We’ll be able to churn out a tribute act soon!

3. Disney - we’re not really complaining about this one!

I mean, who doesn’t love a bit of Disney? We’ve already got a two hour set list ready to go (bookings accepted for this by the way!) and every time we’re asked to do a Disney song for a Singing Waiter, we’re adding to our repertoire, so really this one is a bit of a cheat - we LOVE it! There are fun, upbeat numbers like Friend Like Me, entertaining group numbers like Be Our Guest and far too many bonnie romantic songs to list. In all honesty, keep these requests coming! We'll never say no to Disney!

2. The saddest song on earth.

Singing Waiters are there to get your party started. There’s nothing better than a crowd who are enjoying themselves so much, they’ve forgotten about their dinner and they’re up on their feet (or on a chair!), singing and dancing away with us. So take it from us, requesting a slow, soppy or sad song is not a good idea, no matter how romantic it is. However, there’s always a way to make it work - in past gigs, we’ve started the set list with a slow number that then gets interrupted by one of our other performers. Often we’ve had someone dressed as a manager barge in and stop the music saying something like ‘You can’t just burst into song at someone’s wedding, how unprofessional. And anyway, if you’re going to do it, you should do it like this…’ as they launch into the next song. But at all costs, avoid the tear-jerkers. No one wants to be depressed at a wedding.

1. My ‘___’ is a singer. They could join in.
Yeeeeeeah… no. In our experience, this is not a good idea. Either said person is mortified and refuses to sing, or they are in fact not a singer. At all. The only time this has worked out for us is when one of our singers, Dan was performing at an event where another of our singers, Alasdair, was a guest. Ali was somewhat well oiled by this point, but Dan maintains that Ali still did a better job at the song in question that he did!

So there you have it - our top five weird Singing Waiter requests. We have such a good time at these gigs. Every single one is different, but so far we’ve managed to entertain the crowd and have left feeling like we helped start the party! Even if our nerves kick in right before every gig and we ask ourselves ‘Why do we do this?!’ It’s always worth it in the end!