No matter how cool you are, it’s simply a fact that everyone loves a little karaoke for a chance to belt out their favourite track.
However, it’s clear that karaoke isn’t always sunshine and rainbows as what is being hailed as the world’s deadliest karaoke song has been responsible for the deaths of multiple people.
While there’s a whole bunch of killer tunes people can choose from – there’s one particular track that really takes the biscuit for its deadly status.
And the song in question?
None other than one of Frank Sinatra’s biggest hits of all time – ‘My Way’.
The 1960 ballad is more than just a timeless masterpiece; it seems to have set off a horrifying phenomenon.
Strangely enough, because of the track, there have been a number of violent occurrences in the Philippines during the previous few decades.
And no, it’s not because a wannabe pop star messed up the harmonies after a few too many drinks.
Around a dozen persons are said to have perished in what have been dubbed the “My Way Killings” since 1998.
One of the most frequent incidents occurred in 2007, when security officer Robilito Ortega, then 43, fatally shot 29-year-old Romy Baligula at a club in San Mateo, Riza.
The officer apparently intervened while the performer was just halfway through the song and urged him to stop because he was singing out of tune.
However, the man continued singing despite the harsh commands, which prompted the guard to pull out his handgun and kill the man in the chest.
Senior Superintendent of Police Felipe Rojas reported he passed away instantly at the site at the time of the incident.
Out of pure fear that it would start further trouble, several pubs even went so far as to delete the music from their karaoke machines due to the rampant violence.
The ‘My Way’ killings may have taken a little break, but in 2018, after some altercations at a birthday party, an elderly man was brutally murdered, things started to go wrong again.
According to reports, the victim attempted to sing the song but was prevented from doing so by another man, at which point he was stabbed in the chest.
He was then sent to the Zamboanga del Norte Medical Centre, where he tragically passed away.
Podcaster Mr. Ballen commented on the sinister occurrence, saying, “In the Philippines, there is one song that everyone knows you do not sing.
“In fact, this song is often banned in most karaoke bars and then even when it’s not banned nobody sings it.
“And the reason this song is so forbidden is because since 1998 people have begun being murdered for singing it.”
He added: “No one really understands why this song somehow elicits all this violence in people in karaoke bars in the Philippines, but it does.”
Mr Ballen went on: “Some have said that the message of the song – which is about a man being a man and doing it his way kind of brings out a lot of masculine energy among people that are listening to it and it can apparently prompt people to just suddenly start acting violent.”
Well, that’s one way of looking at it.
