Q. What happens when you pick what you think is the perfect AC/DC song only to realize (once the song is on) that you picked the WRONG song and you know none of the lyrics except for the chorus? Complicating this issue are the bombastic chords that begin the song—they have riled your audience into a frenzy of anticipation. Do you run off stage? Take the direct hits from the inevitable paper straw missiles? Crouch and charge the paper straw assailants? Do an awkward shrug/grin combo? Asking for a friend.
A. This happened to us recently; we thought we knew “Thank You For The Music” by ABBA and we only knew the chorus. It was kind of a nightmare, honestly, but we muddled through it. It’s never a good idea to run off the stage.
First of all, don’t panic: the words are right in front of you! Often that and good sportsmanship can carry you through an I Thought I Knew This situation. The likelihood of paper straw missiles is actually pretty low; the audience is almost always on your side. No one wants you to feel bad or as if you’ve failed.
If you know the chorus, why not turn Angus Young and duck walk/dead bug/race around the room playing air guitar during the verses? What an opportunity! (No “snot cyclone” though, please.) You could also make up some words but do NOT adlib with something like “I don’t know the words….to this song…” That makes everyone feel bad and it’s a give and take situation; the audience doesn’t want you to feel bad but you don’t want them to feel bad either.
Speaking of playing to the audience in the face of a disaster, Angus Young created the “dead bug” because he slipped and fell one night onstage and wanted to cover up his mistake. His mistake became one of his trademarks!
For more on this, let’s look at Mr. T’s educational video from 1984, Be Somebody…Or Be Somebody’s Fool. It’s full of excellent advice on manners, self-confidence, and friendship and features a special appearance from New Edition; check it out on YouTube the next time you need a little pick-me-up. During the section entitled RECOUPING, he charmingly refers to himself as Dr. T and has this to say:
“Have you ever been embarrassed, ashamed, or exposed? I mean done something so absoludicrous [SIC] that you wished you could move to a desert island and hide your head in the sand?”
I sure have, Dr. T. He then shows us a heartbreaking example of a child falling on the sidewalk and getting laughed at by a grown man in khakis and suspenders! (The 80s were cutthroat and brutal!) A better solution, as we see shortly, is to turn the fall into an intro to a sick little breakdancing routine, to the delight and admiration of everyone witnessing this potentially humiliating moment.
Be somebody, AC/DC fan. RECOUP!