A little horsey named Paul Revere

You don’t have to be drunk to sing karaoke. It probably helps.

I found this out the other night at Bottles, the Waynesboro hot spot, where they have not one, but two, spots to try your hand at karaoke.

We didn’t sit in the outdoor spot because we were planning to do anything on the mic. Just worked out that way.

A guy who I assume does this kind of thing often got the night started with a country song, then invited his girlfriend up to do a country duet.

When they left, I took a sip of my Sprite Zero and strode to the stage.

My goal: to do a rendition of “Paul Revere” by the Beastie Boys.

It took a while to find it, and the version that I found didn’t have background vocals.

Which was OK.

I know the song by heart.

Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of money to buy music, but I saved up to buy “Licensed to Ill” in eighth grade, and listened to it until the lettering was no longer on the cassette tape.

I can do that whole album, A side and B side, start to finish from memory, 36 years later.

I have to say, now, it sounded a lot better when I was on the stage than it does on the video.

I thought, live, that I was ready to go on tour.

My shot opened up a run of guys trying rap songs, so I had an impact.

When it came to be my turn again, I wanted to show my versatility, so I did a Toby Keith song, “As Good As I Once Was.”

Once again, it sounded much better to my ear live than it did on tape, but, OK.

It was fun.

Now I’m keeping a list of songs to do on karaoke on my phone, so I’m ready.

I wonder if they’d have any songs from the “Hamilton” soundtrack loaded up …

Story by Chris Graham