'My Way' swan song for some Filipinos

After a day of barbering, Rodolfo Gregorio went to his neighborhood karaoke bar still smelling of talcum powder. Putting aside his glass of Red Horse Extra Strong beer, he grasped a microphone with a habitue's self-assuredness and briefly stilled the room with the Platters' "My Prayer."

Next, he belted out crowd-pleasers by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Gregorio, 63, a witness to countless fistfights and occasional stabbings arising from disputes over karaoke singing, did not dare choose one beloved classic: Frank Sinatra's version of "My Way."

"I used to like 'My Way,' but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it," he said. "You can get killed."

The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling "My Way" in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media has recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the "My Way Killings."

The murders have spawned urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings a byproduct of the country's culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Is there something sinister in the song?

Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country's many Sinatra lovers practice self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.

Karaoke-related killings are not limited to the Philippines. In the past two years, a Malaysian man was fatally stabbed for monopolizing a bar's microphone, and a Thai man killed eight people in a rage for singing John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads."

Karaoke-related assaults have occurred in the United States. A woman at a Seattle bar punched a man for singing Coldplay's "Yellow."

But odds of getting killed during karaoke may be higher in the Philippines. Social gatherings often involve karaoke. Stand-alone karaoke machines are found in unlikely settings such as outdoors in rural areas. .

And Filipinos, who pride themselves on their singing, may have a lower tolerance for bad singers.

Most "My Way" killings have reportedly occurred after a singer sang out of tune, causing other patrons to laugh or jeer. "The trouble with 'My Way,'" said Gregorio, "is that everyone knows it and everyone has an opinion."

Others, noting popular tunes have not provoked killings, point to the song. The lyrics, written by Paul Anka for Sinatra as a summing up of his career, are about a tough guy who "when there was doubt," simply "ate it up and spit it out."

Butch Albarracin, owner of Center for Pop, a Manila singing school, says, "The lyrics evoke feelings of pride and arrogance in the singer, as if you're somebody when you're really nobody. It covers up your failures. That's why it leads to fights."