The last night of Steve's business conference, we had a dinner and Karioke night. The Formica MC went around to each group from China and each got up with their salesmen to sing a Chinese song. Some were good, some not so.
Anyway, the guy came to Steve and asked him what he and his Thailand group wanted to sing. We thought and thought and then we came up with the perfect song, "Take Me Out To The Ballgame!"
So Steve and I and the Thais and a few Chinese went outside the room to practice. None knew the song, none really knew anything about baseball. We tried to explain hitting the ball, catching, the bat . . . no-one was getting it until finally one of the Chinese said "Oooo, over da fence, right?" We said, "Yes!! You know baseball!" He was very proud. So then we began practicing the song. It was hilarious! We had to do it about 6 times until they felt confident enough - as it was, half of them weren't singing - oh well. So then we went out to perform. The Chinese guys actually found the song and the words in English so they were up on a huge board for all to see.
Steve took the microphone and said, "This song is not our national anthem, but it is our Summer anthem" . . . "Take Me Out To The Ballgame!" Dead silence in the room. I think everyone was dumbfounded!!! The music began and we started to sing. The Thais behind us mimicked throwing the ball, hitting, all in a very Asian way -- come on, I know you can picture this in your head! When we finished the verse we all put our hands in the middle and did a cheer. The audience laughed and clapped.
Then . . . the music began again! I said, "Everyone sing!" The audience laughed and tried to sing with us. When we finished I asked Fred, the President of Formica Asia, "did you like it?" He laughed and said "Very Good!" IT WAS A SUCCESS!
Linda
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