As my mother and wife can tell you, I love to sing, and sing loud. I don’t have a great voice…this is something I’m totally okay with. It’s not like I’m singing to anyone, or in front of an audience. It’s mostly just when I’m cooking. I love to be singing and dancing in the kitchen while cooking. It’s seriously the most fun thing in the world. It’s my own little world of fun and loving musical theatre.
Give me any of my favorite musicals, and I will make them a one person show. Yes, I sing all the parts, and I will have a ball while doing so. But let’s face it…there are some songs above others that are so much more fun to just totally belt out. Those songs that you sing along with such passion to. We all have them, though some are definitely shared (yes, there is a video somewhere on Facebook of me with a former friend dancing on a table on campus and singing La Vie Boheme from RENT). Of course, that one is more fun with others, but that doesn’t stop me from singing every line by myself.
There’s a difference between songs I love to sing and songs I love to belt. Because there are a million songs I love to sing along to, and not as many that I belt. The thing for me about belting songs is that it makes me feel something deep. My favorite songs to belt are songs that mean something to me in one way or another…though some of them are just songs that deserve that passion.
So here are my top five songs for belting, and why. They’re in no particular order. I’m honestly sort of hoping this is inspiring for anyone reading this. If you don’t know these songs…learn the musical they’re from and learn the song…you’ll have a lot of fun!
1. Hair from Hair
This song is fucking insane. What do you expect from a bunch of hippies? Honestly, there are a ton of songs from Hair that I love to belt to, but none of them are as much fun as the title track. I think that’s why I love belting this song so much. It’s just so much fun! And not only is it just fun to sing, it’s fun to dance to. This is probably the song that goes furthest back for me. I remember my mum getting me the CD (original London cast) and us just singing and moving around in the car. All of this combined makes Hair one of my favorite songs to belt.
2. One Song Glory from RENT
I talked a lot about passion before, and that’s what this song is all about. This is a song you should go listen to right now. It’s very raw, and it’s very powerful. And when I’m belting this song, I’m feeling all that, too. Even singing it in my head (which I’m doing right now, because damn this song), I feel all that emotion. Belting it gives me power, it brings me into Roger’s mind. I’m not even sure this is my absolute favorite song…it’s definitely one of them, but belting it brings out something deep inside. I love that feeling.
3. Louder Than Words from tick, tick…BOOM!
Another Jonathan Larson song. He definitely gets it. I love the lyrics in this song. They’re powerful and hit on things that we all harbor inside that we may or may not want to admit to. It’s another song that’s very raw and very powerful (again, Jonathan Larson knows his shit). Recently, tick, tick…BOOM! has been one of my cooking musicals of choice. The soundtrack is pretty short, so if I’m making something easy, it usually times out perfectly. If not, I repeat this song at least once, because it just feels so good to talk (sing) about these things. Along to amazing music, it really packs a punch.
Second place: Come To Your Senses…also deserves a callout. I love to belt this only slightly less than Louder Than Words.
4. The Bitch of Living from Spring Awakening
I wouldn’t necessarily say Spring Awakening has a lot of belting songs. Which is totally fine. Spring Awakening is my favorite musical, though, and The Bitch of Living definitely deserves a callout. This is one of those songs where I get to sing a million different roles, and I love every second of it. Moritz’s pain and passion makes me sing it louder and more passionately. This is also a song where I do a lot of hand motions and air jabs. I look like an idiot, but so does Moritz’s hair.
5. Bare from bare
bare is one helluva musical. It’s not very well known…it never really made it beyond off-Broadway, but it’s intense and beautiful and tragic. There was a revival awhile back, but I really hated it. This is based on the original version of the rock opera. This song is painful and filled with so much raw emotion. Emotions, because there’s so much in there. There are only two people singing in this song, and again, I sing them both (though I do have the one I choose to sing when they’re singing at the same time). I remember listening to this and belting this song in particular and realizing I still knew how to do that. It was a good moment.
I have so much fun with all this, and these are just a few of my favorite songs to belt. It feels so good, something I’m sure everyone who sings to musical theatre can relate to. Belting your feelings, and character’s feelings, and composer’s singers…it’s something special…it’s having a voice.
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