Addendum.

Here are the secrets to the astounding karaoke trifecta I pulled off the other week -

I had them kick the Gordon Lightfoot song down a few notches, otherwise it'd be too high for me. Then, the song's drive towards the chorus comes out; the first two verses stop short before the part that everyone knows, and then when it does come it's a huge climax in the song.

The Dr. Hook song everyone knew, since people were a bit older... The one blonde lady lip-synched to the part that goes -

the operator said/
forty cents more/
for the next/
three/
minutes...

- and that always helps, and plus, the "please Mrs. Avery/ I've got to talk to her" isn't that hard to do, but comes off great, and plus the song's story has a lot of emotion to pull from it, and you can get all quiet on the last verse where Mrs. Avery informs you that Sylvia is leaving for the airport right then with her new love.

With the Three Dog Night, the song goes from slow right into a driving verse, so if you know it's coming and it doesn't through you, it's a very nice effect... Also, the melody is very arresting, and the fade out with the repetitive lyrics actually works very nicely, if you vary them slightly, and do a mock-echo effect with on the "just"s in "just/ just/ an old song/ coming down/ in three part harmony".