TVSquad

Of course, one "Great American Singing Bee" was already on NBC many, many years ago, but this is different.

The Great American Singing Bee is a new game show from producers Phil Gurin and Bob Horowitz, who will each produce different versions for American and UK television audiences. Contestants will be given lyrics to songs and asked to sing the missing words. This is very similar to an old family game called SongBurst, which was based on pretty much the exact same idea.

I suppose this show could be entertaining, but it's difficult to pin down what constitutes "official lyrics." Liner notes may include "official lyrics," but there's no guarantee that the singer didn't change a word during the one take that made it onto the album. I recall an episode of Rock and Roll Jeopardy in which a contestant said the lyric from Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" was "I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn BLACK," and got it wrong because the answer was apparently "I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn BACK." Well, check the lyrics inside the CD insert, Rock and Roll Jeopardy judges, 'cause it is in fact "BLACK," not "BACK." Somebody owes that man some money.

And yes, I understand I contradicted myself in that last paragraph, so don't bother pointing it out. My point is that there's really no way to know, with absolute certainty, every word that's being sung on every album. Unless the show plans to only use nursery rhymes, I suspect some minor complaints over what's a real lyric and what isn't.