Arrangements by Category(Click Below)
A most powerful piece, this popular hit by Toto is sure to thrill your audiences. Probably more suitable to chorus than quartet. Be sure to check out Perpetuum Jazzile’s version on YouTube and consider adding their stormy sound effects to your performance.
A rock hit for Swedish group Ace of Base, this arrangement is not for the faint of heart. Sure, her ex-lover is just that little bit bitter, but the woman earned it.
A popular Aussie tune, “Gundagai” evokes the wide-open spaces in Oz.
This Broadway hit is most lively, with great choreography possibilities. Isn’t this just where you would like to be?
Hit the road down under with three songs from the real land of Oz: “Waltzing Matilda” and “Along the Road to Gundagai,” along with the hauntingly beautiful “Never Never.”
This song transports you to beautiful New Brunswick. Take your audiences on a trip down Memory . . . River.
Mix of classical music and fun lyrics, a real kick; lyrics have a soap-opera theme, which could be changed.
Do you know Jacque Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld? You do too—it’s the song most associated with the Can Can. Add some whodunit lyrics in German and you have this delightful romp.
Bourke Street is one of the main thoroughfares in Melbourne, Australia. It has traditionally been a downtown entertainment hub and is now also a popular tourist destination. Go out on the town with this contestable Aussie song.
Unless you plan on singing at Cologne’s Karneval (Mardi Gras) in the local dialect, Koelsch, this song is probably not for you. Yes, the title is in English, but…
This is Elton John’s moving tribute to Princess Diana. The lyrics of this beautiful song still resonate today.
A German pop standard from a bygone era, this song is most evocative. German-speaking audiences love this tune, which was written back in 1943.
This traditional Mexican children’s song is really sweet. A few years ago the River City Jubilee Chorus, located in Shreveport, La., started a revolving quartet that dressed in scrubs and sang for the children who were patients at the local Shriners’ Hospital. When they realized that a large proportion of the kids were Hispanic, they decided to learn a song in Spanish. Disfrútala! (Enjoy it!)
This rousing song is from the musical “Les Miserables.” Your audiences’ hearts and guts will be surely be moved by your powerful performance. Although the song itself would fly in contest, this arrangement is intended for shows only.
This is the Swedish national anthem. Hey, you just never know when you might need it. . . .
Plenty unique and maybe even strange, this Beatles’ tune has lots of key changes and melody swaps.
What? You mean you don’t have a song in Finnish in your repertoire? My friend, you have a serious shortage of double letters in your life. Actually, this is a lovely song in any language, and an English translation is in the works. So take a chance and givve itt aa trryy.
Wish your audiences a Merry Christmas in bilingual fashion. This lively chart is written for four voices plus percussion instruments. The BHS publishes the men’s version. Jen Cooke has recorded the SSAA tracks; Anne Bureau, with a little help from kept man Ig, the TTBB.
Here are two clever WWI novelty numbers, as sung by the great 139th St. Quartet. The first is “When Yankee Doodle Learns to Parlez Vous Francais,” followed by—take a really deep breath now—”Would You Rather Be a Colonel with an Eagle on Your Shoulder, or a Private with a Chicken on Your Knee.” Hey, this was big-time stuff in 1918. . . .
You are sure to fall under the spell of this lovely Spanish tune. It was arranged for the Investigators, the quartet that led the founding of Spain’s barbershop organization, SABS. Though in Spanish, the piece probably could be sung with the English lyrics without too much trouble.
This one is a German pop tune about going to a matchmaker. The singer is not too particular and just wants someone.
This song was written as an opener for a BinG (German) quartet by the same name. You would be quite foolish to sing it.
This emphatic tune is arranged for four-part women’s voices with male solo. The fellow needs to be either a bass or a low baritone—low in more than one sense of the word? The arrangement is also available in German. That title translates as “Come, Drink Up, Jack.” Fun, eh? By the way, Anne Bureau’s tracks are actually five-part, with husband Ig typecast as the ne’er-do-well. (Just kidding, Igster.)
A goofy golden oldie, this English music hall song is quite repetitive, so you might want to make part of it a sing-along with your audience.
This cute German song tells of a woman who wants love, not just chocolate. The original song in English was most likely “I Don’t Want Another Teddy.” Anyone know anything about this tune?
Every voice part gets a solo in this lively, happy Christmas tune. Well-known composer and arranger Kirby Shaw has penned a winner here!
Would you believe “Hit the Road, Jack” in German? Unusual fun awaits here. This piece is arranged for women’s voices with male soloist. Also available in English.
Melodramatic novelty song, in German. Have great fun with this “Krimi.”
From way back in 1905, this tune is lots of old-fashioned fun. So come join Schmidt, Schmaltz, Heiny, Jake and Heinz in some crowd-pleasing antics. This song is published by the BHS.
This love song, in German, was a hit with every soldier. It can be sung in English as well.
A pounding German rock song about men, this piece lists pluses and minuses of the male gender in pretty straightforward fashion. It could be translated into English.
This C&W classic harmonizes just fine for barbershop and has multi-cultural appeal. A Spanish translation of the chorus is included. Sing both choruses to please a wide audience, even in contest.
Who knows? You could need this one sometime. Well, you could.
Partly in English and partly in German, this song is, well . . . what it is, is . . . different—and great fun! The sounds included are a mix of vocal, electronic and mechanical effects. And it is contestable too. It could be redone for your group to be all in one language or the other. The German title is “Mein Bruder macht im Tonfilm die Geräusche.”
This unique love song is a mix of German and English. Have fun lilting along with this tune.
Stirring but rather specialized, this piece may or may not be for you.
This contestable version of a beautiful ballad is most sincere but also rather sophisticated. Do give this strong song a try.
Performed in English by Texas Lightning, this song was the German entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. Has a fine rock/pop/country feel to it.
Bank Street competed with this moving piece, which David Leeder turned into a poignant World War I song by writing a new verse. Now a second version is available, one in which the Musical Island Boys celebrated the Maori connection with the song and won gold doing so.
Telling the tale of a teenage girl’s angst, this tune was an edgy pop hit in Germany. As friend and ace bass Bill Myers used to say, “The words are printed really close to the page on this one.”
This arrangement uses an ancient melody and Robert Burns’s classic lyrics. Burns composed this poem way, way back, in 1794. Love is timeless, eh?
This stirring song of the futility of war comes from the film Billy Jack. Sometimes the only survivor is. . . .
This gem of a Maori love song was originally arranged for The Ritz, who won quartet gold in 1991. They sang it with great success on a trip to New Zealand. The Musical Island Boys, our champ quartet in 2014, picked up on it, as have many other groups in that country. The lyrics are about half in English, but no worries, for Polynesian words are easy to sound out, and there are multiple performances on YouTube. By the way, this gentle tune is considered almost like a second national anthem for the Kiwis.
A German pop hit, this song is perfect if you ever want to sing in a foreign language about a girl with freckles (“summer sprouts”).
This lovely tune was a #1 hit for Kyu Sakamoto back in 1963. The Japanese lyrics tell a sad love story, not really anything to do with food. Surprisingly, the song made the Top Ten again in 1981 and 1995. And you should hear the delightful Chie sing it, backed up by her Louisville HI chorus.
Happy and romantic, this tune is sort of a Down Under version of A Foggy Day in London Town.
This is an offbeat, fun, potentially contestable list of forbidden things. The original was in German, but the piece is available in English as well.
The unofficial theme song of the German soccer World Cup, this driving song vividly captures the excitement of a perfect day, one that you would gladly live forever.
A spoof of the Aussies’ favorite, um, edible substance, this tune is big, though, specialized, fun.
There is plenty of rhythmic interest in this Christmas tune. It somehow manages to be both calm and lively at the same time—not to mention lots of fun.
Australia’s unofficial national anthem, this tune is rollicking fun. Take your audiences on a lively trip Down Under.
This classic can be sung in either German or English. The song is way cute.
A lonesome doughboy on R&R in Australia finds that those initials just might stand for Romance & Relationship. This tune offers plenty of light fun.
Here is Brahms Lullaby, in German. It could be translated into English, of course.
A #1 pop hit from 1966, this tune has a lilting feel and a mock-sad message. It is some fun.
While this song is not really a translation of “Happy Days Are Here Again,” it does feature a new set of German lyrics that capture the cheery spirit of the original. This song has the honor of being one of the first two polecat songs for BinG!, which is a mixed barbershop organization.
This is a powerful song from the French, with a sophisticated sentiment of regret. It is especially good for mature groups.