What Song Would You Sing to Audition for “The Voice”

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to make CeeLo Green cry.

The Boy Scouts motto is “always be prepared,” but because camping isn’t in the cards for me, the more practical use of my time and effort is to contemplate my potential audition song for “The Voice.”

Just in case.

You see, CeeLo is the judge you want on your side. He’s the one with the mega production studio and is probably the only other judge besides Blake Shelton who will answer your texts when you start panicking about developing nodules on your vocal chords. But you have to choose the right song to get him. You have to make him cry.

Everyone does the same old thing. “I Will Always Love You” is cliché, and rarely pulled off properly. “Summertime” was owned by Fantasia on American Idol, and newsflash to planet earth: you are not Mariah Carey. (This is both good and bad news for us all.)

You don’t want a song that’s too sappy, but if you go with anything too upbeat you run the risk of losing sound quality in your overzealous effort to not come off like you’re at karaoke. If you go with anything too current, or too iconic, you’ll be compared instead of considered. If you go with anything too obscure, you lose that important hook of familiarity.

My song of choice would be the “One Less Bell to Answer/A House is Not a Home” medley between Glee’s Mr. Schuester and April Rhodes aka Kristin Chenoweth because it’s not too hot, not too cold so all you need is a light jacket. But also because it will tug at CeeLo’s heartstrings while blowing his mind. The song technically requires two people singing at once — and I’d do it alone.

Boom. Cue tears.

Now what about you? What song would you use to audition for The Voice, and why? If you’re asking me why, then hello, I already told you: one should always be prepared.