Take them to the place they love, take them all the way … to a new world record!
Seventy-three locals formed an impromptu choir in the Manhattan Bridge Archway in DUMBO on Thursday night to make world history by becoming the most people ever to sing the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song “Under the Bridge,” well, under the bridge.
The whirlwind sing-along will forever be recorded on RecordSetter.com, the Everyman’s answer to Guinness World Records.
“Everybody has the potential to be the world’s best at something,” said Rob Birdsong, a director at Record Setter, a firm that started in DUMBO but is now based in Chinatown. “This is a really simple record and there’s something nice about that. Everybody who was alive in the 1990s knows the words to that song.”
And everyone knows it’s about heroin addiction, right?
“Well, however you want to interpret it,” Birdsong said.
Drug abuse anthem or not, there was something warm and fuzzy about the chorus of strangers.
The amateur crooners braved the cold to pay homage to their adolescent anthem, swaying to the a cappella jam and holding glowing iPhones like lighters. Some even brought the kids to be part of the historic moment.
“It’s a very significant record to set here under the Manhattan Bridge,” said DUMBO resident Susie Harley, who had two toddlers in tow. “I heard that song in eighth grade. Singing it together really brought me back.”
Record Setter will present Thursday’s feat next week at the book launch for “The RecordSetter Book of World Records.” That’s when they’ll also take a crack at breaking the current record for “Largest Group Hug in a Bookstore.”
Still, that’s nothing compared to some of the borough’s past achievements, including “Most Casio Preset Rhythms Played At Once” and “Most Armpit Farts In 30 Seconds.”
Yes, we hold that. Be proud, Brooklyn. Be proud.
RecordSetter book party at powerHouse Arena. [37 Main St. at Water Street in DUMBO, (718) 666-3049], Dec. 9. For info, visit www.powerhousearena.org.
Reach Kate Briquelet at kbriquelet@cnglocal.com or by calling her at (718) 260-2511.
