So, I LOVE this song, and I think I sound really good singing it. I’ve used it for a community theatre audition before and it went really well! Here’s the thing- the cut that I use starts at “there’s this building you pass…” and ends at “…so I don’t drown.” There are a couple instances of cursing, and the more I prepare for college auditions, the more I worry that it might not be a good fit because of the cursing. Do you think it has too many curse words and I should find another song or is it fine?
I would really think hard about your overall strategy.
(1) You should be talking with your voice teacher about this.
(2) You need to be thinking strategy. The job of this audition is to get you into the program of your choice. That means you need to showcase all of your abilities, and to pick a song thgat lets you, in the words of Johnny Mercer, Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive. What are your strengths? You audition should highlight them. What are your weaknesses? Your audition should not emphasize them.
So what? What does that have to do with winning an audition?
Further, if you are fortunate enough to be one of the very, very few who can be a full-time musician, you will be singing what people pay you to sing. Love it, hate it, it doesn’t matter - you sing it. It is also likely that you will end up singing Coast Works as Hard as you Do, Brown’s Chicken: It Tastes Better and (his signature song) Two Scoops of Raisins in Kellogg’s Raisin Bran (all by the great Paul Libman).
(3) After the audition, do you want them talking about your singing? Or your choice of music?