Every summer I’m the adult chaperone for my church’s High School Youth Group mission trip. We drive hundreds of miles to get where we’re going. This year the teenagers enjoyed a Stax-Volt-disco mix CD, which included ‘It’s Rainin’ Men,’ by The Weathergirls, Carla Thomas’ 'B-A-B-Y,’ and the majestic 'Funkytown’, by Lipps Inc.
For next year’s trip I’d like to make a road trip mix CD of rock’s best head bobbing sing-along songs. Songs such as **‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ ** and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ work out quite nicely.
What other songs can you think of that will cause a van full of rowdy teenagers to start bobbing their heads back and forth as they sing in unison?
No thank you to the suggestion of ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.’
The Violent Femmes’ Kiss off has the pill-counting bridge that is guaranteed to get a sing-along/scream-along from anyone old enough to know the song. Some disco-era songs get sing-alongs, too: YMCA comes to mind, but so do a bunch of songs by ABBA. The B-52s have both Love Shack and Rock Lobster. R.E.M. has It’s The End of the World (as we know it) which is great if one or two people in the car actually know the lyrics - likewise other fast-talking songs like Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire (personally this one gets a big thumbs down from me, and a holler of “laaaaame” but that’s just me).
Also: you can find songs that fit this mold very easily – go to a karaoke bar on a Saturday night and bring a notebook and a pen. You’ll be amazed at the songs that get the whole crowd going that you never would have thought of.
It is not likely that this particular adult chaperone for a church mission trip will be going into a karoke bar on a Saturday night with or without pen in hand. Hence I’m asking those of you who might, indeed, be in the neighborhood of one. It is a good idea, though. Last time I was in a karoke bar was in Japan - we sang ‘I Get Knocked Down’ by Chumbawumba a few times. I’ll put that one on the list!
I’m of the opinion that They Might Be Giants are the best singalong band going. Get the album Flood, most of the songs on it are quite catchy and easy to pick up.
How about anything by Prince? To further elaborate, if you can find something non-sexual by Prince, that might work. “Kiss” comes to mind, as a lot of guys enjoy singing in a falsetto, and the girls enjoy watching them.
We used to improvisations on this song. I’m not sure what the original song or lyrics were, we just made up our own as we went along. Our lyrics would get rather vulgar, say, in the Louie Louie type of mind set, but that’s not necessary.
(Chorus, and gesturing by the participants as to who gets the next solo.)
Hey loddy loddy-loddy
Hey loddy loddy-oh
Hey loddy loddy-loddy
Hey loddy loddy-eh
(Solo)
I know a girl that lives on the hill
(Everyone)
Hey loddy loddy-oh
(Solo)
She won’t kiss but her sister will
(Everyone)
Hey loddy loddy-eh
(Chorus repeats, then the next soloist … etc. )
You can only imagine some of the verses we came up with.
I thought love was only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else but not for me.
Love was out to get me
That’s the way it seemed.
Disappointment haunted all my dreams…
Take It Easy by the Eagles has a catchy chorus - and a catchy chorus is what these types of songs really need. The verses you can have fun making up when your knowledge runs dry.
Perfect timing for this thread, may I say. We’re renting a car for a couple of weeks in France and the journeys are bound to be a bit longer than those you can manage on this tiny rock.
)