Okay, imagine we meet up somewhere, and there are a couple of guitars. Could be a wedding, a funeral, a condo board meeting, whatever. There are some other people there, too - could be friends, family, co-workers, total strangers, could be a couple of other people or a crowd of, say, 50 - doesn’t matter.
The overriding matter at hand is - what 5 songs should we sing to get everyone in the crowd singing along? You can play guitar, too, if you want - Hell, you can play lead if you want. Assume at least one guitar and our two voices - what’s on the playlist?
It can be simple or sophisticated, country, folk, rock, jazz, anything. I’m after the Venn diagram that shows the overlap between your tastes and everybody else’s. What do you suggest?
I have been in several bars, some karaoke some not, where someone will stand up and start to belt out Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline and EVERYONE JOINED IN.
YMCA? It’s not a fantastic song but everyone seems to know it and enjoy it in a crowd- sporting events and the like.
T.V. theme songs could probably comprise their own category. Everyone seems to know the Addams Family, The Brady Bunch, Giligan’s Island. People my age know the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles song by heart.
AC/DC gets played at sporting events a lot too; folks seem to know Back in Black, TNT, Thunderstruck, and All Night Long pretty well.
I’m excited to hear what other people come up with, good thread.
One of the pubs I used to go to in my university days had a piano player entertaining the crowd some nights, and these usually devolved into drunken singalongs…
[ul]
[li]Yellow Submarine[/li][li]Sweet Caroline (though usually the chorus, rather than the whole song)[/li][li]Hotel California[/li][li]Mr Piano Man[/li][li]Anything by The Hip (hey, it’s a bar in TO that caters to the university crowd… what do you expect?)[/li][/ul]
(on preview, I see I’ve been beaten to the punch on a couple)
These are fantastic - thanks! And please, keep 'em coming.
The hardest thing I’ve found about doing sing alongs is that moment when you’ve got past the first couple of lines, but you’re not up to the chorus yet. All it takes is a couple of voices who are sure of the lyrics to sheep-dog the rest of the people singing, but if even one of those voices starts to drop a word or two, or worse, tumbles into the wrong verse for a line, then the whole thing can grind into a mumbling halt. Sorta like that Mr. Bean episode where he’s in the church and all he really knows of the hymn is the ‘Aleluia!’ bit…
I should warn you all, there will be a test on this when next we meet.
When I do solo shows, or acoustic shows with a large proportion of good-time drunks in the crowd, I go for stuff with a simple catchy chorus (duh!) that tell a good story too. that way the crowd that knows it can sing along, and the rest can listen and join in at the refrain.
If it’s got a strong enough melody, I’ll back off the mic and harmonize with the crowd. The other cheat is identifying a regular or two that can actually sing, and call em up to join ya for a number. This kind of stuff works great with drunk college students.
Some favorites:
Bad Bad Leroy Brown
Peaceful Easy Feeling (everyone loves to attempt to harmonize)
On the Road Again
Folsom Prison Blues (I swear, *everyone *has shot a man in Reno just to watch him die…)
Can’t You See (Marshall Tucker)
any upbeat Jimmy Buffett or Bob Marley tune
What I Got (Sublime)…actually ANY Sublime tune works
Sweet Caroline
American Pie
