Songs For Singing and Playing Together

I had a birthday in the not-too-distant past but did not have a soiree with, you know, beer and chips and the like. That will occur this weekend, when friends will come over and celebrate. I had been thinking initially about having a karaoke party, but thought that might require a bit too much courage of many celebrants. It also required renting a karaoke machine, which requires both money and time.

Instead, I decided to have a party of singing and playing music together. While I don't think the Dan Zanes interview itself directly inspired the idea -- I'd been pondering it even before that -- his general emphasis through the years on making music in communities did.

The only problem is, I'm at a bit of a loss for good songs to play in groups. So I'm asking you, dear readers, for suggestions of good songs for singing and playing together. We have a piano (and friends are bringing keyboards) and I have a basic ability to plunk out chords while sightseeing. Beyond that, I'm not quite sure of the music-making skills of all my friends -- except for our friends with the Phoenix Bach Choir, who, yes, can sing.

Beyond that, no restrictions other than kids are going to be invited as well, so while drinking songs and murder ballads aren't necessarily off-limits, it'd be nice to have something of greater interest for the kiddos, too.

What songs have you enjoyed singing together? What songs are easy for people to pick up? And any suggestions in general? Respond in the comments...

Comments

[deb in sf]

Happy belated birthday.

While not individual songs... do you have the Sing Out book "Rise Up Singing"? You can get it from the SingOut Website or sometimes from good music stores. It's mostly a guitar book, having chords and lyrics, rather than notes. But it's a GREAT book. Modern and Traditional folk songs. Killer for a sing along.

Also, the Ruth Crawford Seeger "American Folk Songs for Children" is a wonderful book for folk songs that lots of people might know like:Buffalo Girls, Old Joe Clark, All Around the Kitchen, Bought Me a Cat, Skip to My Lou, Toodala, etc.

Also, you probably know that Dan Zanes web site is a nice resource for lyrics and chords for sing alongs of songs that he's done.

These are ones that we use most.

[Katy Lloyd]

First of all, what a great birthday idea (actually, any reason--and no reason--is a good reason to get together and sing with friends). A bluegrass dulcimer player I once met said "We are born knowing how to be musical, then it gets drummed out of us as we get older. If we're lucky, we can re-learn." For me, parenting has been a great way to become musical again.So, song ideas...based on my experience at a hootenanny we hosted last sping, it helps to have multiple copies of songs. One person brought his favorites in binders, with lyrics and guitar chords (but no piano music). Among the songs we sang were "Angel From Montgomery" and "King of the Road" which was a lot of fun. Someone else brought multiple copies of "Rise Up Singing," which is a phenomenal resource of folk/rock/gospel music, has guitar chords, and I think you can buy a version with piano music. Most of the songs are from the 70s or earlier, but include a lot of standards that everyone knows (Beatles, Peter Paul and Mary, Pete Seeger, etc.) It was also fun to have a book to pass out to people that they could page through and suggest for singing.I also asked my girls beforehand what songs they wanted to sing. One suggested "Red River Valley," the other asked for "Emily Miller," off of Ralph's World's first (eponymous) CD. It's a capella and very fun to sing with the kids. His website also has tons of lyrics nad guitar chords available, and I know that Dan Zanes' latest, "Catch That Train" has guitar chords in the liner notes. You could also opt for "Peace Like a River," a la Elizabeth Mitchell on "You Are My Little Bird." When my 5-year old (who laready knew the song from church) learned that her daughter Storey plays harmonica on that song, she got out her harmonica and blew while playing the CD over and over. I guess that's what it's all about, eh?I hope that helps. Have a great time and let us know how it goes! And Happy Birthday, too.

[deb in sf]

Other songs -

You are my sunshineOh, SusannahAmazing Grace

[Ed]

Happy B-Day

Two Books:"Get America Singing....Again" Vol 1 and 2

Be sure to get both. Amazon has 'em.Everything from Danny Boy to Sloop John B.

Great sing along stuff.

Enjoy!

[Stefan]

Thanks for the suggestions so far! I actually bought Rise Up Singing for this, so I need to page through and find some songs. "Emily Miller" is a great suggestion. American Folksongs for Children is on its way, but may not make it before the weekend. I have Sandburg's American Songbag, but it seems somewhat... harder.

I will have to look up the Get America Singing books... maybe my library has 'em.

Any songs that went over really big?

Any songs you thought would be great but went over like a lead balloon?

Keep it coming!

[deb in sf]

Beatles songs always go over big. Everyone knows them.

One good rule of thumb - a strong chorus helps. Even if only one person knows the lyric, if everyone can join in on a rousing chorus, it can still rock and be super fun. That's partly why "pay me my money down" works so well.

And after the drink gets flowing, even a lead balloon can be a hit. One friend asks for "wish you were here" every time. It was a surprisingly big hit. Everyone joined in and had fun for such a morose song.

How much fun would "King of the Road" be?!

"Keep on the Sunnyside" is a fun one. and in Rise up Singing.

[Katy Lloyd]

"King of the Road" was very fun. So was singing "Blue Moon" and "Fish Gotta Swim" as a duet. Not sure how the kids liked it, but I got to let out my inner jazz diva for a moment.

I just got word today from Justin Roberts' newsletter that guitar tabs and lyrics are now available for all of his albums on his website. It's hard to replicate his musical skill and lush production quality, and many folks at a sing-along may not be so familiar with his stuff. But a bluegrass-y song like "Taking Off My Training Wheels" could be fun.

I like what Deb said about an easy chorus. A song with an easy chorus like Ralph World's "Happy Lemons" (can you sing "la la la la"?)could work well. And it's super easy to play on the guitar.

[Katy Lloyd]

My last thought--I promise. We had a blast singing Barenaked Ladies' "If I had a Million Dollars" around the campfire with our girls and another family while camping this summer. Doesn't everyone know that song? They ought to.

[Stefan]

"King of the Road" -- great.

Justin Roberts -- yeah, I saw that, too. As much as I like him, I'm not sure he works for singalongs with mostly low-grade musically talented people. I copied "Our Imaginary Rhino" just in case.

Keep it all coming! Choruses, yeah!

[Mrs. Davis]

Happy Birthday!!! You've gotten great suggestions. All I can add is "Route 66" and "Polly Wolly Doodle".

[deb in sf]

"Polly Wolly Doodle" will be awesome."Camptown Races" (Doo Dah) is fun."Clementine" is funny and most people know the chorus.

I think I lent out my Rise up Singing book. It's not in with the other music books, which is making coming up with songs hard...

[Shelly]

Another great resource is a book called "Heritage Songster". New copies are pricey, but you can get them used quite reasonably. It is considered one of the great resources for folk music of the United States and many other countries. Many of the songs have a short history of their creation. This information is very useful. Also the indexes are very helpful if you are looking for a theme. I've left behind copies of these at previous schools I've taught in. I haven't found anything that matches it.