The fire is sure to inspire, the beverages will help set a warm and intimate mood, and the embers will be glowing and dancing. Unless you want to send everyone home (or to their tent) early, do not play Mad World!
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I guess we were listening to different radio stations! 
In the early-mid 90s, I was listening to New Wave, blues, and āneotraditionalā country.
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100% agree on this. No sad songs what so ever at the campfire, especially not Mad World and the like. Thatās a no go - Have to be happy songs, dancing songs, romantic songs and āI luv you more than you luv meā songs. - Happy feelings 
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Hi Mark: Very funny about Wonderwall 
I, too, have practiced wonderwall and found it great for improving strumming skills, however way too fast for a relaxed campfire song. Hey, to each is own right? Okay here goes my country song list: āHereās a quarterā by Travis Tritt, Midlandās āBurn Outā, āDrinking Problemā as well as āAnd then someā, Luke Combās āOne Number Awayā, and of course for the one or two country fans out there, Dwight Yokumās āA thousand miles from nowhereā. Also, I forgot to add my vote in the last communication: I also practice āknocking on Heavenās doorā which I think is a great repetitive chord change with interesting strumming, and Eagles āpeaceful easy feelingā which is just a fantastic song. I am enjoying this thread and looking forward to adding even more songs to my repertoireā¦ I absolutely LOVE playing / learning guitar!
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I think this is going to depend on your age and your location! Campfire would tend to suggest acoustic so that influences the songs quite a bit. From a UK perspective Iād go for:-
- Any Beatles song (particularly the earlier stuff).
- Any Stones song (particularly the early stuff).
- Brown Eyed Girl
- American Pie
- Wonderwall (99% if you ask an audience for a song at the end of the night itāll be this they shout back). This can be pretty relaxed on an acoustic.
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Looked, listened, looked some more and listened some more. Sadly only 5. But here goes - Pretending being the DJ with the guitar and want to spice up the peps at the campfire, so I go with these songs in the written order:
- Hello Goodbye - Beatles
- Crazy little thing called love - Queen
- Yellow Submarine - Beatles
- Wonderwall - Oasis
- Take me home country roads - John Denver
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Freebird by Skynyrd 
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A lot of campfire songs I would take into my repertoire already have been mentioned and I add one that was played at partys in Germany a lot, or better said always, is Smokie āLiving next door to Aliceā. My friends arenāt very musical or play classical music, so my campfire experience during the last two decades is a little limited.
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I prefer this approachā¦Iād rather hear (or play) something that surprises and delights, rather than the same old songs that got played to death on top 40 radio when I was a kid.
In a nutshell, he recommends covering songs that are well known, but not originally recorded as āsinger + acoustic guitarā songs. Suggests creating a āCovers to coverā YouTube playlist for inspiration.
Perhaps a bit more difficult for beginner/intermediates like me, but I think the results will be a lot more interesting if I can pull it off.
PS I highly recommend his Substack. Lots of interesting ideas, very well presented.
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The singers from some of my favorite punk bands have done this, performed solo singer/acoustic versions of their own songs on YouTube. I really enjoy those sorts of things, and want to learn some of them myself eventually.
Hereās an example:
Solo Acoustic: MxPx- Let's Ride (LIQ Version) - YouTube
Full Band: MxPx - "Let's Ride" - YouTube
Iām glad to hear other people enjoy those sorts of covers.
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- Donāt fence me in
- Iām a believer (monkees)
- blowin in the wind (bob dylan)
- mr tambourine man (bob dylan)
- country roads
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Keith @LITTKEIT
First of all welcome to the community 
Your second one is interesting, wasnāt expecting that to come up, it was on the first LP I bought, shows my age.
Michael
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Well it is about time I put my five up as I stared this off.
1 Brown Eyed Girl
2 Bad Moon Rising
3 Take me home Country Roads
4 Dance the Night Away
5 Green Green Grass
First three are my Grade 1 songs, decided on No 4 as chords are easy and a bit of sing along, I donāt play it very well but I think I would get away with it. I felt the need to include a recent song and went for George Ezra. Still learning and not totally committed to memory yet but with the chords in front of me I can play and sing.
Michael
PS
Keep them coming inš
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Jason @Rossco01
Just so I can add some songs I have had a look at the Beatles and Stones songs that Justin has done and are early ones also low grade if possible.
Love me do
Twist & shout
Yellow Submarine
Let it be
When I am 64
And
The last time
Paint it black
Brown sugar
If you have a preference let me know otherwise when I get around to analysing the results I will pick names out of a hat.
Michael
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My top five that I can play reasonably well and where I hope the audience joins in to let me off the hook 
would be:
Margaritaville.
Brown eyed girl
Friends in low places
Folsom Prison Blues
Stand by me
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@MAT1953 mmm I think Brown Sugar for the Stonesā¦but on the Beatles front a nice easy one (from JGs beginner song book - Stage 4) is I Want To Hold Your Hand. Really nice middle 8 section as well on that one.
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Kim @kimlodrodawa
Yes it is difficult to pick five.
My intention was that they were five you could play at the drop of a hat and suitable for of a mixed aged group of people.
Of course if you are asked to do an encore then you can delve into your repertoire.
Michael
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Yes, you made it pretty clear about it had to be within certain criteria. - Still so hard to keep the limit at 5. - Look how many went with more than 5 
Also I noticed how much I seriously struggled with this one and had to listen and go through a bunch of songs, before I finally could make a list and I already had 21 different lists in my mind to replace that list I made ā¦ Yeah, interesting post and how to approach it. Sure a challenge. Well done 
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