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
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 ⌠
Yeah, interesting post and how to approach it. Sure a challenge. Well done 
Okay, hereâs my 5. Different region, different generation than some. One thing Iâve learned from reading through this is some songs that keep coming up, I had never heard of and had to go listen to. Hard to pick just 5:
Quite a few others I know from memory, that I prefer playing, but are probably not as universally popular as those ones. At least in my circles.
Clint @CT
Just found time to listen to this, thanks for the link.
My theory is just about at the point where I can appreciate what is going on. Excellent to include examples of them rather just here is the chord progression in text.
I can see what you mean, if you donât have the song in your repertoire but know of it and you think that this progression might work just about regardless of the key it would suffice.
Michael
And thanks to your list, Iâve rediscovered Chris Isaak!
Embrace the challenge! Try and suss out common songs that you like.
Iâm not a huge repertoire guy. Iâm a guitar player, not a performer. The people around the campfire are going to bring out their phones to sing along, and they will make requests. Doesnât make sense to me to practice the same five songs over and over again that probably wonât appeal to everyone. Musical tastes vary so much. Three Little Birds, a simple I-IV-V can be pretty cool (in a good singable key) if you have some chops and have a decent singer in your midst.
We seem to have come the end with suggestions of five campfire songs but I will give it a few more days, until Friday 5th May at 12.00 UTC before I start to analyse the votes.
Late entries will be purely at the discretion of the âReturning Officerâ
Michael
The single best kid-friendly campfire song I know is âThrew It Out The Window,â which is something I learned when I was a boy scout. For the verses you solicit nursery rhymes from the audience and set them to the same simple melody, and every chorus is:
âŚand threw it out the window,
the window, the second story window,
highâŚlowâŚlowâŚhigh,
threw it out the windowâŚ
And the chorus is faster, or even double tempo.
So it might be:
Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard
to fetch her poor dog a bone.
But when she got there the cupboard was bare [dramatic pause]
so she threw it out the windowâŚet ceteraâŚ
Or
Mary had a little lamb
its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went
she threw it out the windowâŚet cetera
Or
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
But Jack fell down and broke his crown, so sheâŚ
threw him out the windowâŚ
And so on. Everyone loves that one and will sing the chorus with vigor.
I play it with G, D, and D7.
The results are now in and thanks to all who responded.
We have had local council elections in the UK this week and to use that terminology.
âPolling Stations are now closed, votes counted and as the Returning Officer I hereby declare the result as followsâ.
8 Votes
⢠Brown Eyed Girl
7 Votes
⢠Take me home Country Roads
⢠Wonderwall
4 Votes
⢠Let it be
⢠Take it easy
3 Votes
⢠Wish you were here
⢠Sitting at the Dock of the Bay
⢠Margaritaville
⢠Three Little Birds
2 Votes
⢠Stand By Me
⢠American Pie
⢠Sweet Caroline
⢠Bad Moon Rising
⢠Peaceful Easy Feeling
⢠Folsom Prison Blues
⢠knocking on Heavenâs door
Those with just one vote can be seen below of which there are a lot.
Some of my comments
⢠Some people provide more or less than five, but I just took what was given.
⢠I was surprised that there were only a few songs I didnât recognise.
⢠Donât think I was particular surprised at the ones that got the most votes, but some of the others that made the list with 3 or less, I not sure I would have thought of those.
⢠Some with lower votes or only one vote I would have thought would have done better.
⢠There was a total of 108 suggestions
⢠Three of mine made the more than one vote list.
⢠E&OE
All comments welcome.
Michael
Nicely shown. Good job! - Actually surprise me, but guess the list would be different if people who doesnât play guitar was asked.
ErrâŚsâcuse me yer Honor!
Annieâs Song has 2 votes and is in your 1 vote list twice!
I demand a re-count 
David @BurnsRhythm
You are of course correct about Annieâs Song, very strange when I was counting them up I was sure I had seen this twice but I looked through it and didnât spot it.
I am afraid I did have a get out of jail free card as I did include E&O E (Errors and omissions excluded)
However here is the revised 2 votes
2 Votes ⢠Stand By Me ⢠American Pie ⢠Sweet Caroline ⢠Bad Moon Rising ⢠Peaceful Easy Feeling ⢠Folsom Prison Blues ⢠knocking on Heavenâs door
⢠Annieâs Song
Michael
Out walking the dogs this afternoon and came across a coronation street party in a local road.
There was a guy playing a guitar who seemed to have all the gear including some studio sized monitors on stands, definitely not the sort of thing you have for home use, we have similar ones at the guitar club in a church hall.
He seemed a very competent player, donât know if he is a resident or somebody they had hired, will find out when I bump into one of residents walking their dogs.
To the point of this post he was playing when we went past, Rod Stewarts Handbags and glad rags, which is not one that made even the one vote list. (David @BurnsRhythm I have checked, double and treble checked the list and it is definitely not there.)
He played others but could not make them out in the distance.
Michael
Ah butâŚ.yer Honor
Handbags And Glad Rags isnât Rod Stewartâs song, or The Stereophonics.
It was written by Mike dâAbo who was the lead singer in Manfred Mann
MâLord my clients assertion is that although it contains the same chord progression and the lyrics are similar they are completely different songs. Now where have I heard that recently?
Stereophonic is not a band I know anything about, Manfred Mann 5 4 3 2 1 I have heard of. My extensive research has shown that Mike dâAbo did write the song but the Stereophonics recorded their version at least 30 years later than Rod Stewart.
Ha ha! Nice one.
Stereophonics are a great band. You should look them up!
Mike dâAbo also wrote Wake Me Up Buttercup.
So @MAT1953 did you try these songs out with folk? I have a âcampfireâ session in a few weeks, so was curious about what worked and what didnât.
Thanks
Paul
PS In a previous session I found Donât Worry Be Happy; Knockin on Heavenâs Door; and You canât always get want you want, all worked OK, with the first two definites as simple and folk knew enough to sing at least some lines.
Paul @PaulPGlasziou
Not sure I have had a true âcampfireâ session but the guitar club have had two get togethers at the beach so far this summer. The first was covered in this Michael and Guitar Club Campfire/Jam - #31 by MAT1953 post. Not many off the list but some, but generally based on what chord sheets people had. We were taking requests at the end from passers by without chord sheets and somebody would say something like this it is in the key of G only three chords and first chord is G - now that is a challenge for a beginner like me.
The second time we had been sent about a dozen Beatles chord sheets so worked through those and near the end a passer by asked if she could sing along and she looked through peoples chord sheets and chose some songs. I think she is actually going to come along to the club purely as a singer.
I think the range of songs had a lot to do with the age group that came along with a lot of songs from 60âs to 80âs.
Not sure if the above is helpful but there is my experience so far.
Michael
Thanks. Liked the video of the session. And sending around some chord sheets before sounds a good idea. Cheers
Paul
