Favorite songs to strum and sing
 

Do you have favorite songs to just pick up an acoustic and sing and strum? Something simple where you can just think about clean chords instead of fancy finger work?

Currently I'm partial to:

He'll Have to Go (Gentleman Jim Reeves)
Waterloo Sunset (the Kinks)
Jamaica Farewell (Harry Belafonte)

So what brings instant joy to you? Could be any era, any flavor.

Jim

Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
Bob Dylan - Not Dark Yet
John Prine - Paradise

Plus one of my own songs:

I like the first song my wife ever heard me sing in 1980. We were in a car pool and she came to my house to pick me up. I didn't hear her knock and the door was open, so she came in and I was singing Paul Siebel's Louise. She tells folks that I won her heart with a song about a dead hooker.

It's still a favourite of mine. Five chords in G. Think I'll go and play it now.

Well they all said Louise was not half bad,
It was written on the walls and window shades,
And how she's act the little girl,
A deceiver, don't believe her, that's her trade.

Sometimes a bottle of perfume,
Flowers or maybe some lace.
Men bought Louise ten cent trinkets,
The intentions were easily traced. . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjNR-Vn9JF8

Louise is a fine tune. I’ve sung it for years.

Redemption Song by Bob Marley

Snuff by Slipknot. Yes really. https://youtu.be/QBK6xymmKHM
Nothing else matters by Metallica
Let her go by passenger - normally skipping the intro and jumping into verse 1 if I just want to strum

Sister Golden Hair - America
Small Town - John Mellencamp
Peaceful Easy Feeling -Eagles

"Aimee" - Pure Prairie League
"Into The Great Wide Open" - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
"Things We Said Today" - The Beatles
"Harvest Moon" - Neil Young

Desperados Under The Eaves - Warren Zevon

I'm going through a period of 1960s LA country rock...

Sundown - Gordon Lightfoot
America - Simon & Garfunkel
I'll Be Back - Beatles
Holly Holy - Neil Diamond
Portland Town - Schooner Fare
Wild World - Cat Stevens
Yesterday's Gone - Chad & Jeremy
Railroads & Riverboats - Jim Croce
Light One Candle - Peter, Paul & Mary
Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano

Melissa is a good strummer :)

House Of The Rising Sun
Don’t Think Twice

"Pick Me Up on Your Way Down". Such a terrific "sour grapes" love song.

Subscribe.:)

"The Only Living Boy in New York", by Paul Simon. Mostly just strumming, very nice.

The Stable Song, Gregory Allan Isakov.

“Annabelle” by Gillian Welch is one that I love to play.

Best,
Jayne

Miss Otis Regrets - Cole Porter
Monongahela Sal - Robert Schmertz (learned from a Pete Seeger LP)
Going Away - Utah Philips
Come On Up To The House - Tom Waits
That Old Seaside Town Far Away - Billy Connolly
It's Only A Paper Moon - Harburg, Rose & Arlen
Old Five And Dimers - Billy Joe Shaver

Here Comes a Regular - The Replacements
Wagon Wheel - OCMS (it is allowed in Europe ;-) )
Sixteen tons - Merle Travis
Where is my Mind - The Pixies

”Come on up to the house” is great fun to play on the piano as well - nice swing feel. Impossible to match Tom’s singing

The Jam - That's Entertainment
Oasis - Half the World Away
Plain White T's - Hey there Delilah

Come Up And See Me (Make Me Smile) - Cockney Rebel
Who's Your Baby Now?-Mark Knopfler
His Latest Flame (Marie's the Name) - Elvis

Those are my latest faves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptFegqTOYYc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrD9Z7VRxQo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59pOE3OmUi8

An ex used to make me play Hey There down the phone to her. Tricky with a phone jammed between ear and shoulder!

gotta love Gregory!

For just kickin back and playing;

The Eagles: Tequila Sunrise, Take it Easy, Hotel California
Neil Young: Old Man, Cowgirl in the Sand, Harvest Moon
George Straight: Amarillo by Morning
Willie Nelson: Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground
Skynyrd: Simple Man, Ballad of Curtis Loew
Some more that I can't think of right at the moment. They come out when I start playing...

It's interesting to see what everyone else likes to play when they're just relaxing.

One Stage Before - Al Stewart
Lover of the Bayou - Byrds
Lots of stuff by Masters of Reality
Blue Eyes - Elton John

Last Train From Poor Valley - Norman Blake
Speed Trap Town - Jason Isbell
and I've been going through a Main Street by Bob Seger phase. ;)

Melissa - Allman Bro’s
Wish you were here - Pink Floyd
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
Bunch of Eagles songs
Margaritaville - Buffet
Wagon wheel- various artists
Into the Mystic - Van Morrison

Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
Don't Think Twice - Johnny Cash
I walk The Line - Johnny Cash

Yes, I grew up on Johnny Cash.

Can't Get It Out Of My Head - ELO
House Of The Rising Sun - The Animals

And a little something of the wall for me. Back Door Love Afair - ZZ Top