Songs "Everyone Should Know"

[M19]

Rocky Mountain High
Rocket Man
Wish You Were Here
Landslide
Melissa
Dust in the Wind
Can't Find My Way Back Home
Back in the U.S.S.R.


Got your mandolin with you?
Losing My Religion
Back in the High Life

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

Some songs that have been popular enough that a lot of people might know...but not overdone.

Willin'
Free Fallin

These songs, not overdone?
If you like these songs, that's good enough, but these two songs absolutely get played, a lot.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Bob from Brooklyn

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere.

Gotta agree with Bob here
3 chords repeat simple so everyone can get into it... Great imagery and can be quite interesting IMO always a great "on the fly" jam tune .

[biotechmgr]

Heart of Gold

Sister Golden Hair

Fields of Gold


...pure gold...

Sent from my SM-S901U using Acoustic Guitar Forum mobile app

[reade]

A song from the '70s that certainly sounds like a classic to me--with its theme of hitting the road to travel America and then coming back home--but which I've never heard played anywhere live is "Return of the Grievous Angel" by Graham Parsons.

Fun chord progression, evocative lyrics, can be played simple or complex, solo or with a big group, and it has that great sing-along chorus that begins with "Out with the truckers and the kickers and the cowboy angels, / The good saloon in every single town" and ends with "20,000 roads I went down, down, down, / They all led me straight back home to you."

The version I usually have in my head is the one done by Lucinda Williams with great harmony by David Crosby.

[DavidE]

How have we gotten this far without someone mentioning James Taylor?

Fire & Rain
Sweet Baby James

Those two at the very least.

John Denver

Country Roads
Maybe Rocky Mountain High
Bonus: Annie's Song and Thank God I'm a Country Boy

Garth Brooks:

Friends in Low Places, though I'm way more likely to play The River or The Dance.

[guitargabor]

When those other hackneyed songs are depleted: "CCR"!

abe

[Denny B]

Originally Posted by reade

A song from the '70s that certainly sounds like a classic to me--with its theme of hitting the road to travel America and then coming back home--but which I've never heard played anywhere live is "Return of the Grievous Angel" by Graham Parsons.

Fun chord progression, evocative lyrics, can be played simple or complex, solo or with a big group, and it has that great sing-along chorus that begins with "Out with the truckers and the kickers and the cowboy angels, / The good saloon in every single town" and ends with "20,000 roads I went down, down, down, / They all led me straight back home to you."

The version I usually have in my head is the one done by Lucinda Williams with great harmony by David Crosby.

Gram Parsons is one of my all time favorite artists, and an early influence on me. I wore out a couple of copies of the "Grievous Angel" LP, and that was also my first exposure to the fabulous Emmy Lou Harris.

[CASD57]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Gotta agree with Bob here
3 chords repeat simple so everyone can get into it... Great imagery and can be quite interesting IMO always a great "on the fly" jam tune .

I just learned this one....Pretty easy, Thanks forgot all about it

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by reade

A song from the '70s that certainly sounds like a classic to me--with its theme of hitting the road to travel America and then coming back home--but which I've never heard played anywhere live is "Return of the Grievous Angel" by Graham Parsons.

Fun chord progression, evocative lyrics, can be played simple or complex, solo or with a big group, and it has that great sing-along chorus that begins with "Out with the truckers and the kickers and the cowboy angels, / The good saloon in every single town" and ends with "20,000 roads I went down, down, down, / They all led me straight back home to you."

The version I usually have in my head is the one done by Lucinda Williams with great harmony by David Crosby.

That's one of the first songs I learned by ear as a kid in the 70's. I learned most of that album my first year of playing acoustic guitar. "In My Hour of Darkness" is still one I like to do. And "Hickory Wind" has become a bluegrass festival staple up here in the PNW.

[CASD57]

Originally Posted by guitargabor

When those other hackneyed songs are depleted: "CCR"!

abe

I like "Boot leg".....Just maybe I'll learn for one of my faster songs.....

[jay42]

Blackbird
In My Life

[Mike_Dee]

The Needle and the Damage Done - Neil Young
Wildflowers - Petty
Can't You See - Marshall Tucker Band
The Mountains Win Again - Blues Traveler - They may or may not know it, I just got back into Blues Traveler again, absolutely love this song, adding it to my set list.

[reade]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

That's one of the first songs I learned by ear as a kid in the 70's. I learned most of that album my first year of playing acoustic guitar. "In My Hour of Darkness" is still one I like to do. And "Hickory Wind" has become a bluegrass festival staple up here in the PNW.

That seems like a great album to start out on guitar with, a great way to start to understand how great songs works from the inside as one learns to play them instead of just listening to them. I only "discovered" GP a few years ago and was glad I did.

I suppose that's the amazing thing about music: for someone who hasn't heard a song or artist before--no matter how many years ago it was recorded and how many millions of people may already know and love it or them--the music will sound brand new and alive and almost like it was produced just for you just last week.

It's nice to hear "Hickory Wind" has become a staple in at least one part of the country.

[reade]

Originally Posted by Denny B

Gram Parsons is one of my all time favorite artists, and an early influence on me. I wore out a couple of copies of the "Grievous Angel" LP, and that was also my first exposure to the fabulous Emmy Lou Harris.

He seems like an excellent early influence to have (well, at least musically, as he seemed to struggle in other ways that cut his life way too short).

I didn't know anything about him or Emmy Lou Harris (though I'd heard her name) until I was in my 40s--but luckily it's never too late to be hit by music like that.