Many years ago at a North Country Folk Festival in the northern penninsula of Michigan, I had a real treat. I was slotted in to a
workshop titled "Songs We All Know But Are Too Cool To Sing." I thought that it was a great idea. Bordering on cool. I sang I've Been Working On The Railroad," but the real topper came from my friend Jerry Rau who sang ABCDEFG, and got everyone to sing along.
Someone did On Top Of Old Smokey, from what I remember.

It was a good reminder that our purpose in singing is NOT to look cool. Just because a song is overly familiar doesn't make you un-cool to sing it.

In the reverse, I was amazed many years ago when I sang Blue Diamond Mines at a gathering in a home and someone else was furious with me. She had "discovered" the song (a little late as Jean Ritchie had already recorded it) and was angry that someone else was doing "her" song. I wonder if she thought it was alright for Jean to do it, as she was the one who wrote it..

Very uncool.

So fess up.. what song would you do in the workshop?

(Another strange workshop was simply titled "Out On A Limb." But that's another story..)

Jerry

Still uncool after all these years