OK, here's where I stand. Dick is right in that every song mentioned here would not
be good in a group setting but there are many that would.

I'm not sure about the selections offered that everyone should know these. I believe
that everyone should know folk songs that contain good choruses. A good chorus is
an entry level for people wanting to learn the whole song.

I'm surprised that Pete Seeger's repitiore was not mentioned here. He has done more to
get folks to sing folk songs than almost anyone.

I had a thread sometime back asking folks to suggest songs that had good singable
choruses. I didn't get any responses.

I am collecting these songs now and have an extensive list.

I'm not sure I want to hear many people sing "My Funny Valentine". It would be
a nightmare of epic proportions particularly played with five-string banjo accompaniment.
"Blue Skies" might work though.

This is a folk music site so I had hoped that there would be more folk songs mentioned than the standard pop songs of the Twenties, Thirties etc.

Songs like "Nine Pound Hammer", "This Land is Your Land", variations of "Lowlands Low"
(which has a great chorus), "Beans, Bacon and Gravy".....in other words, songs that have a tradition and history and not pop necessarily. There are so many folk songs that people ought to know reflecting their respective traditions, cultures and histories that would be more useful than the commercial music industry output.

Variations for example of "The Wind and The Rain"...Horton Barker's "Two Sisters" which has the great chorus of "Bow and Balance to Me", some of the American cowboy songs
such as "Strawberry Roan", "Old Chisholm Trail" and others like that.

How about some of the traditional Appalachian songs that have great choruses, "Jubilee",
"Goin' Down to Cairo", even the standard "Cindy" and "Old Joe Clark". Play Party Songs, Spirituals, In the Irish trad,there are quite a few mentioned above. "Wild Mountain Thyme" or "Paddy's Green Shores" "I'll Tell Me Ma" but what about the beautiful "Down In The Valley"? ("Connemara Cradle Song")

In short, get away from the standard pop fare of any of the years and concentrate on all the wonderful folk songs that are not being sung today that people should know.

Frank Hamilton