For one thing, some songs just have a great chorus, so that people love to join in. What's a great chorus? It flows well, is easy to sing, is memorable in words and tune, it is within most people's range, and it is FUN to sing. To be a really good chorus I think it has to lend itself to improvised harmonies and to resound when enough people are singing it. And, the better the singing, the more satisfying it will be. There's another factor. The chorus has to be easily learned, and/or enough people have to be familiar with it, to have the singing really fill the room.

In the Washington DC area our choice of choruses is a mix. To some extent it's been shaped by singers who performed here over the years, to some extent by songs that are being sung in our local folk groups now. Lou Killen, Gordon Bok (with Ed Trickett and Ann Mayo Muir), lots of other performers have had an influence because they have performed here very often. But there are also songs people hear at parties, Open Sings and the FSGW Getaway, so that a lot of people have learned the chorus.

Here are a few, including some of my own favorites.

Pleasant and Delightful (the larks they sang melodious....)
Sportsmen Arouse (have I got that right?)
I like to Rise When the Sun She Rises (Country life?)
The Titanic (God moved on the waters....)
Dumbarton Drums
Rose of Allendale
Tenting Tonight
Faded Coat of Blue
The Vacant Chair
   (the last 3 are American Civil War songs.
Lots of shanties have grand choruses. One of my favorites is Roll the Old Chariot Along.