songs for the campfire

what songs are great to sing around the campfire? i have countless favorites. of course, it's always lovely to improvise and just hum and harmonize. but some songs i have learned throughout the years conjure up fond memories that make me sigh. anyone have a song they'd like to share? i have a couple:

Canadian Wilderness
The life of a voyager, that of a sojourner
Traveling around and round
But not from town to town
Paddles the lakes and streams
Follows her distant dreams
Peace on the waterway
Blue skies or cloudy days

Chorus:

My heart has just one home
From which I’ll never roam
Land of true happiness
Canadian wilderness

The call of a lonely loon
Coyotes howling at the moon
Wind rustlin’ through the trees
That’s a Canadian breeze
Smoke rising from the fire
Up to the trees in a stately spire
Reach to the sky in the evening glow
Sun goes down, the north winds blow

The mist rising from the falls
Distant hooting of the owls
Fire crackling through the night
Rising fog at dawn’s first light
Fall when leaves come tumbling down
Winter’s blanket covers the ground
Zephyr’s whistling through the pines
Voyager’s heritage that is mine

The life of a voyager that of a sojourner
Clear as the northern streams
Key to her distant dreams
One day she’ll find it there
Place where she’ll lose all care
Loon’s cry moves through the trees
She’ll find her liberty


Moon On The Meadow

Moon on the meadow, bugs in our ears

Smoke in our eyes, wet wood and tears

Up on the meadow, water somewhere

We were the only ones there


Wild horse and slushy, dry lake and creeks

Finding the love there everyone seeks

Hiking through rainbows, sunsets and stars

Just finding out who we are


We will return here, one lucky day

Our hearts will guide us, they know the way

People in cities can’t understand

Falling in love with the land.


Moon on the meadow, bugs in our ears

Smoke in our eyes, wet wood and tears

On up the meadow, water somewhere

With you my friend I am there.

 

Ripple is a campfire classic.

 

"The pirates of Saskatchewan". I don't know the words but my friends sing it all the time, that and "It's the End of the World".

 

This Land is Your Land is awesome, if you throw in some of the more rebellious verses.

And Blowing in the Wind.

 

This is always fun; don't know the name, but it's from girl scout camp!

She sailed away on a bright and sunny day
on the back of a crocodile
"you see" said she, "he's as tame as he can be
I'll ride him down the Nile"
The crock winked his eye as she waved them all goodbye
wearing a great big smile
At the end of the ride the lady was inside
and the smile's on the crocodile!

Also, we used to sing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" all the time.

~Nova

 

comet! it makes your mouth turn green!

comet! it taste like listerine!

comet! it makes you vomit!

so try some comet and vomit today!


okay so my family is a little weird

 

ah...... california dreamin'...... me and bobby mcgee... just a few of the ones i sing around the fire

 

The Beatles "Mother Nature's Son"
George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" and "Beware of Darkness"
Neil Young's "Natural Beauty"
Grateful Dead's "Box of Rain"

These are some of my faves, and since I'm the only person in my family to play an instrument their stuck with whatever I choose.

Also "Hey Jude" because you can drag that sucker out FOREVER.

~Layla

 

John Denver's "Poems, Prayers and Promises" ...or any John Denver song, that man was a genius.

 

I wish I could hear the tune to that one,boogybaah!

'She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes' was one
'Well adieu & adieu my sweet spanish ladies' was another
'Songs from the wood - Jethro Tull' was one we used to try and sing but always used to end up laughing on the bit that goes 'poppies red and roses filled with summer rain' - cos you'd have to stick your finger in your ear.

If I've got my guitar - it has to be Pink Moon,N.Drake and 'Tom Tiddlers Ground' - Roy Harper and 'This Flite Tonight' - Joni Mitchell.

God - wish I was right there,now!

 

I wish I could hear the tune to that one,boogybaah!

'She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes' was one
'Well adieu & adieu my sweet spanish ladies' was another
'Songs from the wood - Jethro Tull' was one we used to try and sing but always used to end up laughing on the bit that goes 'poppies red and roses filled with summer rain' - cos you'd have to stick your finger in your ear.

If I've got my guitar - it has to be Pink Moon,N.Drake and 'Tom Tiddlers Ground' - Roy Harper and 'This Flite Tonight' - Joni Mitchell.

God - wish I was right there,now!

 

I like Buffalo Soldier by Bob Marley

Everytime we go camping my uncle plays his guitar and sings, he's amazing with Guitar. Started practicing when he got it when he was 8.... more than 50 something years ago.

 

I love that song.

A few of the songs we sing (or should I say I make people sing?) are "Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds, "And When I Die" by Laura Nyro, "They don't serve Breakfast in Hell" by..someone and "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" by Lemon Demon will probably make it into the camp songs this year.

Though no one I camp with has any kind of instrament or even the ability to keep in some kind of harmony so we probably sound like drunken raccoons falling of decks or something along those lines.

 

This is a song re-worked by one of the other fellow bus campers in our group. Johnny Cash would be prod. haha


GEORGIA PRISON BLUES

I hear the buses comin'
They’re rollin' 'round the bend,
And I ain't seen the sunshine,
Since, I don't know when,
I’m in Georgia State Prison,
My time keeps draggin' on,
But buses keep a-rollin',
On to a new campground.

When I was just a baby,
My Mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy,
Don't go drinking too much rum,"
But I got drunk down in Georgia,
And arrested for being high,
I hear those Wolfsburg horns blow,
And hang my head and cry.

Moonies out there drivin’,
Their Splitties, Bays, and all,
They're having safety meetings,
And playin’ bocce ball,
But I know I had it comin',
I know I can't be free,
Those Moonies keep on campin',
And that's what tortures me.

Well, if they freed me from this prison,
And let me drive a bus,
I’d take an air-cooled vacation,
To blow off this orange dust,
When I’m driving I’ll be sitting,
Over those front tires,
But after I pop my Westy top,
I’m at those big campfires.

Far from Georgia Prison
That’s where I want to stay,
So lean on all those horns and
Blow my blues away.

 

Back in the summer of SIXTY NINE!

 

Falling into the sound hole-of that old martin guitar-that had seen more than i an'-told it in its own way.

 

The flicker of the campfire, the wind in the pines,

The moon in the heavens, the stars that shine,

A place where people gather to make friends of all kinds,

A place where all men's troubles are always left behind.

So, give me the light of the campfire, warm and bright,

Give me some friends I can sing with, I'll be here all night.

Love is for those who find it; I've found mine right here,

Just you and me and the campfire, and the songs we love to hear.

da Da! da da da da da da da da da Da, da Da!




and



A Whale Of A Tale-20000 Leagues Under The Sea


Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads
A whale of a tale or two
'Bout the flappin' fish and the girls I've loved
On nights like this with the moon above
A whale of a tale and it's all true
I swear by my tattoo

There was Mermaid Minnie, met her down in Madagaskar
She would kiss me, any time that I would ask her
Then one evening her flame of love blew out
Blow me down and pick me up!
She swapped me for a trout

Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads
A whale of a tale or two
'Bout the flappin' fish and the girls I've loved
On nights like this with the moon above
A whale of a tale and it's all true
I swear by my tattoo

There was Typhoon Tessie, met her on the coast of Java
When we kissed I bubbled up like molten lava
Then she gave me the scare of my young life
Well blow me down and pick me up!
She was the captain's wife

Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads
A whale of a tale or two
'Bout the flappin' fish and the girls I've loved
On nights like this with the moon above
A whale of a tale and it's all true
I swear by my tattoo

Then there was Harpoon Hanna, had a look that spelled out danger
My heart quivered, when she whispered
"Hi there stranger!"
Bought her trinkets a sailor can't afford
and when I spent my last red cent
she tossed me overboard

Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads
A whale of a tale or two
'Bout the flappin' fish and the girls I've loved
On nights like this with the moon above
A whale of a tale and it's all true...
I swear by my tattoo

 

whiskey in the jar

 

38 years old - Tragically Hip
My Friends - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rivers of Babylon

 

I've got a buddy who does a passable Johnny Cash impression when he's a little tiny bit drunk and not so self-conscious. We love to get a quart of Madeira or port into him and get him to sing Nine Inch Nails songs. You ought to hear the Johnny Cash version of "Closer".


It's probably not a good performance choice if there's kids in the camp.