What defines a "sing-along" song to you?

A sing along ought to be a song w/ an easy chorus (preferably a catchy one too) to remember.

They usually have universal appeal..like "Happy Birthday".

Who in the civilized free world *doesn't* know THAT sing along?

Song a short musical composition with words; "a successful musical must have at least three good songs" Piece musical composition: a musical work that has been created; "the composition is written in four movements" Composition A musical idea, generally including melody, rhythm, and harmonic structure, created by a composer.

Any song that seems to cross genres and generations were almost everyone knows the lyrics but may not know the artist. I just saw a live performance of Breakdown by Tom Petty and I don't think he sang more than the first verse, the crowd took it away. He even said somthing about them "putting him out of a job" cause the whole crowd didn't miss a beat.

A song that nearly everyone knows and sounds good if sung by a thousand drunkards at a bar.

i.e.

I'm no Angel - Gregg Allman

Amie - Pure Prairie League

Black Water - Doobie Brothers

American Pie - Don Mclean

Best Sing A-long Song = Follow Me, by Uncle Kracker. Seriously, everybody in the freaking world seems to know that song. My 60 year old mother knows that song.

LOL ~ yes, a sing-along song definitely needs lyrics - otherwise it's a hum-along :-P Would have liked to see that!

Used to go riding with these two special friends (special as in my BFFs, not as in Special Olympics...) and we would sing along with this one composite tape ~ Proud Mary (Ike & Tina Turner, of course), California Dreamin', Meatloaf ~

Thing that struck me about these songs were that the lyrics were pronounced well enough for us to actually be able to tell what the singers were saying. A catchy tune doesn't hurt, but if you get to a point where it's blahblahblah instead of decipherable words, it just doesn't work as a sing-along.

Great Q, Deke!

A great anthem that everyone knows and can sing along to....but definitely not the one's you mentioned! For example:

"The Joker" by Steve Miller Band, "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond, other good candidates from David Allan Coe, Jimmy Buffett, the list could go on forever. But no, I don't think the bar has the right idea yet. LOL.

"If I Had $1,000,000" by the Barenaked Ladies is a perfect sing-along song.

I think the song has to be fun, memorable and either quirky or easy to sing.

That event sounds like a lot of fun.

a song evry1 knows every line nd loves to sing along to...it usually has a catchy part of the song or a part that is rly recognisable...queen are great @ this, we will rock you for example has a memorable drum line, or the head banging section in bohemian rhapsody.

Also, songs which no one could ever sing ever in their life time in the right key or hit any of the right notes. dont stop me now is another example. every time i sing it i hit a diffrent key. Most divas eg whitney (i will always love you) hav such a high vocal range that any1 singing along would get embarresed- the main idea of kareoke

For me personally, it would be anything I can memorize the lyrics to.. from classic rock to the hardest metal.

However, for a bar, I guess it would be something easily recognizable and with a vocal range that isn't too hard to obtain by people. "Tom Sawyer" is a good one for that.. the lyrics are easy and an alto can sing it without straining.