Town Common Songs

Organizing
resources
Song
resources
Videos
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** Coronavirus Transmission **
** and Community Singing **

songs we've sung so far in Montague Center include...

9,9,9 (Fantastic Number 9)
22
52 Hertz
500 Miles
900 Miles
(Party Like It's Day) 999
1800 And Froze To Death
Acts Of Creation
Alexander Graham Bell
Alice's Restaurant (2020)
All The Salt
All You Fascists
Alleluia, The Great Storm Is Over
Amazing Grace
American Anthem
Anderson's Coast
Angels Hovering Around
The Antediluvians Were All Very Sober
Anytime You Need A Calypso
Apple Pickers Reel
Aragon Mill
Arise! Arise! (National Anthem)
Arm In Arm
An August Cricket
Auld Lang Syne
Baby Lima
The Bacon Butty
The Ballad Of Sam Lovejoy
Be Like A Bird
Beautiful
A Beautiful Life
The Bee Wassail
Beer That Tastes Like Beer
Bells Of Montague
Benjy Met The Bear
The Bilberry Moors
(Bilbo's Song) I Sit Beside The Fire
Bill And The Bear
The Björk Song
Blue Boat Home
The Bold Librarian
Bold Orion
Bold Riley
Booth
Bread And Roses
Brigg Fair
Bright Morning Star
Bright New Year
Bring Me Little Water Sylvie
Bringing In The Sheaves
Brother Can You Spare A Dime
Welcome In Another Year (Build Up The Bonfires)
By Way Of Sorrow
Ca' The Yowes To The Knowes
Caledonia
Can't Read, Can't Write (Montague)
Canticle Of The Turning
Carrie Belle
The Cherry Tree Carol
Chick-a-la-lee-o
Child Of The Library
Cholera Camp
City Of New Orleans
Coal Tattoo
Cold Pizza For Breakfast
The Colonoscopy Song
Come On Up To The House
The Comfort Of Singing Voices
Cornbread And Butterbeans
Cotton Mill Girls
A Country Life
The Creation of Ea
Crocuses
Crossing The Bar
Crow On The Cradle
Cuckoo (trad.)
Cuckoo In August
Cut The Grass
A Cycle Song
Dancing In The Factory
Dark As A Dungeon
Davy Cross
The Day Is Breaking
Deep Blue Sea
Ding Dong! Trump Will Go
Do-Re-Mi
Dogs At Midnight
Donald Takes The Wheel
Down Below
Down By The Old Mill Stream
Draglines
Drinkin' That Wine
Drive Dull Care Away
The Dutchman
East For The Winter
Edelweiss
Eighteen Hundred And Froze To Death
Listen (Eel River Song)
The Eensie-Weensie Spider
Essequibo River
Everyone I Know
Fall Is Here
Farewell Shanty (It's Our Sailing Time)
The Farmer's Toast
Farther Along
The Farthest Field
Father Had A Knife
Fevers Burning
Fish And Bird
Fol-The-Day-O
Follow The Heron Home
Following The May Pole
Food Glorious Food
Forget Your Perfect Offering
Fresh From The Board
Friends With Tractors
The Froggies Sing (Peepers)
Fun Fun Fun (Montague)
The Garlic Waltz
Garners Gay
Gentle Arms Of Eden
Get Out And Get Under The Moon
Get Up And Go
Gingerbread
Give Light
Give Me Just A Little More Time
The Good Old Way
The Goodnight-Loving Trail
The Goose And The Common
Grace Darling
Grey Funnel Line
Griselda
Guantanamera Bay
Halsway Carol
Hand Me Down
The Happy Wanderer
Hard Times Come Again No More
Hares On The Mountain
Harvest Home
Harvest Of The Moon
Heavenly Aeroplane
Here Is My Home
Hey Ho Nobody Home
Hey Mister Miller
Hey Rain (Montague)
Hobo's Lullaby
Home, Lad, Home
Home On The Range
Homeless Wassail
Homeward Bound
Hope Lingers On
Hope Machine
Hoping Machine
The Housewife's Lament
How Can I Keep From Singing
How Much Is That Doggie In The Window
Howl
Hymn For The Russian Earth
I Can Hoe, Boys
I Come Like A Beggar
I Could Have Danced All Night
I Don't Want To Live On The Moon
I Know This Rose Will Open
I Meant To Do That
I Never Harmed An Onion
I See The Moon
I Sit Beside The Fire And Think
I Will Survive (2020)
I'll Be Seeing You
I'll Fly Away
I'm A Wild One Now
I'm Gonna Be (I Would Walk 500 Miles)
I'm Gonna Be (We Have Sung 500 Days)
I'm Just A Bill
Ida Lewis
If I Had A Boat
If I Had A Hammer
Imagine
It's A Long Way To Tipperary (WWI Quodlibet)
January Woman
Jingle Bells
John Ball
Keep On The Sunny Side
Keep The Home Fires Burning (WWI Quodlibet)
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning
Key Workers
King Of The Road
The Land
Last Night I Dreamed The Strangest Dream
The Last Trip Home
The Laxey Wheel
Laziness
Less Than Zero
Let It Be
Let Union Be
The Librarian
Lift Every Voice And Sing
Light Is Returning
Like The Soil (Ripe Fruit)
Listen (Eel River Song)
A Little Bit Of Cucumber
Little Boxes
Little Fishes
The Loco-Motion
Long Is Our Winter
Long Night
Loosen Loosen
The Lost Words Blessing
Lots Of Worms
Love Call Me Home
Love Potion No. 9
Low Gravy
The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side
Magnificence
The Magpie
Mama Earth, Rock Me To Sleep
Maple Sweet
Maple Syrup Time
(Waltz Her Around The Floor) Marie
Martin Said To His Man
The Mary Ellen Carter
Mary Had A Little Lamb
May There Always Be Sunshine
McNeill's Ale
Messing About On The River
Michael Row The Boat Ashore
Mick Ryan's Lament
Mingulay Boat Song
Miner's Lifeguard
Mister Weather
Montague Mummers 2020 Pace-Egging Play
Montague Mummers 2020 Pace-Egging Song
Montague Mummers 2021 Plough Monday Play
Montague Mummers 2021 Pace Egging Play
Montague Mummers 2021 Pace Egging Song
Montana
More Waters Rising
(Steven Levine's) Morris Song
Move Over Babe (Here Comes Henry)
My Baby Drinks Water
My Favorite Things
(How Can I Not Love You,) My Kyiv
Napoleon's Farewell To Paris
A Nice Pot Of Tea
Night Is Over
Nine, Nine, Nine
(Party Like It's Day) Nine Ninety-Nine
No Ash Will Burn
Noah Built The Ark
Noah's Ark Shanty
Nothin' But A Humbug
Now The Darkest Time Of Winter
Now Westlin Winds
Ode To The Center Street Bridge
Oh Dear Me (The Jute Mill Song)
Oh Freedom
Oh How Lovely Is The Evening
Oh, Maple Creemee
Oh River / Finding My Way
Oh! That Gorgonzola Cheese
Oh What A Beautiful Morning
Old Jacky Frost
Old Kimball
Old King Cole
Old Tinsley Pots
On A Sunday
On An Evening In Summer
On Yonder Hill
Onaya's Waltz
One Species Are We
One Tin Soldier
Our Life Is More Than Our Work
The Oyster Song
Pack Up Your Sorrows
Papa's On The Housetop
Paradise
Passing Through
Passionate Kisses
Payment For The Plow Guy
The Froggies Sing (Peepers)
People, Look East
Perfect Light (Though My Soul May Set...)
Philadelphia
Pi Day: The Song
Plant A Radish
(All I Want Is A) Proper Cup Of Coffee
Precious Memories
The President Sang Amazing Grace
A Psalm Of Life
Puff The Magic Dragon
Rabbit
The Railroader
RBG Speaks For Me
Red Rocking Chair
Red-Winged Blackbird
Right And Left Grand
Right Said Fred
Rigs Of The Time
The Rising Of The Moon (Over Montague)
River
Roll On Old Sun
Roll The Old Chariot Along
(When We Go) Rolling Home
Rolling Home, Dear Folk Of Montague
Rolling Mills Of New Jersey
Rolling To Cairo Town
Rooty Toot Toot For The Moon
Row On
Run, Kate Shelley, Run
Safe Home
Sandwiches Are Beautiful
Scarborough Fair
Señor Don Gato
Shake These Bones
Shalom Chaverim
She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain
Shove Around The Jug
Simple Gifts
Singing Through The Hard Times
Six Feet Apart
Sixteen Tons
Skipper Jan Rebek
Skunks Are Coming Out
Sleepers Awake
Slut Shaming Geezers
Snow Falls
So Long, It's Been Good To Know Yuh
Solstice Bells
Solstice Song (Alouette Iselin)
Something So Right
Somewhere To Begin
Somos El Barco
A Song About Pi
Song Of Choice
Sounds Of Solstice
Soy Una Taza
Stand
Step By Step
Stepping Up The Green Grass
Strawb-Rhubarb Pie
Sun Comes Over The Mountain
Sure As The Wind
Swimming To The Other Side
Swing Low / Saints / I'm Gonna Sing
Swinging Along
Tailor Of The Dales
Take Me Out To The Ballgame
Take This Hammer
Thanksgiving Eve
Thank You
(Ye) Thatcherites
There Is A Fountain
There's A Long, Long Trail A-Winding (WWI Quodlibet)
They'll Never Keep Us Down
This Is It
This Land Is Your Land
This Little Light Of Mine
This Longest Night
This Pretty Planet
Three Jolly Huntsmen (Cape Ann)
Perfect Light (Though My Soul May Set...)
Thousands Or More
Tide And The River Rising
Time Has Made A Change In Me
The Times They Are A-Changing
Tinni, Lend Me Your Pigeon
'Tis Winter Now
Titanic
To Anacreon In Heaven
To Know The Dark
To My Old Brown Earth
Tobacco
Turn The World Around
Turning Toward The Morning
Turtle Dove
Ukraine's Glory Has Not Perished
Unison In Harmony
Until The Dark Time Ends
Up Above
Up Above My Head
Van Lingle Mungo
Venezuela To Trinidad
The Vermont Farmer's Song
The Vicar Is A Beatnik
Virgin Sturgeon
Wade In The Water
Walk My Boots Clean
Walking On Sunshine
Walking On The Green Grass
Walling
Wandering
The Washington Waddle
Water
The Water Is Wide
We All Come From The Mother Earth
We Do What We Can
We Shall Be Known
We'll Have A May Day Then
Weave And Mend
Wee Pot Stove
Welcome In Another Year (Build Up The Bonfires)
Well May The World Go
When Do The Tracks Show?
What Kind Of A Noise Annoys An Oyster?
When I Was A Boy
When The Sun Goes Down On South Ferry Rd
When This World Comes To An End
When You And I Were Young, Maggie
Where Does Father Christmas Go To
Where Is The Moon?
Where Have All The Flowers Gone
Whole Heap Of Little Horses
Wild Mountain Thyme
I'm A Wild One Now
Will The Turtle Be Unbroken
(When The) Winter (Comes We Gather)
Winter Blues
Winter Song
Witch Hazel
Won't You Play A Simple Melody
The Wool Song
A Wordle Ain't Nothin' But A Word
Work To Be Done
World War I Quodlibet
The Years Grow Tall
Yma O Hyd
You Are My Sunshine
You'll Never Walk Alone
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

The most current information about safety on this website is this presentation from 8 July 2020. Please give it a read! Thank you.


Being mindful of public safety and government ordinances, neighbors in the village of Montague Center, Massachusetts, form a ring and sing together for an hour each day, for health, for morale, for community.

Our sing began simply one day in mid-March 2020 when a few friends—seeking connection, stability, and hope—decided to sing on the town common, told their neighbors, and people showed up having no plan but a common desire to sing. Nobody intended for it to be daily when we started, but we just kept deciding to show up and sing the next day ...

... and on 18 March 2023 we celebrated

THREE YEARS of daily community singing!

Every single afternoon, through March snowstorms, April downpours, July thundershowers, August heatwaves, and a January coup d'état (not to mention the pandemic... AND a colonoscopy!) ... most days with five to nine singers, sometimes more, sometimes less, but always at least two! Sometimes we have socially-distanced cake after, and several times the Montague Mummers have put on a play.

Yes, every day. Not every weekday. Not every Tuesday.

Every. Day.

Your community may wish to try this too! And I bet you'd succeed. (The key to success is to not not show up. But first and foremost in these times, be safe about it.)

We've written up a short guide to help you start your own small, safe, supportive, socially-distanced local sing, and how to make it as inclusive as possible while keeping everyone safe and while following any laws that restrict gathering sizes.

We've also written (and periodically update) a summary of current research on coronavirus transmission and how it applies to community singing [most recent substantial re-write 8 July 2020], which we strongly recommend you read.

And finally, you can check out some incredible online song resources if you're looking for ideas of what to sing. (And check out some of the songs we've been singing, just over to the left!)

We'd like to share stories about other super-local socially-distanced sings, and let you share your own experiences so we can help more people find much-needed connection in these hard times.

So please get in touch if you would like to start a sing in your community; if you have any further questions, comments, or updated information about scientific research on coronavirus transmission; if you're part of a similar sing somewhere else; or if you're a Montague Center resident who would like updates about our sings: towncommonsongs -at- gmail.

Stay safe, stay positive, and help each other.