Song Help Request songs for retirement villages

ralphk

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I'm looking for some titles to songs to add to my collection of songs that are good for performing at retirement villages. Preferable up-beat or with some humor. Slightly risque is OK too

Thanks Ralph
 
When our club plays for seniors (and I hasten to note that many of us are seniors!) we measure success by how many people sing along. It depends on age and to some extent geography (folk, country/western, jazz standards and show tunes don't all play equally well with all audiences).

Many of today's retirees were screaming from the balcony when The Beatles played Ed Sullivan. So don't feel compelled to stick with pre-rock songs. We get great response with:

The Great American Songbook: Blue Skies, Pennies from Heaven, Shine on Harvest Moon... songs everybody knows, especially from Irving Berlin and Harold Arlen

40's swing for the oldest folks: Sentimental Journey, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy

50's rock: Chuck Berry, Elvis and Buddy Holly

60's: The Beatles, Motown, Herman's Hermits! (Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good, I'm Henery the Eighth I Am)

Del Shannon: Runaway. 100% participation on "whyyy-yyy-yyy-yyy-yy she went away."

John Denver: Country Roads. Everybody sings, including the folks celebrating their 100th birthdays

Bobby McFerrin: Don't Worry, Be Happy. Nearly everybody knows it, and the others enjoy it anyway.

Hawaiian standards because you play ukulele and people expect it: Tiny Bubbles, Ukulele Lady and -- yes indeed -- Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian. The guys at the VA hospital loved that.

All that said, the real thing is for you to enjoy playing the song. If you have fun, the audience will, too.

ETA: Ack, I forgot the #1 all-time best song! It is, and brace yourself: That's Amore! Schmaltz it up and everyone will have a blast.
 
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I am a member of the Marietta Ukulele Choir. Our songs for a neighborhood jam and two nursing homes:

Set List:
1. Stand By Me.
2. Three Little Birds
3. Somewhere Over the Rainbow
4. Home
5. Imagine
6. Let It Be
7. Lava
 
When our club plays for seniors (and I hasten to note that many of us are seniors!) we measure success by how many people sing along. It depends on age and to some extent geography (folk, country/western, jazz standards and show tunes don't all play equally well with all audiences).

Many of today's retirees were screaming from the balcony when The Beatles played Ed Sullivan. So don't feel compelled to stick with pre-rock songs. We get great response with:

The Great American Songbook: Blue Skies, Pennies from Heaven, Shine on Harvest Moon... songs everybody knows, especially from Irving Berlin and Harold Arlen

40's swing for the oldest folks: Sentimental Journey, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy

50's rock: Chuck Berry, Elvis and Buddy Holly

60's: The Beatles, Motown, Herman's Hermits! (Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good, I'm Henery the Eighth I Am)

Del Shannon: Runaway. 100% participation on "whyyy-yyy-yyy-yyy-yy she went away."

John Denver: Country Roads. Everybody sings, including the folks celebrating their 100th birthdays

Bobby McFerrin: Don't Worry, Be Happy. Nearly everybody knows it, and the others enjoy it anyway.

Hawaiian standards because you play ukulele and people expect it: Tiny Bubbles, Ukulele Lady and -- yes indeed -- Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian. The guys at the VA hospital loved that.

All that said, the real thing is for you to enjoy playing the song. If you have fun, the audience will, too.

ETA: Ack, I forgot the #1 all-time best song! It is, and brace yourself: That's Amore! Schmaltz it up and everyone will have a blast.

It really depends on how one is defining a retirement village. I agree with Acme Spaceship here. Because actually, I'm retired and I'm a senior, when you get right down to it, and while I live in my home in a residential area, some of my friends live in retirement communities. But I think that when choosing what songs to play you want to be careful to make the distinction between a retirement community, assisted living, and a nursing home. Because the audience is different. But back to retirement communities as apposed to assisted living and nursing homes, my friends who have a home in a retirement community play golf every day and their little gated community has its own rock band that plays sixties and seventies rock around their pool twice a month in the summer. I'm afraid that if some ukulele group showed up playing Five Foot Two and Eyes of Blue, they wouldn't get a lot of enthusiasm from the audience there.
 
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I played a retirement home a few months ago. They haven't asked me back (yet) so I think I have to conclude it wasn't all that well received. However I do recall one of the audience particularly enjoyed 'Skylark', which is a lovely poignant song.
 
Our group plays at two adult day centers, so there's some overlap in the clientele.

Song list includes:

Amazing Grace
Love Potion No. 9
Da Doo Ron Ron
Octopus's Garden
Hey Good Lookin'
Memphis
When the Saints Go Marchin' In
Down on the Corner
King of the Road


So yes, a lot of familiar '50s-'70s songs, rock and country, along with the occasional folk and gospel number.

It's also handy if you have a decent harmonica player in the group, along with people who have kazoos.
 
My group in the Los Angeles area plays for a variety of senior groups, we're seniors ourselves. The songs that go over well are:

Somewhere Over the Rainbow
La Bamba
Hava Nagila
Don't Worry, Be Happy
When I'm Sixty Four
 
You have gotten some really good advise on this topic....I play 4 rest homes a week here in Az and also back in Ok, and the songs listed in that first post are ones that are really enjoyed...having fun is what its all about...if you have fun and show it, so will they....I have about 6 song books with 15 songs in each and I have all the words in large font (20 or so) and that really helps...some folks at all ages dont like to sing out in front of others, but they will read the words, tap their toe, smile, whatever...just keep going...if a song doesnt seem to work, take it out and try another one. But the great American songbook is a great resource...Side by Side, Aint She Sweet, 5 ft two, and dont forget COWBOY Songs, Home on the Range, tumbling tumbleweeds, Ghost Riders in the SKy, Cool Water, Back in the Saddle Again, etc....Happy Trails is a great one to end with regardless of what genre of music you are doing....they definately like that one. Hope this helps
 
Question for those of you who performed at retirement homes, nursing homes, or assisted-living homes: did you play solo or in an ensemble with accompaniment with different instruments?
 
Darn! I missed out on your songbook, Cam! :(.

As many have mentioned, quite a few of us ARE already Seniors and are/nearly retired ......

My group plays at retirement homes every month ... we did 2 yesterday and have 2 more gigs today ..... and they love whatever we play! Some of them were born in the 30s but many would be born in the 40s .... the 'baby boomers' ...... so would be very familiar with their Parents' older style preferred music .... but in their teens and 20-30s+ ..... they would have been at the forefront of the New Wave post WW2 singers .... Elvis, Buddy Holly and all the great rock and rollers .... the BeAtles, Rolling Stones etc ..... they may even have been a bit rebellious in their choice of music back then! :)

So be brave with your choice of songs!! We do a real mix. Some oldies, some newbies, some instrumentals .....

Re playing solo, ensembles or with different instruments? Yes to all 3. We mainly play as a group, but do solo songs now and then for those brave enough to do it. I encourage our members to bring other instruments along to practise to see if we can work successfully with them - tho you don't want them to take over the ukes!! ... a recent violin accompaniment to Danny Boy was an absolute show stopper!!

I think that if YOU are enjoying singing the songs ..... THEY will enjoy listening to them.

Have fun

Cheers

ROberta
 
I have found retirement homes (70 to 85, year olds) are a fun place but old folks homes are not as much fun. Although sometimes they even wake up if the melody is familiar to them. "Side by Side" is probably the most popular with the older brigade. Just keep playing and laughing with the ebb and flow of each venue.
 
Please remind me occasionally never go to a retirement home because the music played there would surely kill me. :wallbash:

What would be wrong with playing something that doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator??? :music:

-- Gary
 
Please remind me occasionally never go to a retirement home because the music played there would surely kill me. :wallbash:

What would be wrong with playing something that doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator??? :music:

-- Gary

A retirement home and an old folks home are two different experiences. I always remember this advice from an old professional musician......."You are there to entertain, not to show off your skills on an instrument."
 
Question for those of you who performed at retirement homes, nursing homes, or assisted-living homes: did you play solo or in an ensemble with accompaniment with different instruments?

Usually our group has between 8-12 players. Occasionally we’ll have someone who plays bass or a beatbox. Several bring harmonicas and kazoos.

Others in our group do solo gigs at senior centers or at the cancer ward in a local hospital.

Share the joy of the Uke however you can!
 
What would be wrong with playing something that doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator??? :music:

-- Gary

Go ahead and try it. There's some room between "lowest common denominator" and "excluding most of the audience." But excluding the audience is a cardinal sin. Whereas playing a bunch of hokey singalongs is a venial sin at worst. People seem to enjoy it anyway.

If anybody had asked me, I would never have put "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" in the setlist last time we played a retirement center. And I would have been dead wrong. There was a man celebrating his 100th birthday. His wife, not much younger than he was, sat next to him in a wheelchair. She doesn't communicate much anymore, the staff told us later, but when we played "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" she held her husband's hand and sang to him.

As people keep saying on this thread, choose material that speaks to the audience. And let's face it, when they book a ukulele club they aren't expecting Mozart. An individual player won't face quite such narrow expectations.

I get tired of playing "Five Foot Two" but I am never too proud to play it. I am, in fact, continually astonished at how often people request it. I guess for people who don't play ukulele, the corny old songs are a rare (maybe even guilty) pleasure that brings back happy memories. If that is the uke player's burden, I will shoulder it gladly.
Pass the kazoo. :cheers:
 
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