So, the other day I got this idea stuck in my head. I was trying to think about putting together some music, you know, for potentially any crowd. Like, what tracks could you possibly play where pretty much anyone in the room could at least mumble along to the chorus?
Getting Started
I figured, easy enough, right? I grabbed a notepad – yeah, actual paper, I’m old school sometimes – and started scribbling. First few were dead simple. Stuff like “Happy Birthday”. Okay, maybe cheating, but technically a song everyone knows. Then I went for the big pop ones. You know, Queen’s “We Will Rock You” or “Bohemian Rhapsody” – though maybe people only know parts of that one. Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”. Stuff like that. My initial list felt pretty solid, I gotta admit.
Asking Around – The Chaos Begins
But then I thought, hang on, this is just my list. What I think everyone knows might just be what I know, or what folks my age know. So, I started asking around. Casually dropped it into conversation with friends, family, even a couple of younger folks I know. And man, that’s where it got messy.
Suddenly I’m getting suggestions all over the map. Someone insists everyone knows “Macarena”. Someone else is adamant about a specific Taylor Swift song. My dad’s convinced everyone knows some old Beatles tune I barely recognized. The disagreements started piling up.
- “You seriously don’t know the words to ‘Sweet Caroline’?”
- “Nobody under 30 knows that one!”
- “What about the YMCA song? Everyone knows the moves and the words!” (Actually, that one had potential).
It became clear pretty fast that “everyone” is a very, very tricky word.
Trying to Make Sense of It
Okay, needed a new approach. I realised I couldn’t aim for literal everyone on the planet. Had to narrow it down. Maybe focus on songs huge in English-speaking places? Or songs that were massive hits across different generations?
So I started filtering. If a song only got mentioned by one person, or only people in a specific age bracket knew it, I kind of sidelined it. I looked for the ones that kept popping up again and again, across different people I asked. Holiday songs like “Jingle Bells” definitely made the cut. Some nursery rhymes too, weirdly enough. “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” maybe?
The real contenders started emerging:
- Queen – We Will Rock You / Another One Bites the Dust (Simple, repetitive chorus helps)
- Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline (That “Bah Bah Bah” part is gold)
- Village People – YMCA (Iconic chorus, simple words)
- Bon Jovi – Livin’ On A Prayer (That “Whoa, we’re half way there” part is pretty universal)
- Maybe Oasis – Wonderwall? Though that one felt borderline, lots know the melody but maybe flub the verses.
Even then, it was tough. You get regional differences, generational gaps. Stuff I thought was universal, apparently wasn’t.
Did it Work? Sort Of.
I put together a short playlist based on this ‘research’. Didn’t get a chance for a massive party test, but I did try it out on a smaller family get-together. It was… interesting. Some songs were definite hits, got people singing along almost instinctively. Others got blank stares from certain folks. “Happy Birthday” worked, obviously. “Sweet Caroline” got most people joining in on the key parts. “YMCA” got people doing the arm motions, even if they weren’t belting out the lyrics.
What I really found was that finding songs everyone knows the words to is probably impossible. But finding songs that enough people know to create a shared moment? That’s doable. It’s less about perfect recall and more about that feeling you get when a familiar beat drops and people just start smiling and joining in, even if they only know half the chorus. That communal vibe, that’s the real goal, I guess. The whole exercise was kind of fun, anyway. Made me realise how much music gets stuck in our collective brains without us even trying.
