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Piano Man
The ideal opener because the room does half the work. The verses are a run of barroom portraits, the bartender, the real estate novelist, the sailor, the waitress, delivered at a gentle waltz pace, and every chorus hands the melody to the crowd.
The singer's job is to be the narrator watching them all, which suits a conversational voice. The only real stretch is the higher line in the chorus, and by then most of the room is singing it with you. Keep the long harmonica breaks in mind: have something to do with your hands.
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Convoy
The safest pick for anyone who swears they cannot sing, because the verses are not really sung at all. They are radio chatter, read out in a trucker's drawl over a country groove, with only the short chorus asking for a tune.
What it does demand is rhythm and nerve with the CB slang: bears, handles and swindle sheets fly past quickly, so a quick read of the lyrics beforehand pays off. It went to number one on both the US pop and country charts, so an older crowd will know it, and a younger one tends to find it hilarious.
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A Boy Named Sue
A comic short story with a punchline, written by Shel Silverstein and recorded live at San Quentin Prison. Johnny Cash barely sings it: he speaks it in rhythm, low and dry, and lets the crowd's laughter land between lines.
That makes it perfect for a low or untrained voice, since the whole melody sits in a narrow band and the skill is comic timing. Know that the story turns on a bar-room brawl and a curse word or two; bleeped and unbleeped versions both exist, so check the track before a family party.
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The Gambler
A two-character play on a train: a young narrator, an old card player and the advice that becomes the chorus everyone knows. Kenny Rogers sings it in a warm, unhurried baritone that sits close to speech, so it rewards anyone who can hold a steady low-to-middle range.
The fun is in voicing the old man differently from the narrator. Give the gambler a slower, gravelly delivery and the room leans in. The chorus is famous enough that you will have help on it by the second time around.
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman's 1988 original, a whole life in verses: a checkout job, a father who drinks, a plan to drive out of town, and the slow realization that the escape has turned into the same trap. It is a song for someone who can hold a room quietly.
The verses are low and close to speech, with that circling guitar figure keeping time for you. The chorus does climb, so it is worth trying along with the record first; the trick is to let it open up rather than push. Serious and slow, so better mid-evening than as a party starter.
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Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
A bored man answers a lonely-hearts ad, arranges a meeting in a bar, and finds his own wife waiting. Rupert Holmes tells it in three tidy acts, which makes it one of the easiest stories to put across: the audience knows the twist and still enjoys watching you get to it.
The verses are chatty and mid-range, and the chorus is the part people shout along to anyway. Play the narrator slightly smug at the start and sheepish by the end. Light enough for almost any crowd, and the swaying tempo is forgiving for anyone unsure of their timing.
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Copacabana (At the Copa)
A showgirl, a bartender, a gangster with a diamond and a gunshot, all inside a disco-Latin party tune. Barry Manilow's original is pure theater, and karaoke rewards whoever plays the melodrama straight while the room dances.
It moves faster and sits a little higher than most of this list, so it suits a confident middle voice rather than a nervous one. The payoff is the final verse, decades later, which works best sung slower and sadder than you think you can get away with.
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Cat's in the Cradle
Harry Chapin's original, the father-and-son story that turns its own chorus inside out by the last verse. Each verse jumps forward a few years, and the lines are so conversational that the singer is really reporting dialogue.
The melody stays in a comfortable folk range and the pace is steady, so all the effort can go into the final reversal. It is a quiet song that can still a noisy room, which is either exactly what the evening needs or a mood-killer; pick your moment.
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Ode to Billie Joe
Bobbie Gentry's Mississippi mystery is mostly a family chatting over dinner while news of a suicide is passed around with the biscuits. There is no real chorus to hit, just a low, sultry, conversational line that repeats, so it rewards a calm voice and a good ear for understatement.
The best performances underplay everything and let the audience notice what the family is not saying. The subject is a death, handled without detail, so it suits a seated, listening crowd rather than a rowdy one.
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Harper Valley PTA
Jeannie C. Riley's version, a widowed mother marching into a school meeting in a miniskirt to read out the hypocrisies of everyone who judged her. It is a revenge story with a sly grin, delivered almost entirely as patter over a twangy guitar.
The melody barely moves, so the whole performance is attitude. List each scandal as if you are enjoying every one. A good pick for anyone who likes playing a character with something to say, and one of the friendliest songs here for mixed company.
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Fairytale of New York
The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl: a Christmas Eve argument between two people whose dreams went sour, and the best story duet for a pair who would rather act than harmonize. Shane MacGowan's part is ragged and half-spoken; the trading of insults in the middle is where the room comes alive.
Plan one thing in advance. The lyrics include a homophobic slur, and broadcasters have played edited versions, so agree beforehand which words you will sing. Released for Christmas 1987, it is a December fixture that most crowds will greet with a cheer.
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Common People
Pulp's 1995 single, Jarvis Cocker's semi-true story of a wealthy Greek art student who wants to live like ordinary people, and the narrator's mounting contempt. It starts almost spoken and builds steadily, which lets a performer go from deadpan to furious without needing a big voice.
The skill is pacing: hold back early so the final minutes have somewhere to go. The full album version is long and gets wordy at speed near the end, so pick the shorter single edit if your karaoke system offers it.
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Walk on the Wild Side
Lou Reed's tour of the Andy Warhol Factory crowd, one character per verse, half-spoken in a low, bored drawl over that famous sliding bass line. For a low voice it is close to the perfect karaoke song: there is almost no melody to miss, and cool detachment is the whole style.
It is strictly an adults' choice. The verses cover drag, drugs and sex in plain terms, including a line about oral sex that early censors missed, so save it for a crowd you know. The backing vocals are best left to friends in the audience.
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Tom's Diner
Suzanne Vega wrote it over breakfast at Tom's Restaurant in New York, and it is exactly that: a morning in a diner, noticed in small details, the coffee, the newspaper, the woman outside in the rain. The melody hovers in a narrow band and repeats, which makes it one of the gentlest songs here for an unsure voice.
Check which version the machine offers. The original is a cappella, with nothing to hide behind; the 1990 DNA remix adds a beat that carries you along. The famous wordless hook gets the room joining in either way.
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Werewolves of London
A deadpan monster story: a well-dressed werewolf strolling through Soho, ordering takeout and causing mischief. Warren Zevon half-talks the verses with a raised eyebrow, and the howling chorus is the easiest audience participation on this list.
It suits a low, dry voice and a performer who can keep a straight face. The piano riff keeps a steady pulse, so there is no rush in the phrasing. One verse turns briefly violent in a cartoonish way; otherwise it is safe for most rooms, and it is a natural pick for a Halloween night.
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Lola
The Kinks' tale of a naive young man, a Soho club and a dance partner who turns out to be more than he understood. Ray Davies tells it with wit and affection, and the verses are wordy, conversational and in a comfortable middle range.
The joy for a performer is the narrator's growing confusion, played warmly rather than as a joke at Lola's expense. The spelled-out chorus is a crowd magnet. The song has a slightly higher, sustained lift in places, so it suits someone who can manage a mild stretch.
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Sk8er Boi
Avril Lavigne's 2002 teen drama in three scenes: girl rejects skater, skater becomes a rock star, girl sits at home with a baby and sees him on television. The narrator gloats the whole way through, which gives a performer a clear character to play.
The verses are rapid, punchy and near-spoken, and the chorus is shouty rather than soaring. It is quick, so knowing the words matters more than having a voice. A guaranteed singalong for anyone who grew up in the early 2000s, and clean enough for most crowds.
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The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Gordon Lightfoot's account of the freighter that broke in half and sank in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, with 29 crew lost. It is a ballad in the oldest sense, verse after verse of reportage with no chorus, sung in a calm, low, folk range.
That makes it ideal for a storyteller and hard work for anyone hoping for a crowd to lean on. It is long and solemn, so choose it for a listening room, an anniversary or a Great Lakes crowd who will know every line, rather than to lift a party.
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Goodbye Earl
Two school friends, an abusive husband and a plan involving black-eyed peas. Written by Dennis Linde and taken up by the Chicks, it might be the most cheerful song ever made about domestic abuse and murder, and that gap between bouncy tune and dark plot is the whole joke.
Best as a duet or a group number: the verses are brisk and talky, the chorus is a bright country singalong without a big top note. Know the room first. It is played for laughs, but the subject is violence against a partner and some guests may not find it funny.
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Jack & Diane
A small-town snapshot of two teenagers outside a Tastee Freez, told by a narrator who knows how quickly that kind of summer ends. John Mellencamp sings it in a gravelly mid-range drawl, closer to talking than crooning, which suits anyone with a rough-edged voice.
The handclaps and the big drum break give the room a job, and the chorus is the bit everyone will sing with you. Plan around the long instrumental gaps, and do not try to copy the drum fill on air drums unless you mean it.
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Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)
Looking Glass's sea-shanty pop song about a harbor-town barmaid in love with a sailor who will never stay, because his life belongs to the sea. The verses set the scene like a short story and the melody rolls along at an easy, swaying pace in a comfortable range.
It is a gentle, wistful middle-of-the-evening pick that most people half-know without knowing why. The chorus repeats enough that the room catches on quickly, and the lyrics are clean.
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Love Story
Romeo and Juliet rewritten with a happy ending, told in Taylor Swift's diary-entry style: the balcony, the disapproving father, the secret meetings, the proposal. The verses sit low and chatty, and almost everyone under 40 can sing it from memory, which takes the pressure off.
The one passage to rehearse is the end. The final chorus rises a whole step in a key change, so a singer who finds the first chorus a stretch will find the last one harder. Clean lyrics and an easy crowd-pleaser for mixed ages.
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The Devil Went Down to Georgia
The Charlie Daniels Band's tall tale: the devil challenges a boy called Johnny to a fiddle duel, with a golden fiddle against his soul. The verses are spoken-sung in a fast, rhythmic drawl, so it is a song for someone with good diction rather than a big voice.
Long fiddle solos give you breathing space and a chance to play to the crowd. The real test is keeping pace in the rapid-fire boast near the end. Johnny's taunt includes a mild curse in the best-known version, and some recordings swap in a softer word.
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Space Oddity
David Bowie's 1969 single, a short radio play between Ground Control and Major Tom, from launch countdown to the moment contact is lost. It practically begs to be split between two singers, one calm and procedural, one drifting away.
The opening lines are low and almost spoken, and the countdown is pure theater. Major Tom's lines climb a little higher and need a softer, floating tone rather than force. Long instrumental passages let the story breathe, so pick a performer who can stand still and let the silence work.
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