We're heading off on a camping trip in a few weeks with a couple of other families. An opportunity to bring the guitar and the songbooks and just hang. On of the other dads is an amazing guitar player and fun to jam with. My problem is that I have completely lost the ability to remember the chords to more than a couple of songs from start to end. If I have it written out in front of me, no problem, but the part of my brain that used to be devoted to remembering the changes to, say, Thrasher (Neil Young), Apeman, Allison, etc
has gone. Lyrics? No problem. But I'm hopeless without the music. So, I'm trying to find books full of great songs that lots of people like to sing.
So far, nothing beats my copy of Rise up Singing, which has everything from Showtunes and Union rally songs to choice 60s and 70s folk (Ochs, John Prine, Dave van Ronk, Dylan) and Child Ballads. Chords are simplified a bit, but great for singing along. All the lyrics are written out with the chords, so you aren't flipping back and forth all the time. Best part is that the book is spiral bound (there's a non-SB version, but why bother) so it will lie flat.
We'll also be packing some Beatles song books, but I need more advice.