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The following should be banned forever and ever from bar mitzvahs, weddings and any and all celebrations:

New York, New York (all versions!)

I Did It My Way (guess who's version!)

Hava Nagila (any version!)

Sunrise, Sunset (any version)

We will rock you! (any version)

The Saints Go Marching In (any version except the James Brown Version)

The Star Spangled Banner (our national anthem is much unsingable as it's unSWINGable)

And to the person who doesn't to ever hear Satchmo (Louis Armstrong) sing again, I suggest she has less developed a musical ear then does a rat fetus.

Waltzing Matilda. No more please.

Written by a great Australian poet, but made famous by a television commercial. The rights then sold to Angus and Robertson publishers.

It came runner-up to being our national anthem (with a vote of 28% in 1977), and is instead now universally slurred in bar-room chorus's whenever Australia competes in any international sporting event.

It is a song about a swag man (traveling homeless person) finding/stealing a jumbuck (sheep) and then drowning himself in a billabong (water hole) becuase the troopers (police) asked him who's sheep it was.

It is a silly song. Silly it is sung over sporting events and even sillier it was almost our national anthem.

As a single twenty-something woman, can we please but the consumerist, make-over, hair commercial girl-power anthems to rest?

No more "Suddenly I See" by KT Tungstall and "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield.

Finally, as an Italian American, I second, third and fourth the suggestions to ban "That's Amore," and Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey.

A Christmas Donkey?

For real?

Isn't that a little more than insulting? And what does it say about the blandness of ethnic American cultures when past insults are embraced on Christmas albums?

how did Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" not make this list? This song has been a curse on my life...

1. PACHELBEL'S CANON! For love of God!

2. If anybody plays "You're the First, the Last, my Everything" at my wedding I will impale myself with the cake knife.

3. Everything from Sweeney Todd.

Hava Nagila. Oh no, oh no, not again!

*The* cliche Jewish song is Hava Nagilah...but for some reason it doesn't bother me that much.

Outside of that, let's get rid of "Celebration." I actually sorta liked this one when it first came out, but it was way overplayed years ago. I can't believe no one else named it. "COME ON!" & ban it already! (Yes, I waited till the segment was over to make sure I wouldn't have to hear it.)

Some responses to others above:

Silvia & Obi: Not "Cielito Lindo"?

Eleanor: Yeah, the "wretch like me" line always bothered me.

Birder & Dylan: I'm sick of the Xmas music too, even though it's not my culture. OK, *because* it's not my culture. Oy. (But technically, Jingle Bells is a winter song, not an Xmas song--there's nothing about Xmas in the lyrics.)

Mark: I was in New Orleans years ago & saw the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. They had a box for money w/a sign saying "Requests $1 / 'Saints' $5"!

I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away...

Every time I hear it, I want to pull out a slingshot. And hearing kids sing it is even more grating, because I find myself feeling both moved and annoyed. It's cheap treacle -- even worse than "the wind beneath my wings".

Here is a twist: My grandparents-in-law fled Germany in 1939 for England. My late grandfather-in-law was an engineer and a trained opera singer, Being a German man of army age, he was given the choice between serving in the British army or being interred for security reasons. He chose to serve.

After a lengthy hitch in N. Africa he requested home leave, request denied. He was so heartbroken he would mop around camp belting out "Danny Boy" in his beautiful baritone. His commanding officer was so moved by the sadness and emotion in his voice that he decided to grant home leave. As a result he was sent back to the UK, and remained there on local duty, near his wife, daughter (my future mother-in-law) and safe.

So, today you have a Jewish family in Brooklyn that has a strong, emotional attachment to "Danny Boy". Ban "Between the Moon and New York City" before you ban this potent ballad!

I'd say, as many others have, that Havah Nagila is BUTCHERED, and i can only handle it in its appropriate contexts: bar-mitzvahs and weddings.

And, I LOVE "Land Down Under," but i am aware most Ozzies hate it, and cringe when they hear it.

Here's the best "Danny Boy" rendition you'll ever hear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU

Is it too late (or did someone already suggest) Amazing Grace?
I think this is one of those songs that sits in almost every culture. But enough already.
Thanks.

I nominate "American Woman" by whoever ...how did that ever become a rock "classic"?

see...

when the pouges do it you don't feel the need to ban it anymore...

As a bartender I often utilize the skip button to the disgust of the patrons. But we have a crisis. ie Journey's "don't stop believing" Billy Joel's "piano man" and of behalf of everyon everywhere YMCA

did you put eva cassidy in there? you mighrt change your mind about danny boy if you hear her sing it

The Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of games is such propaganda it makes me not want to go to games and I often show up late for baseball games just to avoid it. International competition may call for the song but when the Cleveland Indians play the Kansas City Royals why do we need to hear a nationalistic message?

Also, an African-American I'd like to stop the Electric Slide, The Tootsie Roll and all other "group dances" at weddings.

The Chicken Dance is Swiss not Italian.
see Wikipedia

That perenial wedding song "Electric Slide" and for my Aussie friends: "Waltzing Mathilda"

NO NO NO...Freebird has been given a NEW lease on life by it's brilliant use in forest gump. I cannot hear it now with out thinking of that intense drug scene where the girlfriend is on the edge of balcony. i think this is one of the best uses of a song in a movie....
signed -not a fan of freebird

As a bartender I often utilize the skip button to the disgust of the patrons. But we have a crisis. ie Journey's "don't stop believing" Billy Joel's "piano man" and of behalf of everyon everywhere YMCA MUST GO

If I never hear American Pie again, that will be just fine with me.

I love Bob Marley but I can not stand to hear "Buffalo Soldier" one more time!

Brian erroneously said that "La Cumparista" is associated with Buenos Aires. It is a Uruguayan tango, not Argentinian. It was premiered in Montevideo. BTW, don't look it up on Wikipedia; the page has most of it wrong.

"Wonderful Christmastime"-Paul McCartney. Should be banned from all Christmas CD's.

I'm Italian American but I never heard the chicken dance--and I'm GLAD!!!

michael boloton's when a man loves a woman. ugh!

I was in a bar in New Orleans once. A man put "Stairway to Heaven" on the jukebox.
The bartender deftly leapt over the bar, ran across the room, and unplugged the jukebox!
I thought it was a leap in the right direction!

That chicken dance song is German

Livin' On A Prayer.

Dear god. Every situation imaginable involving white kids, alcohol, and loud stereotypical rock features at least one instance of everyone bellowing the chorus. It's obnoxious.

One could make a solid case against Bon Jovi alone...

All pop Christmas songs! So it makes me a grinch, but why do all these songs have to be big even in Japan, where it has nothing to do with our "heritage"? And why play them 24/7?

Can we just all agree that we should just make it a criminal act to play all of Bob Dylan, "Free Bird", "Stairway To Heven" and "Hotel California"?

And as someone named "Domenic", can we ban "Domenic The Donkey" too? please?

As an Italian-American, my big protest is THAT'S AMORE. What does a big pizza-pie have to do with love?

More American pop-culture equivalents to Danny Boy are:
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
BORN IN THE USA (although I love the Nebraska album)
and MEMORIES from CATS

... and UP WHERE WE BELONG, get rid of it!

"I'm proud to be an american" by lee greenwood.

I like Frank Sinatra's music, but I can't listen
to "My Way" anymore. The song is way over-played.

THE CHRISTMAS CLICHES!!!

I'll be home for Christmas
White Christmas
Jingle Bells

We need to ban the song "Jump Around" by House of Pain at any place that plays dance music

Sorry to post again, but I can imagine an Irish wake with the mourners singing Hava Nageelah.

Mark got to it first, but as a jazz lover I second the forced demise of "When the Saints Come Marching In." At Preservation Hall there's a sign, "Requests $2, The Saints $5."

By the way, Stuart, "My Country 'Tis of Thee" is based on "God Save the Queen", not "God Bless America". But you're right about banning GBA. PLEASE!!!!!!

AAAHHH What about "That's Amore" How did that become an italian american anthem..

Pachabel's Canon!

Mambo Italiano -- that's a NOT nice!

I would like a moratorium on "Hooked on a Feeling" as well as "Sweet Caroline."

The Celine Dion theme song from Titanic. I know it's not a religious or cultural song, but it's on every department store play list! So sick of it.

I like most of the songs you are playing though. :)

My first thought, working in a gay bar, was "It's Raining Men" so I agree with those above. BUT ALSO,

Dreamgirls "And I am Telling You I'm Not Going."

The song should be sung by 2 people only (the 2 Jennifers) and even they need to stop the vocal masturbation they are doing with it trying to out do each other. Lets let Mary Wilson have a day after birthday present and not let anyone else sing the song that made her fictionally re-famous ever again.

yes, we can ban Louis Armstrong singing "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD" -- YES, i am an african-american woman
in fact, let's ban Louis Armstrong SINGING, period.
Play that trumpet in heaven, Louis, God bless you ...

oh Volare is GREAT!!! - and I love "Patricia" too

Amazing Grace

Star Spangled Banner at ball games in particular is a horror. America the Beautiful SHOULD be our national anthem period

Brian, Perhaps we should take a cue from your MLK Jr. Day Readings, and not ban these classics (hey they are classics because they are great!) be exchange them umong ourselves.

All gay events have "it's raining men" - overused and tired!

New York, NY by sinatra

My cultural heritage is classical music, and I'm sick, sick, sick of hearing Bach's Brandenburg Concerti. They are overplayed.

Had just about enough of New York, New York. Haven't we all?

The Electric Slide

No Mas La Macarena

But I can't get enough of Electric Slide

istanbul not constantinopolis!

enough of it! i hate it, even though it is true! (im turkish) but do we need that song associated with istanbul still??

American Pie--ugggggggggggggg! too long and indulgent

Why are you playing the songs people never want to hear again?

We Gather Together, for a WASP thanksgiving... how about a hip hop version?

lose the phrase "old school" over used and meaningless.
I love the star spangled banner, it's moving in any version
another phrase that an idiot flare is "get my or your (insert word) on"

Any and all versions of the Electric Slide.

I havent actually heard anyone SING "Kumbiya" since I left the Girl Scouts, but can we PLEASE just ban the use of the word? (at the very least on MSNBC)

Just a thought.

Brian:

How about "La Cucaracha". I'm soooo sick of being associated with it just because I speak spanish spanish. We're not all mariachis.

Because it's a drinking song. the star spangles banner

the little drummer boy par ump a bum bum and rockin around the christmas tree

It is ironic that the piece was about retiring that song, but you played a giant montage at the end. IT HAS BEEN PLAYING IN MY HEAD for the last 24 hours and I'm not even Irish.

Thank you, Brian.

Oh God, here's comes roll out the barrel - my weekend is runied!

Ahhh but how can you not like the Andrew sisters, I loved that piece just now.

I am getting married this year, and when we hire a DJ, I will insist it's in the contract that if she/he plays "Brick House" I will kick them in the shins and make them try to dance to this overplayed, annoying wedding song.

polkas...all polkas!!!

When the moon hits your eye like a biguh pizza pie, that's amore. LOL. Non ne posso piu'! (I can't take it anymore!)

Hava Nagila.

Please make it stop.

"If I Had a Million Dollars" needs to be retired for the sake of American culture.

I agree with ABC. Anything Frank Sinatra for being Italian. I would rather listen to Dominick the Italian donkey.

As a Jewish person, I would be very happy to skip SUNRISE, SUNSET. To me this is the worst Jewish-American schmaltz ever.

Mormons everywhere: stop singing "Saturday's Warrior" at every social gathering. I returned to Utah to visit family last month and was surprised to hear this song STILL in HEAVY ROTATION at church services and family events.

The LDS faithful seem to think it is hipper than traditional hymns cause it was written this century, but I don't want my kids to have to endure this ubiquitous syrupy account of how its the latter days (Saturday) and the most noble souls are sent now to save everyone, the way I did as a child.

Nothing person Mormon family... :)

I agree with all posters regarding "God Bless America". If we continue to be deprived of "Take Me out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch, then the terrorists have won!

Paradise by the Dashboard Light must be banished not only from weddings but from all the earth forever.

Every time I hear a pipe band it seems they're playing Amazing Grace. Enough already! There are tons of other Scottish tunes to choose from. The words are really awful - "A wretch like me?" Who likes to say that out loud. Now that Tartan Week is around the corner, I'm hoping some others feel the way I do. At last year's parade, I'm sure I heard that song a million times!

I strongly agree with the comment about "That's Amore". I am also an Italian-american and it too makes me cringe. Playing that song is nothing more than a public display of bad musical taste.

"Posted by: Stuart Kaplan March 07, 2008 - 10:47AM
Teaneck NJ
[...]
Actually "God Bless America" comes straight from "God Bless the Queen" sung in England."

I think that would actually be "God Save the Queen (King)" to which we in America sing the words "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty..."

As a Jew, I echo calls for an end to Sunrise, Sunset. (I confess I like Hava Nagila mashups:-)

As a Boomer: "Born to be Wild". Maybe we were, but that was a looong time ago!

I may be in the minority here, but I was thinking "Bright College Years."

"My counry tis of thee" the children sing it at school and they don't know that it's the British National Anthem "God Save the King/Queen" The revolutionary war is long over, the words are outdated.

For a city with more good music than most, New Orleans could give "When the Saints Go Marching In" a rest. No one would notice but the tourists.

I agree with the poster yesterday who wants Dominic the Italian Christmas Donkey.

Also, the Ellen Fitzgerald is getting old and don't forget the stupid Unicorn song I hear at Irish pubs.

I'm Mexican American and I could really do without hearing either "La Cucaracha" or the "Mexican Hat Dance" song. They are so overused that it seems almost a caricature of the culture.

It's a stretch to call it cultural but please no more "Down Under" by Men at Work for anything even vaguely related to my homeland. It was a laugh for a year or two but 20 or so years later it really does bring on the urge to "chunder"

This is a little complicated so I'll explain a bit. I am first generation American and most of my family is from Panama. Soca/calypso music is huge in that culture and from the time I was a child I heard the greats of this music sing a variety of great dance tunes.

One such singer was Arrow. (Feel free to Wikipedia him.)

His big hit? His song that got played at 100 decibels every bbq and block party of my childhood in the 80's?

"Hot, Hot, Hot."

Imagine my pain and suffering when, heaven help me, Buster Poindexter remakes this song.

It is now FOREVER ingrained in every wedding DJ's playbook.

Let.
It.
Go.
Already.

As an Italian American I also cringe upon hearing, "That's Amore". Also, if you hear this song in an Italian restaurant, you can be sure that the food will be bad. It's time to say goodbye to this song.

Rednecks, White Socks And Blue Ribbon Beer
by Johnny Russell
Words & Music by Chuck Neese,
Bob McDill and Wayland Holyfield

VERSE 1:
There's no place that I'd rather be than right here
With my red necks, white socks and blue ribbon beer
The bar-maid is mad 'cause some guy made a pass
The juke box is play-in' there stands the glass
And the cig-a-rette smoke kind-a hangs in the air
Red-necks, white socks and blue rib-bon beer

VERSE 2:
A cow-boy is cus-in' the pin-ball ma-chine
A drunk at the bar is get-tin' nois-y and (mean
And, some guy on the phone says ill be home soon dear
Red-necks white socks and blue rib-bion beer

CHORUS:
No we don't fit in with that white col-lar crowd
We're a lit-tle too row-dy and a little too loud
There's no place that I'd rath-er be than right here
With my red-necks white socks and blue rib-bon beer

VERSE 3:
The sem-is are pass-ing on the high-way out-side
The four thir-ty crowd is a-bout to ar-rive
The sun's go-in' down and we'll all soon be here
Red-necks, white socks and blue rib-bon beer

REPEAT CHORUS:
There's no place that I'd rather be than right here
With my red-necks, white socks and blue rib-bon beer

Oakie From Muskogee

We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
We don't take our trips on LSD;
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street;
We like livin' right, and bein' free.

We don't make a party out of lovin';
We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo;
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy,
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.

I'm proud to be an Oakie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightin's still the biggest thril of all.

Leather boots are still in style for mainly footwear;
Beads and roman sandals won't be seen.
Football's still the roughest thing on campus,
And the kids here still respect the college dean.

And I'm proud to be an Oakie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightin's still the biggest thril of all.

We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.

From Redneck Culture, please ban:

"Oakie From Muskogee"

and

"Red Neck, White Socks, and Blue Ribbon Beer."
((((((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))))))))

Although its not played anymore I nominate In-Gadda-Da-Vida as the song that should only be played in private.

I agree with Motti on giving Hava N'Gilah the hook. Unless you sing the "Hava Banana with sour cream" version
I also agree with "Is this Patriotic?". Actaully "God Bless America" comes straight from "God Bless the Queen" sung in England. If you get to England and go to the movies you'll wonder why they are playing "God Bless America" at the end of the movie.
So these comments are from my two traditions - thus Be Happy and "L'chaim".

My Uncle Irving was sitting at the Passover table at my parents' house around fifteen years ago, flipped open his watch, pushed a button and played "Hava Nagila."
The lyrics, when translated, are idiotic.
This tune has got to go.

I'm with Motti. My son is coming up on his Bar Mitzvah celebration and he's found a number of renditions of Hava Nagila online, from heavy metal to techno/punk and the classics (of course.) It's hilarious - in a manic sort of way - to listen to them all in one sitting and he's creating a mash-up as a tribute to his burgeoning Jewish adulthood. We'll send you a copy, Brian.
Shabbat Shalom
MMN

...and I agree with Jules... "New York, New York" is nauseating. Why not go back to "Eastside, Westside, ... The Sidewalks of New York"?

Please make "Stairway to Heaven" go away!

I recently attended a birthday celebration of an Iranian friend. They sang a beautiful birthday song to him that went on forever. But it was so beautiful.

It made me realize that our culture's "Happy Birthday to You" is so lame. I wouldn't mind at all if I never heard that song again.

If only some more beautiful, more musical songs became popular as birthday songs!

How about "You are so beautiful to me?"

I hope never to hear Hava Nagila at any Jewish celebration...unless perhaps if Harry Belafonte is singing

Hopefully I won't be bringing on the scorn of many believers in the Christian tradition, or the wrath of God himself, by nominating Amazing Grace to be semi-retired. I understand that when Christians get together and want to sing something impromptu this is a good go-to because everyone (mostly) knows the words. But when it's the only one sung it kinda gets old at every event. We can still bring it out for super-special event, but it would definitely have to fall under the category of AMAZING. It's also a meaningful song to me personally, which is another reason why I wouldn't like it 'worn out' by constant singing.

Also, it probably should be retired completely for from funerals too. Let's just play a typical funeral dirge.

If I ever have to see another bride dancing with her daddy to the cloyingingly Jewish strains of SUNRISE, SENSET before a roomful of tearfully smiling wedding guests, I will shoot myself there and then, at my table, whatever its number might be.

I love my people BUT...Black people please stop using Stevie Wonder's Ribbon in the Sky at weedings and even worse, please keep wedding singers from destroying it

I grew up in New Jersey learning about my family's Italian heritage and never once heard a Sinatra or Dean Martin song played around the house or at family functions. So when people get misty when they hear, "When the moon hits your eye..." I cringe a little. I could live without ever hearing that again...or pretty much anything by Frank Sinatra.

From soap operas to sit-coms, "Amazing Grace" is so overused it has lost its meaning. Play it with some bagpipes while it's raining at a funeral and that just puts it over the top.

I'm not a religious person, so maybe I'm not getting it, but there must be other songs that are just as meaningful and moving that could be used in its place.

you can't live in Nova Scotia, Canada (where I grew up), with out hearing the hated "Barrett's Privateers" sung loudly and drunkenly by both locals and tourists in every pub in the city (Halifax) EVERY night of the summer. BARF!

Written by Stan Rogers; performed by every bar band in the Maritimes.

http://www.3pintsgone.com/lyrics/StValery/Barretts.htm

"Macarena" is a song by Los del Río about a woman of the same name.

Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena
Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegria y cosa buena
Dale a tu cuerpo alegria, Macarena
Heeeeey Macarena
AAAhAA!

Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena
Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegria y cosa buena
Dale a tu cuerpo alegria, Macarena
Heeeeey Macarena
AAAhAA!

thats enough! no more please!

Speaking of gay anthems - can we retire YMCA?

I have a version of Hava Nagila played on bagpipes (Played by a group called Send in the Haggis - it makes me laugh everytime I hear it.)

How about banning Sweet Caroline as a wedding song - it makes no sense.

As a New Yorker I am SICK to DEATH of hearing "New York, New York" on every corner (especially after a Yankee's win). There are hundreds of songs about New York, let's try another. That song has been burnt out, put it on the shelf for a while.

From my culture:

"I Did It My Way," as sung by Frank Sinatra and played by every Italian-American wedding d.j., sung by every Italian-American wedding singer, and imitated by every Sinatra wannabe. (And by the "way," he didn't do it his way -- he did it the Gambino's way. I'm tired of the "Godfather" theme, too!)

The Chicken Dance - I am of German heritage and anytime we are at some sort of German themed event the song always comes up and then never leaves your head.

"Arirang," which achieved recent prominence when the NY Phil played it in Pyongyang, may be Korea's "Danny Boy." [In fact, some have called Koreans the Irish of Asia: fiercely proud, a bit rowdy (esp. when in their cups), fond of sad songs, and distrustful of outsiders (esp. those island folk to the east who once colonized them).]

An American-born Korean, I don't claim to speak for all Koreans, but personally I don't list "Arirang" among my favorites. It's become very much a cliché, as evidenced by all the restaurants, travel agencies, and other businesses that have "Arirang" in their name. Even the notorious "mass games" in the DPRK are called "Arirang," IIRC. (And the line about hoping someone's feet hurt strikes me as a bit too down-to-earth!)

I prefer the, for me, more stirring ROK national anthem. Though I admit I'm probably somewhat deracinated, I still find the opening line (roughly translated) "From the waters of the East Sea to Mount Baekdu" very moving. The East Sea is the Korean name of the Sea of Japan, and Mount Baekdu, the mythical birthplace of the Korean people, lies on the border with China -- despite the geopolitical tensions and occasionally outbreaks of violence of the past six decades, the song defiantly, if for now aspirationally, proclaims Korea one nation.

I am third generation Polish through three grandparents, so the over heard song was Bobby Vinton's "My Melody of Love".

Please, PLEASE...

NO MORE "GOD BLESS AMERICA" !!!

Even Berlin himself hated it! It is an awful tune and the words are a trite rip-off of "America" (O Beautiful, for spacious skies...). Why not sing THAT instead? It certainly is a much more loving and respectful anthem.

At both of my daughters' bat mitzvah receptions, I banned (with their eager consent) any songs or background music from "Fiddler on the Roof" (especially "Sunrise, Sunset"). When I mentioned this to the caterer, he thanked me profusely.

Happy Birthday. Even talented singers can't make this song sound good. Why don't we take the lead from other cultures -- Mexican or Brazilian for example -- and sing a song to celebrate a birthday that pleases the ears and is fun to sing.

For the gays..."It's Raining Men" by the Weather Girls. It's played at every gay bar and gay event all over the world, all of the time. I for one am ready to move on.

If I never hear 'The Chicken Dance' or 'Feliz Navidad' again it would be too soon...

i have to second the sentiment that hava nagila needs to be stopped.
(i was unable to prevent it at my bar mitzva but did manage to ban it at my wedding, much to everyone's delight)
thanks.

we will rock you by queen

Seconds on Hava Nageelah.

As a Gay man, I would implore the Gay world to cease and desist from ever playing "I Will Survive" ever again. The 70s are over. We survived. Let's move on!

This cuts across all traditions: "Happy Birthday."

Gad, it is banal and treacly...and never seems to raise anyone's spirits!

This may be unpopular, but I'd like to see a 20-year moratorium on ALL Christmas music. I start to dread the holiday when I begin hearing "Jingle Bells" in early October.

any and all christmas music. i can't stand it anymore. my hatred of it may be the main cause of me becoming an atheist. jingle bells mad me stop believing in the baby jesus.

...and I AM proud to be an American! But the neighborhood elementary school kids sing the following song so ridiculously frequently that they've long taken to mocking it (in school they must follow along to a southern-accented recording). The other day they even joked "Gd Bless 'Gd Bless America.'"

Effective Russian propaganda in the last election was all about fun and sex. THIS is the best we can do??

Replace the location and it might as well have been written by The Huns -- or even C&W ants.

Artist: Lee Greenwood
Title: Proud To Be An American

If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.

I’d thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.
‘ Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can’t take that away.

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.

From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.

(goes on/cut for space)

Hava Nagila can please be put to bed, thats enough, its overdone!

Cajun. Talk about stereotypes! Just because we are from the south and have accents, doesn't mean we are ignorant.

I would call the movie "Waterboy" our "Danny Boy".

I'm an Italian - American, so anything by Frank Sinatra. Too many of his songs were used in mafia movies. I don't think he had a good singing voice anyway. Sorry, guys.

This might sound odd, but...If you're Greek, then the very word "Greek" may feel inauthentic, a name imposed by the Romans, and which Robert Kaplan once claimed only meant "slave".
It's Hellas, not Greece. So isn't a "Greek" in truth a hellene, or hellenic? I personally dislike the word "Greek" and all its stubborn connotations, even though I know it brings fond feelings for most Greek-Americans, and for a lot of tourists and hellenophiles. These "mixed feelings" are probably how some Irish view "Danny Boy".
As for songs, the complicated rembetika music (like a mediterranean version of the blues post-repatriation) never really got played out, but one of its great popularizers, Mikis Theodorakis, often manages to say things that are politically indefensible, thus making his version of the music style difficult to share.

the Yiddish folksong Tumbalalaika?

(I kinda hope not, but it does strike a peculiar chord for me)

A young lad is thinking, thinking all night
Would it be wrong, he asks, or maybe right,
Should he declare his love, dare he choose,
And would she accept, or will she refuse?

Chorus:
Tumbala, tumbala, tumbalalaika,
Tumbala, tumbala, tumbalalaika
tumbalalaika, play Balalaika,
tumbalalaika - let us be merry.

Maiden, maiden tell me again
What can grow, grow without rain,
What can burn for many years,
What can long and cry without tears?

Silly young lad, why ask again?
It's a stone that can grow, grow without rain,
It's love that can burn for many long years,
A the heart that can yearn and cry without tears.