Top 100 Piano Bar Songs
By David J. Hahn
New York, NY
New York, NY
This list is from my personal files and actually includes 105 songs (in alphabetical order). I should admit that I never ended up performing as a piano bar entertainer myself, but I’d looked into it and researched the repertoire many times over the years. I compiled this list of songs from watching and talking to other piano bar entertainers. If anyone is looking to get into this gig, this is a good place to start.
I have also made this list available as a google doc, see: Top 100 Piano Bar Songs Google Doc.
| Song Title | As Made Famous By | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ain’t To Proud To Beg | Temptations |
| 2 | All of My Love | Buddy Holly |
| 3 | All Shook Up | Elvis |
| 4 | American Pie | Don McLean |
| 5 | Baby You Can Drive My Car | Beatles |
| 6 | Barbara Ann | Beach Boys |
| 7 | Bennie & the Jets | Elton John |
| 8 | Blue Suede Shoes | Elvis |
| 9 | Blueberry Hill | Fats Domino |
| 10 | Bohemian Rhapsody | Queen |
| 11 | Boy Named Sue | Johnny Cash |
| 12 | Brown Eyed Girl | Van Morrison |
| 13 | Build Me Up Buttercut | The Foundations |
| 14 | California Dreaming | Mamas and the Papas |
| 15 | Copacobana | Barry Manilow |
| 16 | Crocodile Rock | Elton John |
| 17 | Dancing Queen | Abba |
| 18 | December, 1963 (Oh What A Night!) | Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons |
| 19 | Don’t Stop Believing | Journey |
| 20 | Faithfully | Journey |
| 21 | Friends In Low Places | Garth Brooks |
| 22 | Glory Days | Bruce Springsteen |
| 23 | Good Golly Miss Molly | Little Richard |
| 24 | Great Balls of Fire | Jerry Lee Lewis |
| 25 | Hang on Sloopy | The McCoys |
| 26 | Here I Go Again | Whitesnake |
| 27 | Hey Jude | Beatles |
| 28 | Hey Ya | Outkast |
| 29 | Hit Me With Your Best Shot | Pat Benetar |
| 30 | House of the Rising Sun | The Animals |
| 31 | How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) | James Taylor |
| 32 | I Feel Good | James Brown |
| 33 | I Got Chills | Grease |
| 34 | I Love Rock and Roll | Joan Jett & the Blackhearts |
| 35 | I Saw Her Standing There | Beatles |
| 36 | I Want You To Want Me | Cheap Trick |
| 37 | I Will Survive | Gloria Gaynor |
| 38 | It’s Not Unusual | Tom Jones |
| 39 | Jack & Diane | John Cougar Mellencamp |
| 40 | Jailhouse Rock | Elvis |
| 41 | Jessie’s Girl | Rick Springfield |
| 42 | Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody | Luis Prima/David Lee Roth |
| 43 | Kansas City | Dion |
| 44 | King of the Road | Roger Miller |
| 45 | Kodachrome | Paul Simon |
| 46 | La Bamba | Traditional |
| 47 | Livin’ On A Prayer | Bon Jovi |
| 48 | Love Shack | The B-52s |
| 49 | Maggie May | Rod Stewart |
| 50 | Me & Bobby McGee | Janis Joplin |
| 51 | Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard | Paul Simon |
| 52 | Mony Mony | Tommy James and the Shondells |
| 53 | Mustang Sally | [standard] / Wilson Picket |
| 54 | My Girl | Temptations |
| 55 | New York, New York | Frank Sinatra / [standard] |
| 56 | Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da | Beatles |
| 57 | Oh Pretty Woman | Roy Orbison |
| 58 | Only the Good Die Young | Billy Joel |
| 59 | Paradise by the Dashboard Lights | Meatloaf |
| 60 | Perfect Country & Western Song | David Allan Coe |
| 61 | Piano Man | Billy Joel |
| 62 | Pour Some Sugar On Me | AC/DC |
| 63 | Proud Mary | Tina Turner / Creedence Clearwater Revival |
| 64 | Red, Red Wine | UB40 |
| 65 | Respect | Aretha Franklin |
| 66 | Ring of Fire | Johnny Cash |
| 67 | Rock and Roll Music | Chuck Berry |
| 68 | Rock Around the Clock | Bill Haley & His Comets |
| 69 | Rocky Top | [standard] |
| 70 | Sexual Healing | Marvin Gaye |
| 71 | Shake a Tailfeather | Blues Brothers/Tina Turner/others |
| 72 | Shout | The Isley Brothers |
| 73 | Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay | Otis Redding |
| 74 | Smells Like Teen Spirit | Nirvana |
| 75 | Stand By Me | Ben E. King |
| 76 | Still Rock and Roll To Me | Billy Joel |
| 77 | Summer Nights | Grease |
| 78 | Surfin’ USA | Beach Boys |
| 79 | Suspicious Minds | Elvis |
| 80 | Sweet Caroline | Neil Diamond |
| 81 | Sweet Child of Mine | Guns and Roses |
| 82 | Sweet Home Alabama | Lynard Skynard |
| 83 | Sweet Home Chicago | [standard] / Blues Brothers |
| 84 | Take Me Home Country Roads | John Denver |
| 85 | Takin’ Care of Business | Randy Bachman |
| 86 | Thank God I’m a Country Boy | John Denver |
| 87 | The Joker | Steve Miller |
| 88 | These Boots Are Made for Walking | Nancy Sinatra |
| 89 | Time Warp | Rocky Horror Picture Show |
| 90 | Tiny Dancer | Elton John |
| 91 | Tutti Frutti | Little Richard |
| 92 | Twist and Shout | The Beatles / The Isley Brothers |
| 93 | Under The Boardwalk | The Drifters |
| 94 | Uptown Girl | Billy Joel |
| 95 | Walking on Sunshine | Aly & AJ |
| 96 | We’re Not Gonna Take It | Twisted Sister |
| 97 | What I Like About You | The Romantics |
| 98 | What’s Up | 4 Non Blonds |
| 99 | Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On | Jerry Lee Lewis |
| 100 | Woolly Bully | Sam the Sam and the Pharoahs |
| 101 | Yellow Submarine | Beatles |
| 102 | You Give Love a Bad Name | Bon Jovi |
| 103 | You Shook Me All Night | AC/DC |
| 104 | Your Song | Elton John |
| 105 | You’re the One That I Want | Grease |
About the author
Thank you so much!! Now I know where to start! I’ve been hoping to get a piano bar gig for some time now, but this has always kept me back (I’m mostly classical/improv in my performance experience, and hardly know a lot of these need-to-know standards).
:) Appreciated.
-E
12/12/2009
I’m interested to know what kind of arrangement you use for smells like teen spirit.
12/12/2009
Hey, great list! However, #42 is by David Lee Roth not Billy Idol. Just a friendly fyi. :)
12/14/2009
hello…
This site i s original and great!
I am guitarist from Croatia…
12/15/2009
#42 is by Louis Prima, not David Lee Roth.
12/17/2009
#88 was done by Nancy Sinatra, not Loretta Lynn.
1/6/2010
Pour Some Sugar On Me is by Def Leppard not AC/DC
3/13/2010
Leave a comment
Do you have a general question about cruise ship musician jobs? Please be sure you check the main page of CCSM to see if your question has already been answered. If you can't find the answer to your question, please post your question in the Cruise Ship Musician Forum. Thank you for visiting MusicianWages.com and the Chronicles of a Cruise Ship Musician!