Campfire has always been my favourite time of day at Kintail. While all of our campfire songs here are wonderful in their own way, I have compiled the perfect campfire setlist!
Bananas: One of our LIT RC’s, Eldur, brought a new version of the Banana song to Kintail this summer. It became a quick favourite of both campers and staff. It is fun, hilarious, and is a great opener to campfires.
Jesus is the Rock: This is one of my all-time favourite camp songs. It’s a classic twelve bar blues song with fun lyrics, fun actions, and a melody that will stick in your head all week!
King of Kings: This is a song that gets faster and faster as you sing it through more. It also has some really fun actions that get everyone moving around. By the end of the song, when you are nearly singing and moving at the speed of Sound, everyone is out of breath and smiling!
Funky Chicken: A classic camp song! You can’t help but smile when you sing, “I SAID LET ME SEE YOUR ROCK!” and the everyone enthusiastically responds, “WHAT’S THAT YOU SAY?!”.
Pharaoh, Pharaoh: Another camp classic with an easy melody and actions! Many weeks this summer, I would walk around camp and cabins would be singing Pharaoh, Pharaoh as they walked from session to session.
Ordinary Day: Now, I will confess that I have been a Great Big Sea fan for as long as I can remember. So, leading the entire camp in singing and dancing to Ordinary Day at campfires was quite the experience! Every time I sing this song it makes me smile.
Love the Lord/Milk: This four-part song, although a lot to remember, is catchy, lots of fun, and sounds great altogether!
The Soup Skit: This skit is done in the style of the ‘Hollywood Director’ improv game. When I act the part of the director, my favourite points of direction are to do the skit like it is a Broadway musical, like it is a children’s show, or as slam poetry! Skits are the perfect time to pass a tasty snack around the fire.
Land of the Silver Birch/My Paddle’s Keen and Bright: These are two Canadian folk songs that we love singing at Kintail. When campfire is at the beach, it is wonderful to hear campers sing, “Blue lakes and rocky shores, I will return once more”.
Wheat Kings: This is another classic Canadian folk song by the Tragically Hip. I thought I would try it out at a campfire early this summer, and it worked very well! So, I continued singing it every week. It is a favourite moment of campfires for me.
Everything We Need: This is a wonderful song to end off the slow section of campfires. The beautiful lyrics and melody in the chorus and verse make this a wonderful addition to the slow section of campfire.
I can’t wait to see and hear you at more campfires at Kintail! Thanks for the great summer, friends!
Cameron ‘Sound’ Aerts