Rating: 
Summary: This book is a treasure
Review: I have bought more copies of this book than I can count. Why? I keep giving my copy away! This is a must for any family that enjoys singing. Every mother or father with a decent voice wlll want a copy after looking it over, it's got so many great songs -- from the shakers, to spirituals, to the grateful dead, to rogers and hammerstein. A few minutes thumbing through this book and you are humming. Every night for 9 years we have sung from a well-worn (and now missing!) copy to our children as they drift off to sleep. I'm ordering two this round, I'm hoping they will stay in my house for a while. I imagine that someday my 2 children will each want a copy so they can sing the songs that meant so much to them to their own children. I only hope its still in print by then -- or that I have managed to hold onto two copies!
Rating: 
Summary: I was dissappointed
Review: I was disappointed in this book. It may have been my like of true musical ability, but I found it confusing. The selection of songs seem to have been chosen because of political correctness, There are some songs that I really like included, but for each I love there is one I dislike.
Rating:
Summary: Latest edition correct tiny flaw
Review: In my earlier review here, I gushed about how great this songbook, but added a wish that the songs be indexed by author. In this current edition, that wish has been granted, helping me notice a few songs I'd overlooked before. Again, this is the best collection of songs you can actually sing, with guitar chords that usually work pretty well (occasional problems there may be in my skill level, not in the book!) There's no current Top 40 (there is some Motown) but these are the songs people have heard and sung and relaxed with and fought with and cried with and fallen in love with.....and been made to think with.
Rating:
Summary: Sing your heart out!
Review: Like most people, I had to get this when I saw a friend's copy. So much great stuff! I've been singing out of it for years, and now I'm starting to play mandolin and using the chords for the first time. I sympathize with the people who have difficulty with the notation in the book, but as a total beginner I can figure most of it out. There are a lot of songs that are included more for their admirable political content rather than for their lyric power. Since I, like almost anybody else, have never heard them, I can't comment on their musical charms, but they aren't destined to survive. But there's so much timeless music here: a must-have treasure.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book for group singing
Review: Rise up Singing is an amazing book. Easy to follow and diverse in its repertoire, the book gives plenty of folk songs and great tunes from the 50s-60s to sing-a-long with your friends and family.
A definite hit at parties and small gatherings, whenever music-lovers are involved :-)
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: this book has brought pure joy over the years...not only is it inclusive of so many good songs...it provides an index by first lines and so many times we have the first line but no title in our heads.
i highly applaud this for anyone who needs words to songs...no music but cords are provided. it is hard to find many songs not printed in this folk/rock/mountian/classic/ book when an informal group of guitars and dulcimers and flutes and fiddles get together.
super book...just super.
dave marsh
Rating:
Summary: Indispensible & a classic
Review: This book has to be experienced to be believed. Compressing 1200 songs into less than 300 pages, it is a masterpiece of concise musical reference. The songs are organized into chapters based on themes, but there is also an excellent index which even lets you to look up a song by its first line. Extremely handy! Some people have mentioned finding the book confusing or poorly laid out/organized. While I disagree I can understand how it might be that way for some. The abbreviated chord notations don't convey the timing details as well as regular sheet music, and there are no melody notes (vocal part) so you really have to be somewhat familar with the song. But there is a definite logic to their notation system, which is explained at the beginning of the book, and I think they've done a fabulous job of squeezing a huge amount (and variety) of music into a really small space. It replaces several times its weight in other songbooks and the spiral binding is not only convenient but also very durable.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone should own this book
Review: This is a fantastic, fun book to have at every gathering of two or more people. I love it!
Rating: 
Summary: Pity I trusted the reviews
Review: Too bad that I believed the good reviews of this book. I purchased it so that I could play guitar (the editorial review stated that it had guitar chords in an easy-to-use format) along with the songs. I have never seen a more poorly laid out book to try to play guitar to in my life! Confusing doesn't begin to describe it.
Take a look at the sample pages 3-29 (I wish I had), that is exactly how the material is presented. In my opinion, a terrible waste of money.
Rating:
Summary: one of my very favorites
Review: When I first came across the first edition, at the Philly FOlk Fest, I literally jumped up and down in excitement. They were sold out and while we waited for a new supply to arrive a friend and I sang our way through the sample book. I had to buy the second edition a few years ago because my original copy was falling apart, quite literally. (But I still have it; couldn't bear to throw it away.) The second ed adds a much-needed songwriter index. You couldn't play the songs in this book if you don't already know the tune, since only chords are listed for most songs. On the other hand I can't open to any page without finding songs I know (and usually, love). Many of these are songs you won't find in other songbooks. All are singable. Included songs run the gamut of folk music (and that includes trad, Celtic and other ethnicities, folk-rock, singer-songwriter, and on and on) as well as Motown, Tin Pan Alley, a few showtunes, and more. When I first came across the first edition, at the Philly FOlk Fest, I literally jumped up and down in excitement. They were sold out and while we waited for a new supply to arrive a friend and I sang our way through the sample book.
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