On your next extended car or RV journey with your gang, instead of everyone spending all the time poking at their Smartphones, do some old-fashioned group singing. Before you go, research lyrics and print up pages for all car occupants. Choosing the best travel songs is a matter of who’s along for the ride. 

If the driver is grandpop and the passengers in the back are very young kids, the songs will likely be old traditional favorites, mostly campfire and Disney songs. If grandpop is old enough to prefer Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Bing Crosby songs to sing, he probably shouldn’t be behind the wheel at his advanced age.

If the driver is a graying 60ish, and the people in the back are into their 30s, the travel songs filling the air may be by the Beatles, Presley, the Rolling Stones, Madonna and Springsteen.

However, if the driver is a 40ish parent, with teens in the back, they’ll prefer the pop and hip hop sounds of Justin Bieber, Usher, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga and Kanye West.

In respect to all age groups in the family car, the eclectic choices of the following five songs are recommended. If you want to air the originals, take along CDs and DVDs to play to accompany the singing, along with the lyric sheets.     

1. Yellow Submarine, The Beatles (1966): This song tells the tale of an adventurer who sailed the seas in a bright, underwater wonder, and came home to tell the kids all about it. The choruses are very melodic, and everyone will happily join in.

2. When the Saints Go Marchin’ In, Louis Armstrong (1938 and many times since) No one could sing this venerable spiritual like old Sachmo. If there’s a talented imitator in the car, the others will enjoy the rasping charm of Louie’s voice. 

3. Camp songs: No matter what the ages of the passengers, you can never go wrong singing those vintage camp songs. I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, If You’re Happy and You Know it, Home On The Range and other old songs will bring back fond memories.

4. Route 66: The lyrics will take you over that familiar highway between Chicago and L.A., and all the towns in between, including Saint Louie, Oklahoma City, Flagstaff and a bunch of others. Actually, the lyrics are wrong about Route 66 ending in L.A. It goes right on through L.A. and ends about 10 miles west at the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica.

5. Patriotic songs: What’s a long road trip without some rousing service songs, especially if  the driver and some passengers served in the military? All join in on Anchors Aweigh, The Caissons Go Rolling Along, the Marine Hymn, the Air Force Song and the Coast Guard’s Semper Paratus. Maybe adding a couple of choruses of God Bless America can keep the spirits high.