Utah Phillips once sang this song in a Work Songs workshop ... never thought of it as a work song, but some of those gigs were real work! (BZ)
You ask me to sing my favorite song, well I guess you don’t understand
I’ve been up here pickin’ all night long, while you play stump the band
But I call ‘em as I see ‘em, and I see ‘em all the time
And any song I sing for you is a favorite song of mine
I wouldn’t sing ‘em if I didn’t like ‘em, I wouldn’t like ‘em if I didn’t care
I wouldn’t care if you didn’t listen, but there’s a lot of good songs out there
Some songs are just like the people I know, some people like the songs I sing
And I never sang a song that I didn’t love, or no song that didn’t love me
Now I’d like to introduce the jukebox, you’ve all used him before
Plays exactly what you pay him to, well, I don’t do that no more
‘Cause I don’t know none of his tunes, and he sure doesn’t play none of mine
Friends, I gotta say, I never plan it that way, but we both seem to get along fine
Now some of these songs take you travelin’, and some of them take you home
Some might make you laugh a bit, and some are good when you’re all alone
And some’ll introduce you to people that you wouldn’t ordinarily know
These songs of mine, I sing ‘em all the time, and I take ‘em everywhere that I go
So here’s a toast to you who listen, here’s a word for them that don’t
If you listen you might hear something new, but if you never listen, you won’t
So open your ears and open your mind and I’ll sing you my favorite song
‘Cause it’s right out there with the folks who care that your favorite songs belong