I first learned to play on a baratone Uke and it was songs like, "Michael Row the Boat Ashore", "Green Green, It's Green They Say" and other sing along campfire songs.

The fiirst song I learned on guitar was "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey", then probably "Louie, Louie" or "Wild Thing" then... "I Can See For Miles".
I used to plug into both channels of my Silvertone tube 1485 and play te WHO power chords... the 1485 had two OTs and had 6x10s. I had a VOX  "Y" cord and used it to run both channels, It didn't change the tone like a Marshall it just got REALLY loud... probably why my ears ring all the time. Someone once told me they could hear it at a store near about a mile away... I was playing inside... of course sometimes i'd crack the window open, lol.
So.. what song did you first learn on your instrument, the song you learned because you liked it, not something some teacher taught you when you were a kid. I sure wish I still had  that amp and the '67 Tele. I traded the Tele and someone stole the amp from a club in the early 70s... now they are too expensive but they are just two Twin Twelves with different speakers and a bigger PT. I may get one of them..

J

Tuff...that was a long time ago.
 
I remember for my 13th birthday my folks bought
me a stereo and an album. It was Steppenwolfs second.
My mom really liked them and wanted to hear me play Magic Carpet Ride.
I know I learned probably every tune on it but don't remember.
 
Everything prior to that seemed to be school related best I remember.
Right around that same time I joined a high school rock group so the
song learning was a long list quick. 1968.

Good days huh Spacey.... it was fun trying to be cool, lol.

I actually had a banjo that was tuned like a Uke and played it like a Uke. My dad taught me to play and all I learned were the old (3 chord) cowboy songs (home on the range, red river valley, Tom Dooley etc...), old Irish songs, as well as a lot of the  40's (from Bing Crosby to Mills Brothers).
 
When I got an actual 6 string acoustic (around 11 yrs old), I taught my self Hotel Calif. and just wore out that tape. In the meantime, it was a liberating feeling to know that I can learn things by ear and venture on to different things.

jbow
Good days huh Spacey.... it was fun trying to be cool, lol.

LOL...don't know how cool I was but it was non-stop from then
until '86 when it just wasn't fun anymore.
Sure made for some great memories....best of times, worst of times I've learned.

Sittin on the Dock of the Bay on acoustic guitar. I was probably 12. Worked on that song for a week and then played and sang it for my mom. She's been my biggest fan ever since.
 
Randy

Can't remember what the first song I learned was, but I learned to play lead guitar by painstakingly copying the solos off of Metallica's Kill 'Em All. Very slowly. This was before I even learned a scale. Finally learning scale patterns was a huge revelation. 

Still working on learning my first song...

Back in the late 50s when I first started piano lessons there was a widely-used piano primer series for beginning students.  The first piece in the book was "From a Wigwam".  This was probably the first piece played by 50% of piano students in the US at that time.
 
It's apperantly still in the books.  You can see some recent videos (posted by proud parents no doubt) on you-tube, and it's appauling just how pathetically bad some of these "performances" are.

I don't remember the first song I learned, but I vividly recall the first song I learned in a band (Little Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs) and the first song I ever performed for money (96 Tears by Question Mark and the Mysterians). The latter was especially memorable because it starts with an organ lick, and after the drummer clicked off the count-in I hit the keys and nothing came out - I'd forgotten to turn the organ on in my excitement. We got paid $10 for that gig (for a 5-piece band) and I hung on to my two-dollar proceeds for years as a memento, until one day I needed cigarette money.