Total Eclipse Of The Heart" Nikki French ??? The Bonnie Tyler version is much better.
How about “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles
I Have to Say I Love You (in a song)- Jim Croche
Lola- The Kinks
The Sweetest Thing- Juice Newton (good first song)
Got Nowhere to Go- Melissa Ethridge (sp)
Oh, and don’t forget the Texas Wedding Favorite…
"THE CHICKEN DANCE"!I can’t argue taht fact, but the Nikki French version gets people dancing, and that’s the aim.
uhh…
umm. oh boy…
errrrr…
ech! Hurk!
Alright… as a twelve-year Wedding DJ veteran, I have a licence to kill you now…
but seriously, those tunes (Chicken Dance notwithstanding) are not going to “fill the floor”, no matter how good they are. Unfortunately, we still live in a spoon-fed society when it comes to music: “I haven’t heard this before so I’m not going to dance to it because I haven’t heard it EIGHTEEEN TIMES A DAY ON LOCAL RADIO.”
A few songs from my own wedding (a lot have already been mentioned):
As Time Goes By from the soundtrack of Casablanca. Our first dance.
Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison (only works if the bride has brown eyes, of course).
Good Lovin’ by the Young Rascals.
You Can Leave Your Hat On by Joe Cocker. Don’t be too drunk when this comes on, or you’ll end up naked.
Louis, Louis by someone or another (we used the Animal House soundtrack). For this song, it helps to be drunk.
When We Dance, by Sting. For relaxation.
Everybody Needs Somebody to Love by the Blues Brothers. Don’t use another version; people expect the intro.
Woolly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Egyptians. The most fun song ever written. Even people who’ve never heard it before will be singing it before it’s over.
Any help?
I got married last year, and opted for no DJ at the wedding. All the DJs we interviewed were loudmouthed pricks, and they were insanely expensive.
I considered burning CDs, but instead went out and bought a minidisc player. That way I could record a bunch of stuff, change what order it played, erase it when it was vetoed by my fiancee, etc. I made four discs worth (each at 74 minutes), three of dance songs and one of during-ceremony music. I used the minidisc editing features to make an extra-long version of a track from Myst for the processional. And the best part of buying the hardware instead of hiring a DJ is that I still have the minidisk player.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the gargantuan playlist we made up anymore, but here are a few songs:
Rock Lobster/B52’s
Brick House/?
Jungle Boogie/Pulp Fiction Sdtrk
Goodbye/Oingo Boingo
Blister in the Sun/Violent Femmes
Radar Love/Golden Earring
Gigantor/Saturday Morning album
Burning Down the House/Talking Heads
Spam/Save Ferris
Sing, Sing, Sing/Lee Press-on and the Nails
Blue Suit Boogie, Check Book Daddy-O/Royal Crown Revue?
In the Mood/Glen Miller
Zoot suit riot/Cherry Poppin’ Daddys
Damnation/Squirrel Nut Zippers
Godzilla/Blue Oyster Cult
I Knew the Bride (when she used to rock n’ roll) was our opener, only we used the Dave Edmunds cover.
Woolly Bully (by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs) is one of the two or three most fun dance songs in the known universe, as Alessan has pointed out (and sorry for the nitpick, btw).
Save It for Later by the English Beat was a good one, although today I might use the Harvey Danger cover.
My Sharona by The Knack is another of the ‘most fun to dance to’ songs.
Ain’t Too Proud to Beg by the Temptations is another fun one.
This wasn’t on my wedding tape, but if you’re gonna do “I Think I Love You”, go with the Voice of the Beehive cover. (We had two other VoB songs on our wedding tape - “I Walk the Earth”, and “Don’t Call Me Baby”.
Get a good mix of fast and slow dance songs - more fast toward the beginning, more slow later on. But you probably want to lead off with a slow dance.
Actually our first dance is going to be “Here There and Everywhere”-The Beatles and “Fields of Gold”-Sting. Obviously we’re planning on playing almost all the Beatles’ songs, except ones that just aren’t appropriate (“Run For Your Life” for example, or “sad” songs).
And thank you everybody else. These are excellent! Keep them coming!!!
If you’re going for real, club-scene type dancing, try “Saltwater” by Chicane or “Nagasakie Badger” by his alter ego, Disco Citizens. They’re kinda like new-age trance, with synth swells and pianos on fast 4-4 beats. And there’re the old disco classics by Donna Summers and the BeeGees and so on that everyone still loves to dance to. Actually, your best bet would be to just go to Amazon or CDNow and search for dance mixes.
You gotta have them play “Dancing in the Dark” by Bruce Springsteen; that should fill the floor.
“That’s What I Like About You” by the Romantics.
“I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones.
If you want a slow dance,
“True” by Spandau Ballet.
“Will You Lay With Me in a Field of Stone” by Tanya Tucker. This one will give the older guests a chuckle. It was written as a wedding song, but the Bible-thumpers misinterpreted the title and boycotted it for “immorality”.
I know that Nikki French’s version of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” is better for dancing, but Bonnie Tyler’s version is still better music.
At my wedding we played It’s the End of the World As We Know It by REM. Good for dancing, nice irony. We also played Madonna’s Like a Virgin because my wife swore she was gonna roll around in her wedding dress, but she didn’t (grrr).
For a beautiful, romantic slow song, you can’t beat Tony Bennett’s version of Fly Me to the Moon.
I can’t believe I forgot “A Kiss to build a Dream on” by Louis Armstrong. Gotta have that.
For a tango-ish dance and irony, play “Mine!” by Trout Fishing in America.
You know, pep (can I call you “pep”? 
), ever since you asked this question, I started thinking about all the tunes I’d played over the years at weddings and which ones “worked” (some obviously more than others).
With some help from the above posters jogging my memory, I’ve managed to put together a list of (Count 'em) One hundred and ninety-seven songs.
Now obviously, not all of those songs are going to work… you may, for instance, wish to eschew the “Chicken Dance” or “Hava Nagila”, and never mind that it’s going to take over 12 hours top play all these tunes, but the list is prepped if you’d like to take a look at it.
These are not the greatest tunes but they are great to dance to: “Jump, Jump” by Kriss Kross, “Jump Around” by House of Pain, “3 AM Eternal” by the KLF, “Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground.
Bangles - Eternal Flame
Blessed Union of Souls - I Believe
Bob Carlisle - Butterfly Kisses (If you want to get the father of the bride teary eyed.)
Chris Deburgh - Lady in Red (Works best if you SO is wearing red.)
Don Henley - For My Wedding
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
Jann Arden - Insensitive
Kenny Chesney - Keeper of the Stars (If you like country)
Marvin Gaye - Take your pick
Michael Peterson - From Her to Eternity (Country song but great for a wedding)
Prince - Pick a few.
Righteous Bros. - You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling
Temptations - My Girl
And the best song . . . .
Extreme - More Than Words
(I guess I’m a nut for slow sappy tunes. Oh Well)