This past weekend, my brother’s oldest daughter got married. It was a small ceremony and reception, with family and friends gathered in a rustic, local venue.
Most traditional wedding customs were being used throughout - three sets of bridesmaids/groomsmen, a flower girl scattering petals, tables with thematic centerpieces, a catered buffet, and a father-daughter dance. Except the chosen song really wasn’t appropriate: ‘Daughters’ by John Mayer. If you take in all the lyrics, it’s basically saying the father screwed up in raising the kid and now she’ll be somebody else’s problem… oops.
What other songs have you heard that didn’t exactly fit in a particular occasion?
There was a time when lots and lots of couples had their first dance to Sting’s “Every Breath You Take.” Then people actually started thinking about the lyrics and realizing it was in no way romantic.
I went to a wedding where the bride was pregnant, and this was in the late 80s or early 90s. The couple had their first dance to “Having My Baby.”
The guests were mortified. People were looking away, or leaving the room. I mean, everyone knew she was pregnant-- it wasn’t like this was their way of telling people, but still, it felt awkward. I mean, it’s kind of a stupid song to begin with, and well… Also, the groom was wearing a tuxedo for a morning wedding, with Converse sneakers.
When the baby was born, they were ahead of the crowd in giving it a kre8tyv name. I won’t use it, but it was pretty awful. I was invited to the baptism, but didn’t go. Apparently, if you wanted, you could go to the couple’s home afterwards, and view a videotape of the birth. Kid probably no longer speaks to them. And also goes by a nickname, if he hasn’t had his name legally changed.
I went to a ‘Mickey Mouse’ wedding…no… seriously a ‘Mickey Mouse’ wedding! Bride and Groom in full mouse regalia. Music straight from Disney. Food was good though.(cheese)
I feel like I was the first one to point out to others at one reception what a terrible choice Billy Joel’s “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” is. People kept saying “I never thought of that”, so either they really hadn’t or they were just humoring me. My theory it’s got that long runtime of 7:30 and people mentally check out somewhere in the middle, or possible even just after the intro.
I’d also include pretty much anything by John Mellencamp. No, people, “Jack & Diane” is not a happy song. For that matter, I’m not sure the man has a single happy song in his entire catalog.
But it says “I hope you had the time of your life”! How can that be bad? Seriously, that’s all people hear, and don’t realize it’s a break-up song.
We had “Dodi Li” at our wedding. Old Jewish stand-by. Most people are kind of tired of it, yet also kind of expect it-- it’s almost not a Jewish wedding if you don’t have “Dodi Li.” I don’t particularly like it, but it is very safe, and fraught with tradition. You can’t go wrong with it. We also had “Have Nagila,” which is not as old as some people think, but again, you can’t go wrong with it.
The only time “Dodi Li” ever made me actually cry wasn’t even at my own wedding-- it was at the first truly legal gay wedding I was ever at (which was also a Jewish wedding, conducted by my cousin, the rabbi, and yes, we are kvelling).
“More Than Words” by Extreme is NOT a love song, and it’s definitely not suitable for weddings. I think we all know by now that it’s a dude telling his girlfriend that she’s history unless she has sex with him.
:smack:
I’ve never heard of R.E.M.'s “The One I Love” getting into the wedding, although I have heard of people wanting to use it until the actual lyrics were pointed out.
I also understand that “Good Riddance” is a popular graduation theme. That might be appropriate in some cases. :dubious:
FWIW, every couple I can think of who had “If” sung at their wedding eventually got divorced.
It rained on the day of my outdoor college graduation, which I was planning on skipping anyway. I played the Indigo Girls “Closer to Fine” over and over on the stereo.
“Girl you’re beautiful too
My number one tuntun
Sipping burukututu
For your love tutu
I go chook you chuku chuku o
Biko obianuju
Shey you do me juju
'Cause I’m feeling the juju”
I have probably mentioned this is similar threads in the past. Back in the seventies when a lot of my friends were getting married, I played guitar and sang at a lot of wedding ceremonies. One couple wanted me to sing Carly Simon’s That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be at their wedding. I guess they heard the chorus and didn’t catch the actual gist of the song.
I’m going to disagree there - the song always seemed to me to be about facing marriage realistically, not pretending it’s all going to be a fairy tale, certainly *not *that it’s all despair: “And yet they drink, they laugh, close the wound, hide the scar”.
At the end, the singer decides that yes, all the good is worth all the bad, and she commits to make it work with her man, like the other couples she describes. The songs seems like a better choice to me than many of the happily-ever-after ones they could have chosen.
Oh, yeah, the worst one I’ve heard at a wedding: “Please release me, let me go / I don’t love you anymore …”