# What are the "traditional" lyrics to "Here Comes the Bride"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534 "2005-07-21T21:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/1 "2005-07-21T21:28:10Z")
When I was growing up, I learned “the” lyrics to _Here Comes the Bride_ at summer camp: “Here Comes the Bride All fat and wide; Where is the groom? He’s in the dressing room. Why is he there? He lost his underwear. Da da da DAAAA da da da, da da dah.” (Nobody ever accused summer camp kids of being sensitive to the feelings of people with weight problems – or of knowing how hard it is to lose your underwear _after_ you’re dressed, for that matter.) Since I am now a mature adult (cough cough), I know that the true lyrics to that song are really: “Treulich geführt ziehet dahin, wo euch der Segen der Liebe bewahr! Siegreicher Mut, Minnegewinn eint euch in Treue zum seligsten Paar.” But that’s not what I’m looking for. I figure that, some time between the time when Wagner wrote Lohengrin and the time when I attended summer camp, somebody somewhere must have come up with some “Traditional English” lyrics for this song that start with the magic words: _Here comes the bride, All dressed in white._ So … what are the “real” English-language words to “Here Comes the Bride”? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/2 "2005-07-21T23:56:03Z")
It has words? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/3 "2005-07-22T01:22:42Z")
I remember, in the movie “The Best Years of Our Lives” there’s a home wedding at the end of the movie. As the bride descends the staircase to the first floor a chorus of little kids sings to the accompaniment of a piano. Let’s see how much I remember. Here comes the bride All dressed in white Sweetly, serenely (can’t recall) Lovely to see Marching to thee True love united for eternity. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/4 "2005-07-22T01:32:53Z")
Forgot to add, the scene of the groom placing the ring on his bride’s finger in that movie is very moving. The camera pans around to all the faces of the guests watching. There are no words, but you can see the strain on their faces, desperately hoping it all goes well. See, the groom is a WWII navy veteran who has lost both hands, and he delicately holds the small gold band clamped between two hooks, as he puts the ring on the bride’s ring finger. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/5 "2005-07-22T01:47:00Z")
Trivial hijack: The disabled veteran was played by Harold Russell, who really did lose both arms in World War II. He won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for the role, along with an honorary Academy Award for being an inspiration to disabled veterans, making him the only person to win two Academy Awards for the same role. Oh, and it’s a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/6 "2005-07-22T03:01:32Z")
And to get the discussion off of all that nice sensitive movie reviewing, I also learned a verse that started _Here come the ushers The (something) toilet flushers!_ But I can’t remember past that, does anybody else? ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/7 "2005-07-22T06:36:14Z")
Here comes the bride All fat and wide Here comes the groom Skinny as a broom Here come the ushers The old toilet flushers That’s what I remember from gradeschool. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/8 "2005-07-22T14:29:08Z")
Contemporary composer John Rutter did a [translation of the _Lohengrin_ “Bridal Chorus” lyrics](http://www.lookmusic.com/wcmain.asp?WCI=Details&WCE=30469&WCU?Referrer=WebWedding) (click on the example link to view it) that goes like this: “Led here in faith, draw near with joy, Love’s guardian angel will watch over you! Joined in a bond none can destroy, Now you are one in your love ever true!” But that was as late as 1995, apparently. Since Wagner’s opera _Lohengrin_ was first performed in 1850, and the movie _The Best Years of Our Lives_ in which **Baker** remembers hearing the non-parody “Here comes the bride” English version dates to 1946, that gives us about a century in which the English version must have originated. By the way, I spotted [somebody else’s recollection](http://www.stlouiswedding.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=583) of the English lyrics over on a wedding messageboard: > [@](#): > > Here comes the bride, > All dressed in white, > Sweetly, serenly in the soft glowing light. > Lovely to see, marching to thee, > Sweet love united for eternity. The folks over at [STUMPERS-L](http://listserv.dom.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0101&L=stumpers-l&D=0&O=D&P=48742) have had a big fat discussion about this very question: > [@](#): > > John Rutter’s editorial notes comment, “To those people who associate Wagner’s chorus with religious wedding ceremonies, it may come as a surprise that it is sung in the opera as the bridal pair are escorted by their retinue into the bridal chamber. No amount of bending Wagner’s text in translation will make it fit a church wedding, and it mus be accepted that the piece cannot appropriately be sung in such a context.” […] > > “He [Wagner] finally attended a production of _Lohengren_ in Paris in 1861. The ‘Bridal Chorus’ had already been used as the wedding march at its first royal wedding that of Princess Victoria, the daughter of Queen Victoria, to Prince Frederick William of Prussia in 1858. From then on, the ‘Bridal Chorus’ was a traditional wedding march.” […] During W.W.II, Wagner’s heroic works were so identified with Nazi Germany that his operas were rarely produced by the Allies. Despite this, English-speaking countries retained the ‘Bridal Chorus’ as a wedding march." Tin Pan Alley composer [Albert Tizer](http://parlorsongs.com/issues/2004-3/thismonth/feature.asp) wrote a song in 1912 called “Here Comes the Bride” using bits of the _Lohengrin_ march, although the Lew Brown lyrics are actually a girl’s lament about another girl who stole her man: > [@](#): > > I saw my angel chile amarching down the aisle, > Upon his face he wore a smile, > While I cried as if my heart was going to break > when I thought of who was goin’ to eat that wedding cake, > > And when the preacher man took the wedding band > and placed it on that woman’s hand, > I started in to pray and then I heard the organ play: > Here comes the bride, Here comes the bride, > The girl who stole my lovin’ man away. So evidently the “Bridal Chorus” theme was already familiarly associated with the English words “Here comes the bride” as early as 1912. But we still don’t know when or by whom that “all dressed in white, Sweetly, serenely” etc. verse was written. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/9 "2005-07-22T14:51:12Z")
Here comes the bride All fat and wide See how she waddles from side to side. Here comes the groom Skinny as a broom He’d waddle too if he had any room. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/10 "2005-07-22T15:08:08Z")
I am obviously wasted here on everybody but the OP and **Baker**. […stomps off muttering…] 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/11 "2005-07-22T15:16:47Z")
The OP did ask for the _traditional_ lyrics, not necessarily the _original_ ones. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/12 "2005-07-22T15:32:06Z")
Here comes the bride All dressed in pink Open the door and let out the stink ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/13 "2005-07-22T19:35:25Z")
I believe the original music is by Mendelsohn and has no words at all. ---
**Author:** ![Butterscotch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@Butterscotch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Butterscotch)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/14 "2005-07-22T19:36:24Z")
Here comes the bride 40 feet wide Slipped on a banana skin And went for a ride. ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/15 "2005-07-22T19:36:29Z")
oh wait… I think I’m thinking of that _other_ traditional wedding music. Nevermind! ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/16 "2005-07-22T19:43:46Z")
My dad always said, “Here comes the bride, please step aside, here comes the groom with his pants too wide.” I’d been wondering all this time if that was accurate. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/17 "2005-07-22T20:10:18Z")
> [@Cagey Drifter](#): > > oh wait… I think I’m thinking of that _other_ traditional wedding music. Nevermind! Yep, you were thinking of the traditional Wedding **Re** cessional music, also known as the Wedding March from Felix Mendelssohn’s _Midsummer Night’s Dream_. The Wagner Lohengrin “Here Comes the Bride” wedding march is the traditional Wedding **Pro** cessional. It’s the song that indicates, to the groom, that it’s still not too late to back out. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/18 "2005-07-22T20:18:17Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Here comes the bride > All dressed in white > Sweetly, serenely (can’t recall) > Lovely to see > Marching to thee > True love united for eternity. Huh. According to [theweddingmarch.com](http://www.theweddingmarch.com/here-comes-the-bride.shtml), those are **all** the lyrics to “Here Comes the Bride”. And here I was hoping there’d be traditional English lyrics for the “Streiter der Jugend, schreite voran!” part, and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/19 "2005-07-23T04:25:19Z")
C’mon, **tracer** , ya gotta give us a hint as to what you are talking about. I was raised Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a very conservative denomination,(I’m Episcopalian now) , and the LCMS does not allow the Lohengrin Chorus to be used as a wedding march. The reason given is that it’s too distinctly secular, with pagan overtones. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534/20 "2005-07-25T19:20:10Z")
Yeah, in the opera _Lohengrin_ the “Bridal Chorus” is actually a **post** -wedding march sung by the attendants escorting the newly married couple into the bridal chamber for their wedding night. Not really appropriate for the ceremony, unless the happy couple is planning to get down to it right there at the altar. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-traditional-lyrics-to-here-comes-the-bride/313534.md?page=2)