Weddings are supposed to be happy occasions celebrating the love and commitment of two individuals who choose to spend the rest of their lives together. And yet for some reason, bands play songs which are completely incongruous with the theme of the day, and incredibly they do so often at the couple’s request.
AskMen listed 10 Wedding Songs to Avoid where people think these songs are romantic but have obviously never listened to the lyrics. While many Jewish weddings don’t usually play secular music in full, every now and again the band will play a riff or two from rock songs just to shake things up a bit. And here too many of the selections can seem a little bit strange.
I first commented on this a while back, and noticed it again at the first wedding I officiated. Since I hear new things all the time I’ve decided to keep a running list of all the well intentioned but probelmatic songs I’ve actually heard at weddings. To narrow things down, I’m just focusing on songs in which the lyrics don’t fit in with the spirit of the day. For example, while Get Down Tonight might not be the most romantic or subtle song in the world, it still makes sense in its own way. On the other hand, the ones listed below are a little more difficult to explain.
- Live And Let Die
- Od Lo Ahavti Dai
- Mrs. Robinson
- Angry Young Man
- Beat It
- Stairway To Heaven1
- Baker Street – The sax solo doesn’t mitigate the song’s meaning
- I Will Survive2
- Desperado
- Added 3/7/2010 – Yesterday
- Added 1/10/2011 – Cats in the Cradle
- Added 1/10/2011 – The Boxer
- Added 6/19/2011 – Brown Sugar
- Added 6/19/2011 –
Private Dancer
I’m sure I’ll be adding more in the future – especially if I get married myself.
1. Though in fairness, Robert Plant does refer to Stairway as a “bloody wedding song.”
2. For Jewish weddings, note that the “Yiddin” dance fits perfectly.
Add to the list all of the songs at our wedding –
Fade To Black
Legend of Zelda
Free Bird
The Godfather Theme
Penny Lane
The only ones that were more typical were Music of the Night and, I believe, the Pachelbel Canon, although I may be mis-remembering that particular one. And we were supposed to walk in to Sunshine of Your Love (total love song, but kinda atypical for a frum wedding).
And you missed the whole thing…
No one can beat the wedding of our friends Anna Woloski and Rabbi Maury Wruble–Maury walked down to the theme from Rocky, complete with his hands clenched over his head. Too bad this wedding preceded the days of videotape. It really did happen, though!
First song at our wedding was “It’s Time to Put on Makeup” from the Muppet Show. It was our favorite tv program and was probably one of the few times I’ve worn makeup
I suggest the song http://youtu.be/-CZqRKYznrM
from Eyyal golan.This song was in my daughter’s wedding right after the ceremony.It was amazing to see all the kippawearing boys dance horrah with it.
For my sister’s wedding we walked down to Mrs Robinson. But in fairness, I don’t think the Israeli DJ understood (or thought about) the words. And we were walking down on a gangplate laid over the splashpond at the bottom of a waterslide.