From E-Hell Blog: Do People Listen To The Lyrics?

[TheBardess]

Honestly, I get a little bit up in arms when people criticize the HC's choice of music. Yes, I know that Time Of Your Life is about suicide

I always heard it was about a breakup!

It is- at least according to the Wikipedia entry about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Riddance_(Time_of_Your_Life)

I'm not sure where the suicide thing came from...unless we're talking about two different "Time of Your Life"s...

[Ferrets]

Hey, I can think of a LOT worse sentiments to have at a wedding than "This was a triumph/I'm making a note here:  HUGE SUCCESS."  

"It's hard to overstate my satisfaction!"

Actually I think it'd be a great song   And nice counter the doom and gloom marriage-is-death groomsman you might have to deal with!

I just hope that the cake is not a lie.

Hah! Excellent points. You're all marvellous, and I feel slightly less weird now.

So long as I opt for a tasteful fadeout before "Even though you broke my heart and killed me/Tore me to pieces/Threw every piece into a fire", I suppose...

[HonorH]

Well, I, for one, would like "I Wanna Be (The 500-mile Song)" for my recessional.  I'd prefer the Steven Curtis Chapman cover (his wife loves the song and asked him to record it) over the original Proclaimers' version, though, simply because Chapman edited out a few ribald lyrics at the beginning of the song, and there are just some things I don't think are right for church.

Incidentally, it's a *great* karaoke song, though you do have to fake a thick Scottish accent while singing it.  It's required.

[Morrigan]

My fiance and I will be dancing to Voltaire's "Anniversary."  Chosen because we both love the artist and the song.

Do I look the same to you?
Cause I don't feel so
You know everything must change
As time goes by
Though it feels like yesterday
When we first met
I feel I'm sinking deeper

Do you look the same to me?
Well I don't think so
Cause you know everything must change
As time goes by
Like the flowers that dry
Locking inside
Forever their beauty
Beauty

And they said this feeling fades
It gets stronger everyday
And they say that beauty fades
You're more beautiful than ever
They said we'd drift away
We're still standing here
And it feels like every day’s
Our Anniversary

Well I stumble through the dark
And light a candle
And the path the wax will take
No one can know
And you said it looked like snow
Or maybe clouds,
and I think it looks like Heaven

So we make it into a ring
And make a mold
And we melt above the flames
The whitest gold
When hot and cold collide
What's left in place
Is forever and ever

And they said our love would fade
it gets stronger everyday
And they say that beauty fades
You're more beautiful than ever
They said we'd drift away
We're still standing here
And it feels like every day’s
Our Anniversary

Some say things worth having
Take some time
As they get older
They get better

La lalala lalalala...

And they said our love would fade
it gets stronger everyday
And they say that beauty fades
You're more beautiful than ever
They said we'd drift away
We're still standing here
And it feels like every day’s
Our Anniversary

And they said our love would fade
it gets stronger everyday
And they say that beauty fades—
You're more beautiful than ever

They said we'd drift away
Well as long as we’re together
It feels like every day’s
Our Anniversary

[lovestoread]

A friend of mine was at a wedding recently where the groom serenaded the bride at the reception... with 'Leavin' on a Jet Plane'

[workingmum]

I'm fine with a couple picking a song that has meaning to them (My DH and I both LOVE the Naked Gun movies.  We originally wanted our first dance to be "Ding Dong, the witch is dead," but as my aunt had died not too long before our wedding, I was afraid it would have looked so inappropriate!).

But yeah, I think a lot of songs are picked because they have words like 'wedding' or 'love' in the titles, and it's just weird.

new keyboard required... current one covered in diet coke 

[RedWolf]

In a previous career, an employee planning her (second or third, don't remember) wedding said she was going to have "Goodbye Time" by Blake Shelton.

It's your life - you say you need a change
Don't all the dreams we've seen come true mean anything
You say it's different now and you keep staring at the door
How can you walk away don't I matter anymore

If being free's worth what you leave behind
And if it's too late for love to change your mind
Then it's goodbye time

If we had known our love would come to this
We could have saved our hearts the hurt of wasted years
Well it's been fun - what else can I say
If the feeling's gone words won't stop you anyway

If being free's worth what you leave behind
And if it's too late for love to change your mind
Then it's goodbye time

Another employee and I looked at each other wondering what her DF thought!

[Jules1980]

DH and I played Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" as our recessional.  Not sure how appropriate that was.  We played it, though, because we went to see the the Johnny Cash biopic 'Walk the Line' on our first date.  We thought about using 'Walk the Line' but a dear friend of ours used to sing 'Ring of Fire' every time she saw us together.  That's the only song from the movie she knew and became a joke between us. She set us up and  her father married us.

Love Is A Burning Thing
And It Makes A Fiery Ring
Bound By Wild Desire
I Fell Into A Ring Of Fire

CHORUS:
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

The Taste Of Love Is Sweet
When Hearts Like Ours Meet
I Fell For You Like A Child
Oh, But The Fire Went Wild

CHORUS
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

And It Burns, Burns, Burns

The Ring Of Fire

The Ring Of Fire

[Cellaatje]

DF and I are going to use "So Happy Together" from The Turtles.

Imagine me and you I do
I think about you day and night
It's only right
To think about the girl you love
And hold her tight
So happy together
If I should call you up invest a dime
And you say you belong to me
And ease my mind
Imagine how the world could be
So very fine
So happy together
I can see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me baby the skies'll be blue
For all my life
Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice
It had to be
The only one for me is you
And you for me
So happy together
I can see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life
When you're with me baby the skies'll be blue
For all my life
Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice
It had to be
The only one for me is you
And you for me
So happy together
Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice
It had to be
The only one for me is you
And you for me
So happy together
So happy together
How is the weather
So happy together
We're happy together
So happy together
Happy together
So happy together
So happy together

I feel it's a really cute song. It's not really slow and romantic, so we will probably have to practise a bit before we are able to pull this off

[Nuala]

DF and I are going to use "So Happy Together" from The Turtles.

I feel it's a really cute song. It's not really slow and romantic, so we will probably have to practise a bit before we are able to pull this off

It's a fun song. It's hard not to smile when you hear it.

My mother's cousin and her first husband shared their first dance to "Mack the Knife." 

Sure, it was the jaunty Bobby Darrin version, but still.

According to Wikipedia (so it must be true):

The song attributes many crimes to Macheath:

    * A dead man in London, on the Strand
    * A rich man, Schmul Meier, disappeared for good and possibly robbed
    * Jenny Towler, killed with a knife in the chest
    * A cabbie, Alfred Gleet, missing and presumed dead
    * Seven children and an old man killed in an arson fire
    * Rape of an underage widow (minderjährige Witwe) in her bed

The marriage was not an enduring success.

[curiousjoan]

"Sister Golden Hair" by America.  It's about a man who doesn't show up to his own wedding because he is depressed about an old girlfriend  . . . someone who he hasn't bothered to contact in a long time.  So he tracks her down, shows up on her doorstep, and says that since he has confessed that he is still thinking about her (although he hasn't made it easy for her to find him), won't she meet him halfway by providing a little scrabble?  Oh, and while he isn't ready to get married, "the woman" he jilted is sometimes somebody he would consider a friend.

While I don't disagree with you that it's not really appropriate for a first dance (even though I love that song!), my impression of the song is different (that he's not sure he's ready to get married to his GF, the one he sings about, and has been a little flaky).

Wikipedia agrees with my assessment:

The song is about a man trying to get up the courage to take his girlfriend to the altar to marry, however he is plagued by self-doubts. He pleads for her understanding and re-affirms his love and affection for her, but he says he is not yet ready for the altar. She is only identified as "Sister Golden Hair." He asks her to meet him half-way, which is taken to be a proposal that they live together.

I agree with other posters about "Time of Your Life," "Lips of an Angel," and "Every Breath You Take." I can't imagine why anyone would choose them... but then again, I'm one of those people who listens to lyrics closely. I know pretty much all of them if I like the song enough!    I suppose each of these has a chorus that sounds more innocuous at first glance.

[Cellaatje]

I agree with other posters about "Time of Your Life," "Lips of an Angel," and "Every Breath You Take." I can't imagine why anyone would choose them... but then again, I'm one of those people who listens to lyrics closely. I know pretty much all of them if I like the song enough!    I suppose each of these has a chorus that sounds more innocuous at first glance.

I was thinking about this as well. Maybe not with respect to the songs mentioned above, but sometimes it's difficult to figure out what the song is about. I had several songs that I rather liked myself, but I just wasn't sure if they would be appriopate as the lyrics were difficult to interpret. I actually needed to look them up or ask other people about them to figure out if they were okay to use or not.
So I can understand in some cases, songs are being used that in retrospect weren't the best choice. I guess in case of doubt look up the song up

[hokie4life]

I had to laugh as I read this thread, when my brother got married he and my mom danced to Hit the Road Jack (picked by the DJ, a very good friend of his) and I recently attended a wedding where the processional for the bride was the Muppet's Somebody's Getting Married... we all agreed it was the best wedding music ever! 

[Nurvingiel]

I had to laugh as I read this thread, when my brother got married he and my mom danced to Hit the Road Jack (picked by the DJ, a very good friend of his) and I recently attended a wedding where the processional for the bride was the Muppet's Somebody's Getting Married... we all agreed it was the best wedding music ever! 

Somebody's Getting Married is fantastic! I'm going to post this on Facebook so my friends can see it; one of our friends is getting married.

[Mediancat]

A good friend of mine's recessional music was the theme from the Pink Panther. First the happy couple and then the groomsmen and bridesmaids moved down the aisle in step to the music. Finally, after they were all gone, the minister bopped down the aisle his own self, shaking his index finger like a dancer from the 1920s. It was hilarious.

Of course, this was the friend who cut the cake to the theme from Psycho, so you kind of have to get her sense of humor . . .

Rob aka Mediancat