Lost In Music: The First Dance # 48

I’ve got a soft spot for Will Young. I’ve never bought any of his albums or anything, but I do get the shivers remembering his triumphant performance of Evergreen on Pop Idol. I had thought about picking one of his songs for Lost In Music before, but wasn’t inspired until my friend Debs, who got married recently, said they chose Will Young’s All Time Love. Why? “Simply because It Is.” Aw.

Find it on his album, Keep On.

Originality: 7

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 10

Inappropriate song of the week: Don’t Cha – The Pussycat Dolls

Related: The first dance – who’s having lessons? | Wedding music – what’s appropriate for walking down the aisle? | More Lost In Music

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 47

Rather than just keep banging on about songs that I like or think are suitable for the first dance, I decided to ask my friends what song they did their first dance to. Former Shiny writer Erin of Mirkwood Cottage picked Fields of Gold sung by Eva Cassidy.

“It’s the most beautiful version of the Sting song. The only problem is that it’s practically the longest track in the history of the earth, and neither of us are any good at dancing, so there was some awkward ‘please, other people come and dance too’ gesticulating at our guests!”

You can find Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy on Songbird and by Sting on Ten Summoner’s Tales or a best of Sting collection.

Originality: 7

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 9

Inappropriate song of the week: Heartbreaker by will.i.am

Related: The first dance – who’s having lessons? | Want to be famous? Choreograph your first dance | YouTube wedding video: Norm and Renee’s first dance

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 47

I rather love Rilo Kiley. Beautiful lyrics, lovely melodies and Jenny Lewis’s amazing voice. I Never, from their album More Adventurous is a proper love song, with a swirling melody to which you can twirl around the dancefloor to the joy of all that behold you. Probably.

The only problem with it that I can imagine is that the chorus consists of the line “Cause I never” 27 times (followed by “loved somebody the way I loved you”). This would drive more senior members of my family round the bend (I can hear my mum now, shouting, “You never loved anyone the way you love him! I get it! Sheesh!”).

Originality: 9

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 7 (and they might be tears of frustration)

Inappropriate song of the week: There Is More to Life Than This by Bjork

Related: Set the mood day or night with a live jazz ensemble | The first dance – who’s having lessons? | More Lost In Music

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 46

Apparently Aerosmith’s I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing is one of the UK’s favourite first dance songs. I totally can’t see it – if we’d had it as our first dance, I’d have been waving an imaginary lighter and my husband would have done air guitar – but a survey said it’s true and therefore, it must be true. And the lyrics *are* deeply romantic:

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
Far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Well, every moment spent with you
Is a moment I treasure

Read the rest of this entry »

Set the mood day or night with a live jazz ensemble

Getting the music right for your wedding can set the whole tone of the event, so if you’re after something a little different from string quartets for your big day then why not consider a jazz emsemble?

Great for a quirky, more relaxed and (dare I say it) cool atmosphere, jazz ensembles come in all shapes, sizes and styles. Band Wagon are a trio of musicians who cater for your specific needs for your wedding, whether you want a big band or just a soloist. They’re old hands too, having performed at various important events including the houses of parliament! Find out more from their website and get in touch.

More music ideas for your wedding and reception

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 45

I happily admit to not knowing much, um, modern music, particularly all the “The” bands – The Killers, The Feeling, The Kooks (in fact, I’m so unfamiliar that I had to ring my husband just for those names!), so although I’d heard of The Zombies (I think), I had never heard any of their songs. Until today.

This Will Be Our Year, which you can find on their album, The Original Studio Recordings Vol. 1, sounds like a cross between The Monkees and The Beatles and the lyrics are appropriately first dancey:

The warmth of your love
is like the warmth of the sun
and this will be our year
took a long time to come

Originality: 9

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 7

Inappropriate song of the week: I Touch Myself by The Divinyls

Related: The first dance – who’s having lessons? | Lost In Music: The First Dance # 41 | More Lost In Music

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 44

As I was googling around for a song for this week’s Lost In Music, I was listening to Chris Evans on Radio 2 … and he played Terence Trent D’Arby’s Sign Your Name. I LOVED old Tezza when I was a teenager and I still love this song and think it’s a perfect wedding song, particularly if you’re having an 80s themed wedding or, like me, you’re not proud.

The lyrics are lovely and perfect for a couple (like, you know, Chandler and Monica), who started out as friends (or Friends):

Fortunately you have got
someone who relies on you
we started out as friends
but the thought of you just caves me in

Find it on his Greatest Hits or his (still fabulous) album Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby.

Originality: 10

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 6

Inappropriate song of the week: Love the One You’re With by … anyone

Related: The first dance – who’s having lessons? | Wedding music – what’s appropriate for walking down the aisle? | More Lost in Music

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 43

Which one is Tim McGraw? I get my country and western stars all mixed up. Is he the one married to Faith Hill? Or the one who was (briefly) married to Renee Zellweger? Or the one (currently) married to Nicole Kidman? No, I know really (cos I googled him). (It’s the first, if you’re as clueless as me.)

My Best Friend is another of those perfect wedding songs. I don’t even need to tell you the lyrics because you can guess them. Oh, alright then:

You stand by me
And you believe in me
Like nobody ever has
When my world goes crazy
Youre right there to save me

And more of the same. Painfully romantic, in other words, and perfect for a first dance song. Find it on his Greatest Hits album.

Originality: 5 (in the US), 8 (in the UK)

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 10

Inappropriate song of the week: Drunk and Hot Girls by Kanye West

Related: Want to be famous? Choreograph your first dance | The first dance – who’s having lessons? | More Lost in Music

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 43

I have to admit, I was only familiar with Eric Benet as Halle Berry’s former husband, but then I heard Spend My Life With You and discovered he’s got a beautiful soulful voice (to match his beautiful soulful face).

Spend My Life With You is one of those perfect wedding songs:

I never knew such a day could come
And I never knew such a love
Could be inside of one
And I never knew what my life was for
But now that you’re here I know for sure

And you’ll find it on his album A Day In the Life.

Originality: 9 in the UK, possibly 6 in the US…

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 10

Inappropriate song of the week: Agadoo by Black Lace

Related: Norm and Renee’s first dance surprise | Want to be famous? Choreograph your first dance | More Lost in Music

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 42

Remember Mari Wilson from the eighties? Just What I Always Wanted? Cry Me A River? I’m not suggesting you dance to either of those at your wedding. No, I’m recommending a song from her latest album (Dolled Up) – Look Out For You.

Romantic and classic-sounding (it could almost come from an old musical), it’s a pretty tune complemented by great lyrics and Mari’s clear voice.

And I’m wondering if bells will ring
And fireworks light up the sky
Or quietly fill my heart up until
Without you my love I would die

Originality: 10

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 8

Inappropriate song of the week: Your Mother’s Got a Penis by Goldie Lookin’ Chain

Related: The first dance – who’s having lessons? | Music for the entrance of the bride – what’s yours? | More Lost in Music

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 41

I noticed recently that I always assume couples, or at least the groom, will struggle with the dancing aspect of the first dance, while that’s not necessarily the case. We know from the countless YouTube first dance vids, that plenty of men are totally on board with doing a more showy dance.

Madeleine Peyroux’s Dance Me To the End of Love is a great track for this kind of thing (you can find it on her album Careless Love). It sounds classic because of her voice, the lyrics are highly wedding-appropriate:

Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We’re both of us beneath our love, we’re both of us above
Dance me to the end of love

and it’s fast with a good beat. Don’t forget to send us the video.

Originality: 9

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 8

Inappropriate song of the week: Mad as Rabbits by Panic At the Disco

Related: Norm and Renee’s first dance | I like weddings, I cannot lie | ‘Thriller’ wedding video

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 40

On my wedding day, I repeatedly found myself singing Al Green’s Tired of Being Alone, which is pretty sad, because I was only 23! Recently friends had their first dance to Mr Green’s Let’s Stay Together. It’s a popular first dance song but I can’t really see why. Surely the “let’s stay together” is implied by the actual marriage, you don’t need to spell it out!

But I do love Al Green, so how about Still In Love With You? It would be a perfect song perhaps if you’re renewing your vows or getting married after a number of years together:

And I look in your eyes
And all the years I see
Me lovin’ you and you lovin’ me
Well it seems to me
that I’m wrapped up in your love

Gorgeous.

Originality: 7

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 9

Inappropriate song of the week: Hard to Handle by The Black Crowes

Related: Lucy Diamond is Getting Married | The first dance – who’s having lessons? | YouTube video: Norm and Renee’s first dance

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 39

Some people see being northern as an enormous source of pride rather than an accident of geography (I feel I can say this because I’m northern). If you are one of those Professional Northerner types (you know, like Liam Gallagher, who moved to London as soon as he had the money), Nick Drake’s Northern Sky could well be the perfect first dance song for you. Don’t worry, it’s romantic too.

I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you’re here
Brighten my northern sky.

You’ll find it on his album, Bryter Layter.

Originality: 10

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 6

Inappropriate song of the week: Pigeon Eater by Rocket From the Crypt

Related: Wedding music – what’s appropriate for walking down the aisle? | Music for the entrance of the bride – what’s yours? | More Lost in Music

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 38

A much more modern one this week: You Make It Easy by Air. Sung it what my husband just called a “Frenglish” accent, this song by the French duo is slow, but with a kind of Samba beat that might help you keep rhythm if you’re dance-challenged. Plus the lyrics are lovely:

You leave me laughing without crying
There’s no use denying
For many times I’ve tried
Love has never felt as good

You can find it on their first album, Moon Safari.

Originality: 9

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 6

Inappropriate song of the week: Beer & Sex & Chips’n'Gravy by the Macc Lads

Related: Lost In Music: The First Dance # 32 | The First Dance – who’s having lessons? | More Lost In Music

Lost In Music: The First Dance # 37

A hands-down classic this week: At Last by Etta James. “At last, my love has come along.” I’m sure it’s used at numerous weddings, but that’s because it’s a perfect – and I mean *perfect* – first dance song.

Romantic, passionate, and beautifully sung. Just gorgeous. (You can listen to it here.)

Originality: 5

Tears-from-your-Mum Factor: 10

Inappropriate song of the week: You’re the One for Me, Fatty by Morrissey

Related: Polka dot wedded bliss on a budget | More music