inspired by a conversation on saturday... I AM TAKING NOMINATIONS.

[rmd]

So, Saturday, I was sitting with a couple of friends while they ran a first pass filter on a giant playlist that was going to end up being a wedding reception playlist. In particular, they were pulling out songs that are JUST NOT APPROPRIATE for wedding receptions. (Like "Bad Touch" by the Bloodhound Gang, for example, because crass sexuality is not appropriate for a family reception.)

And it got me thinking. What are the most inappropriate songs you've *actually heard* played at wedding receptions? "Tears in Heaven" (because nothing says "congratulations" like a song about a dead infant)? "Every Breath You Take" (not a love song -- it's a STALKER SONG)? Please comment with your entries!

Once I get a bunch of nominations, I'll repost them as a poll for YOUR VOTING PLEASURE.

Comments

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

"Breaking Up is Hard To Do" - (or any song about breaking up) why break up at a wedding?

"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" - song about being forced to get hitched but you don't want to.

"Candle in the Wind" (or any song about death)

"Your Cheatin' Heart" - always good to sing about cheating at a wedding.

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

"Sister Rose", by 10,000 Maniacs, most likely included by the DJ at Janice and Glenn's wedding because it contained the line "Sister Rose on her wedding day". Unfortunately, Natalie Merchant's lyrics are not exactly endorsing her sister's nuptials...

"Brick", by Ben Folds Five. Um. Never listened to the lyrics, have you? Or managed to miss that it's about a guy taking his girlfriend in for an abortion, and that they're about to break up because of it?

"Nemesis", by Shriekback, at my own wedding, because it was somebody's favorite dance tune. Not the bride's. Not the groom's. Everybody happy as the dead come home. Not that I'm still bitter...

[foldedfish.livejournal.com]

"Mambo #5". Upbeat! Fun to dance to! A long list of the various women the singer wants!

[whipartist.livejournal.com]

Before my wedding reception, my mother explicitly forbid the DJ from playing Like A Virgin.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

"I Will Survive"
"Milkshake"
"Greensleeves"

[kjc.livejournal.com]

Second nomination for this one, which I heard at my cousin's wedding.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

"Paradise by the Dashboard Light"

Oh thank FSM I'm not the only one who's heard of this and been appalled.

[mangosteen]

"Last Dance" // la la. relationship is doomed. one last time, eh?
"Saving All My Love For You" // sung from "the other woman's" POV

Also, "Macarena" and "Dragostea Din Tea (the Numa Numa song)" for songs that, if translated, would never be played at weddings.

[andybeals.livejournal.com]

"Catholic Girls", Zappa

[tamago.livejournal.com]

Tainted Love. Nuff said.

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

What about the "Sister Rose" lyrics are particularly negative? I suppose you could read "Sister Rose take your mother's place. Trade your home and your maiden name. For a list of vows and a veil of lace made a wife of you today." as a lack of enthusiasm or feminist disappointment, but the way it's sung doesn't suggest that to me.

[diagonti.livejournal.com]

"Orphan Girl" - because nothing says wedding more than a song about an orphan being happily looking forward to dieing because when she does she'll finally get to meet her family.

"Meat Stick" - including the charismatic bestman getting the entire dance floor to do the dance to it, ala line dancing. Except with blatant crotch gestures. Yeah, he really was just that charismatic. No he should not have been having the 12 year old flower girl doing that. (Don't worry, when the bestman got married, the groom returned the favor including talking the groom's jewish rabbi father in to joining in.) Includes such great lines (with appropriate gestures) as : "Time for the meat stick; burying the meat stick"

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

I've always heard it as "feminist disappointment", to use your phrase. But it's deliberately sung to fit in with the cha-cha, mambo, and other dances mentioned elsewhere in the lyrics.

"But your my sister Rose just the same."

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

"Friday I'm In Love"

"With or Without You"

[goat.livejournal.com]

Hey, we had that one!

RMD, was it you who commented on Step It Out Mary? I know it wasn't the most appropriate wedding song, but people sure did seem to have a lot of fun dancing to it!

[rmd.livejournal.com]

*grin*
but mambo #5 is such a catchy song!

I did comment on step it out mary, but i hope it was clear i did so in humor.

also, i was duly impressed by the crowd-transformative power of the dropkick murphys.

thanks for a fun party, btw.

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

One of my closest friends' "wedding song" was Ministry "Stigmata". Shriekback "Nemesis" and Faith No More "We Care A Lot" were also played.

The old folks looked at us a little funny.

[loopback.livejournal.com]

Nick Cave - "Where the Wild Roses Grow"

actually heard at a wedding. Song about a guy bashing a sad, lonely woman's brains in by a lake. Dreamy, really.

oh and for "nobody would rightfully play that at a wedding" ...

Swans. "A Screw" http://youtube.com/watch?v=KqiEmNaG5QY

[evwhore.livejournal.com]

You've just given me an idea: if I ever get married, I'm doing it on the first of May.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

[innocent blinking] so you can play that song from "Camelot", right?[/innocent blinking]

[rmd.livejournal.com]

"Nemesis", by Shriekback, at my own wedding, because it was somebody's favorite dance tune. Not the bride's. Not the groom's. Everybody happy as the dead come home. Not that I'm still bitter...

... oh shit, was that my fault?

if so, er, sorry, man.

*guilt*

[rmd.livejournal.com]

the fact that you were in a big poofy white dress was probably sufficient irony.

[i-leonardo.livejournal.com]

almost anything by bongwater.

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

No, no! It wasn't you; you did run some sound, but the tapes were made (and the dinner-music CDs chosen) before you showed up.

My consternation at having that song on the dance list was mitigated by the fact that a large number of attendees enjoyed dancing to the song. And my revenge was that several songs I got onto the tape (such as Glenn Miller's "In the Mood") proved equally or more popular to the dancing throng.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

oh good!

i do love "nemesis", and frequently put it on music mixes, so it seemed plausible.

*whew*

step it out

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

By the time we got to Step It Out Mary the vibe had long passed "carefully selected appropriate wedding songs" into "kick-ass rockin' dance party." The appropriateness or in- seemed irrelevant at that point. It really didn't phase me at all, at least. (And I was totally sober, in case that plays into some people's calculations).

Young man!

[jymdyer.livejournal.com]

=v= "Y.M.C.A." has been played at every wedding I've ever been to, but it is apparently not about Christian association. I, for one, am shocked.

I know a few people who play in wedding bands. One thing they have to contend with is drunken exes requesting bitter songs ("Why do fools fall in love?").

[goat.livejournal.com]

Oh, I definitely took the comment in good spirit!

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[beccane.livejournal.com]

Yep, I heard Mambo #5 at my cousin's wedding too

[tb]

"50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" just came up for me in a different meme.

[ceo]

"Macarena" should be off the list on general principles, one of which is that a dance floor full of old biddies doing that dance is not a sight I care to be subjected to ever again.

Re: step it out

[ceo]

I must confess that I made snarky comments when "Long Time" by Boston came up on the playlist in the barn before the reception. "Well I'm taking my time, I'm just movin' on / You'll forget about me after I've been gone..."

[ceo]

When I did the music for my sister Sigrid's wedding, it was an act of supreme forbearance not to include "Blood Wedding" by Oysterband.

[catness.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahahahahaha!

[catness.livejournal.com]

My friend Ava had the Theme From Jaws as her wedding march. Everybody was trying not to actually howl out loud.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

that's pretty good. i've certainly heard the imperial march used in weddings.

i think both of those have some sense of irony rather than "hey, this song is great! ... except the lyrics are about black-widow serial killers."

My "Paradise by the dashboard Light" story

[keren-s.livejournal.com]

When my college housemate got married, not only did she and her husband request that song - it was "their song" as in - they used it for their dance and sang it to each other for the benefit of all the guests. And knowing her, I am sure it was not done ironically. I honestly don't thing she really got it.

Speaking of stalker songs, is Death Cab for Cutie's "I will Possess Your Heart" one, or is it just me.

[skreeky]

Yeh, I was overruled on that one.

"Come on Eileen" was also put back on the list after I had specifically removed it.

[skreeky]

Normally, it is safe to assume people won't dance to songs they don't know.

This assumption simply does not apply to Dropkick's "Shipping Up to Boston." Try not dancing. TRY!

[skreeky]

I mentioned this at the time, but for the poll purposes, the bar was set for me when a wedding band started playing "Billy Jean is Not My Lover" and I actually had to stop dancing and STARE at them with my jaw on the floor.

I mean, sometimes, it's possible to miss what a song is about if you're not paying attention, but...

[shanghaibex.livejournal.com]

Tom & steve actually stopped "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" mid-song at my wedding. I believe it was a choice by the DJ. 'Totally inappropirate' was Tom's reaction - and those who know him will appreciate the irony.
I was too busy being deliriously happy to notice any of it.

Re: step it out

[tcb.livejournal.com]

Hee! That song has a special meaning for us, in that back in February, we went down to FL to visit goat's brother, and ended up playing Rock Band all weekend, and Foreplay/Long time was a favorite ;)