Wedding Blog
Break it down squeaky falsetto style, Leo Sayer!
(Don’t you love that they describe Leo Sayer as “one of the really great
musical artists of our time”? What the heck happened to this guy?)
One of the things I am passionate about when it comes to the wedding is the music. I am a huge music person, owning a CD collection that I am quickly running out of room for in our apartment. Early on in the process, Mr. Hummingbird and I decided that we didn’t want to hire a DJ for our wedding. For one, we’re on a budget and this would significantly up our costs, and two, any wedding I have ever been to with a DJ hasn’t left me too impressed. Playing The Funky Chicken and telling hacky jokes for a night does not, in my mind, entitle someone to $2,000 of my hard earned cash, thank you very much.
So, we decided to go the iPod route. After all, with all my CDs and all my musical knowledge (I used to work at an alternative arts newspaper and my dad used to be a musician), how hard would it be to put together an eclectic danceable mix that we could just hit play on and enjoy thoroughout the night?
Well, it seems, now that I’ve actually started doing it, much harder than I thought, since when it comes to wedding music, my taste is a little off and a lot of the songs I normally listen to don’t really work with the occasion. I mean PJ Harvey is good for my angsty girl moments, but for cutting a rug with my grandpa? I somehow think “50 Foot Queenie” wouldn’t be terribly appropriate.
This discovery has changed my plans slightly in that I am now doing a lot of web searching and listening to a number of tunes on YouTube to jog my memory pop song wise. In fact, with all of this searching for danceable tunes, this week alone, I think I have fulfilled my lifetime listening requirement for Hall and Oates (. . . and I can’t go for that.)
So, to keep me from sliding into an Easy Listening induced insanity and to keep my weird fancination with Darryl Hall from getting any worse (What can I say? I’m weirdly impressed by a guy who can strut around in an olive green suit.), I am asking you Weddingbee readers for help - what songs do you love that are good for dancing? Suggestions from any era or any genre are welcome. 
(As an added . . . um . . . bonus? I’m including a link to the song that has been stuck in my head for the last three days. Enjoy the fever of the early ’80s!)
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Share this post: You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Really thought it was a woman singing that song for my whole life!
“We Are Family” is a staple at our family weddings. But we’re nuts, so feel free to not heed that. We also all know the words to the Beer Barrel Polka - we’re from Wisconsin, what can I say?! My mom has taken it as her mission to teach my FI to polka, and so far he’s successfully avoided it.
I’m a big fan of big band music as well as anything by the Rat Pack. They’re generally songs that anyone can dance to.
I too am a bit of a music snob with a giant CD collection and have been torn between playing songs that I like and songs that people know. We did hire a DJ, but were lucky enough to find someone who is under the age of 50, doesn’t wear a bow tie, and won’t insist on the Jock Jams theme or Who Let the Dogs Out as our entrance music.
Here’s a few of my recommendations:
- Of Montreal - pretty much any of their last 3 albums are very danceable
- Erin McKeown - awesome cocktail music
- Ok Go - Have you seen the treadmill video? That alone speaks to the level of fun in their music
- Cake
- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - not all danceable, but if you pick and choose correctly
- Polyphonic Spree
- Beastie Boys - Fight for Your Right to Party anyone?
- Spoon
- Justin Timberlake - don’t laugh! Even indies can’t deny this boy is talented
- Kanye West
- Gnarls Barkley
- Gorillaz
- Prince
Someone also posted on a board about some itunes compilations a while back.
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/itunes-indie-wedding-song-list
Check out my DJ’s song list - she is friggin awesome.
http://www.popshopdjs.com/music.html
I see your dilemma with choosing music to suit all guests. At our wedding, we are planning to go the more traditional route and start the evening off (cocktail hour & dinner) with old school tunes (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald…etc.) and then spice it up as the night goes on. I am even thinking we might do a choreographed little number to an old Rat Pack song - that is, if I can get the fiance to agree. 
I also plan on having some fun current songs as well as some classic 80’s & 90’s — I have found that no matter how much people roll their eyes at the cheesiness of it all, they can’t help but get out of their seats when it starts pumping through the speakers! Choose what you like and have fun with it - enthusiasm (no matter what soundtrack it is set to) is what’s contagious!
off the top of my head, our must-play crowd-pleasing song list includes:
Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison)
My Girl (temptations)
Dancing Queen (ABBA — some controversy here, as I realize this often falls onto “do not play lists”, but it’s a favorite among my friends)
Sweet Caroline (neil diamond)
Hang on Sloopy (many, many OSU fans will be in the crowd)
New York, New York (Sinatra)
My Kind of Town (again, Sinatra)
The Way You Look Tonight (Tony Bennet version)
Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch (4 tops, i think)
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (Tammy and…name escapes me)
And lots of other great Mowtown hits I think are generally good for all ages and danceable
sorry, meant “Motown” on that last one.
Thanks everyone for responding so far. It is awesome to be able to talk about this with other people, instead of sitting by myself, trying to rack my brain.
jma19 - Mr. Hum’s family polkas too. His dad and one of his brother’s friends did one heckuva a polka at his brother’s wedding. They seriously went full speed for like five minutes. It was crazy.
Teeners - That list is awesome. Nice DJ pick!
endb - Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell did Ain’t No Mountain High Enough in 1967. It was actually really sad, they were so close, when she died of a brain tumour in 1970, Gaye took a two year hiatus from music, he was so affected by it. (I am a huge Marvin Gaye fan.)
The iTunes Essentials lists are pretty fun to browse through, and even wikipedia has the crazy-cool “year in music” pages. This one time? When I needed the top songs of 1991? For work? That’s where I went.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_in_music
Because I had to. For work.
Teeners– I have to say, I was at a party last year where their “must play” list was virtually every song from your dj’s “we’d rather not play” list. And yeah, I sat quietly at my table and wondered when it would be okay to leave.
I was at a wedding this fall where the DJ played “Face Down” by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Yeah, the one about domestic abuse. One of the BMs went over and told him to switch songs. It was horrible.
I love a little Jamiroquai for dancing - especially the aptly named ‘Just Dance.’ Scissor Sisters are also good, especially ‘I don’t feel like dancing’ (how ironic).
As long as the Time Warp is in there I’m happy, but I know how hard it is, I did the same thing.
Have to have:
Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
Mony Mony - Billy Idol
I found a DJ link to most requested songs, maybe that would help.
http://www.recordahit.com/djsonglist.html
Hum, your knowledge of C-list American celebrities from the 70’s and 80’s is truly astounding (first Markie Post and now Leo Sayer)!
Here a few selections from my own “oldies” playlist that should be acceptable to all ages:
EARTH, WIND & FIRE - September/ Got to Get You Into My Life/ Sing A Song
KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND - Boogie Shoes/ Shake Your Booty/
TAJ MAHAL - Everybody Got To Change Sometime
CARLY SIMON & JAMES TAYLOR - Mockingbird
STEVIE WONDER - I Wish/ Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours/
THE FABULOUS THUDERBIRDS - Wrap It Up/ She’s Tuff
THE SUBDUDES - All The Time In The World/ Late at Night
As for your Darryl Hall obsession, it reminds me of the Family Guy episode where a young Lois is making castings of famous band member’s… uh “members.” She made a casting of Hall, but alas Oates was deemed unworthy. 
LOL Emma, after submitting my reply I read yours and imeediately put on ” I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’” and boogied all over my office!! (Luckily I work from home, so only my dog witnessed this. )
We are Family is a huge one at our family weddings. It is cliche, I know but I love it because all of my aunts boogie down to it. My FI is insisting upon the Chicken Dance, which he actually calls the Duck Dance. I don’t get it. Some of those lists are really good.
Also, I have to agree about Darryl Hall, Miss Hummingbird. Not only is he wearing an olive green suit, but the suit has shoulder pads. HUGE shoulder pads. It does take a certain kind of man to pull that off!
Kim and I have just been letting the itunes playlist play while we’re making dinner or working on something in the office. When a song comes up that we think sounds good for the wedding playlist we add to the “wedding music” playlist on itunes. So far I think we’re around 200-250 songs and still adding everyday.
My husband was in charge of our Itunes playlist at the wedding. A couple of the ones I recall people getting on the dancefloor for:
Hit the Road Jack - Ray Charles (LOVE Ray)
Its the End of the World as We Know It - REM
Joy To The World - Three Dog Night
Moondance - Van Morrison
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Jack and Diane - John Mellencamp
I’m not sure if its totally appropriate for a wedding but we played it, and its good for dancing!
Blister In The Sun - Violent Femmes
[...] wiki of the day is reception music, inspired by Miss Hummingbird’s recent post asking for songs suggestions that get people [...]
[...] wiki of the day is reception music, inspired by Miss Hummingbird’s recent post asking for songs suggestions that get people [...]
Miss Hummingbird, I too am in the same situation over here in Sweden. We too shall go the ipod route, we want st etienne, the charlatans, the pogues, the smiths, etc etc. The problem with the ipod is you cant cross fade songs, you can on itunes itself, so we may have to bring the laptop as opposed to just the ipod. How are you doing it? And of course if a song has a 5-6 second fade out, how do you fix that? It’s not so easy, eh? I agree though, pj harvey and sheela-na-gig or kylie and the locomotion? pah, good luck and keep me informed…….Mike
[...] week, I began searching for the perfect tunes to play at the wedding. As I discovered, coming up with wedding appropriate songs was much harder than I anticipated as my [...]
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Mrs. Hummingbird, Toronto
Age and Occupation: 25, Publishing Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Videogame Designer/Cartoonist
Engagement Date: May 4, 2007
Wedding Date: June 28, 2008
Blogging Since: September 18, 2007
Venue: A garden wedding followed by a tented reception on Mr. Hummingbird's father's property.
About Me: I’m a pop culture loving, vintage obsessed foodie living in Canada’s biggest city with my fantastic fiancé and our lovable fluffy cat Bettie. I’m stoked to marry my best friend and to throw what I hope will be
the most fun and colourful party of our lives.
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