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Hive, I need your help! With a week to go before the wedding, I haven’t picked a father-daughter dance song. Well… that’s not entirely true. The two songs I picked were shot down by Daddy PaC. And we haven’t come up with anything suitable since then.
Some helpful background information:
I’m so proud of my dad.
When I excitedly suggested my two favorite father-daughter dance songs, Blackbird and In My Life by The Beatles, he nixed them for tempo reasons. Straight from Daddy PaC: “’Blackbird’ is a fast tempo song… and ’In My Life’ has a bit of a strange ’beat.’ It’s like 3/4 time and does change in several parts of the song. They are both very nice songs but I don’t think danceable is their strong suit.”
Oh, I was bummed! Here we had sentimental, slower songs by one of our favorites artists… and no.
Daddy PaC gave it some more thought and came up with Ann by David Gates, the same artist they selected for their wedding song. He also suggested if I wanted to pay homage to our French heritage, French Waltz by Nicolette Larson (my namesake) would be nice. These traditional songs were lovely, but nowhere near what I had in mind.
Thinking that if Daddy PaC saw our playlists, he’d understand the vibe and be able to utilize his music knowledge to suggest a really cool song, I emailed over the song list. Here’s a representative sampling:
Mother/Son: Wildflowers - Tom Petty
Beatles/Beatles-influenced:
Rock, Alt, Indie and a little Reggae
He didn’t recognize 90% of the songs and the remaining 10% didn’t jump out at him, so he bowed out of the decision. Which left me feeling sad… and guilty. (I had no idea the father-daughter dance was so emotionally charged!)
When I asked my married friends what they danced to and/or would suggest, I came across three schools of thought:
So hive, I’m putting it out there. I need help. You guys are the experts. Wow me with your recommendations!
Father and Daughter by Paul Simon is a really great song with some awesome guitar!! My fave part” I’m gonna take guard like a postcard of golden retriever!” So sweet!
My dad, also a musician, and I danced to “Thank you for the music” by Abba (Amanda Seyfried does a nice version from the mamma mia movie sound track). Difficult-ish to dance to, but hit the right chord for sure.
* stand guard
Why don’t you look for alternate versions of In My Life? It’s a perfect song, beautiful, and I’m sure it’s been re-made multiple times. Bette Midler’s version is definitely danceable.
This may show my age a bit, but what about “Trouble Me” by the 10,000 Maniacs?
My dad is also a musician.. I picked “Forever Young” by Bob Dylan, and when I told him, he said he actually has a recording of his band doing a cover of the song. So, we’re actually dancing to my dad’s band’s cover of the song, so my dad will essentially be singing to me, while dancing with me. I’m sure I will cry, as will he (even if he doesn’t want to admit it to himself).
My dad is a classic rock freak…seriously he would quiz my sisters and I in the car on the way to school which results in my crazy knowledge of 60s-70s music…
I think its so sweet you are taking your dad’s musical loves into account when choosing a song!
We ultimately decided on “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones. It was so perfect for us. I hope you find the best song for the two of you!
That sounds tough! I can imagine how the decision can be unexpectedly emotional.
Surprisingly, I think I might have my father/daughter dance already picked out. My bf and I are not yet engaged, but close. One day when I was visiting my parents, my dad was dancing around to crash test dummies (one of his favorite album, lol) and jokingly said we should use “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” for our father/daughter dance. I casually mentioned that I was thinking something like “Beautiful Tonight” by Eric Clapton (his absolute favorite artist ever). He immediately got choked (and he is a typical never-show-your-emotions dad) up and gave me a huge hug. I was caught off guard at his reaction, but happy he was happy about it.
Personally, I think Blackbird is really sweet and not necessarily fast if you sway on the first and third beats of each measure instead of each beat. Maybe if you practiced once with him he might change his mind.
I’m sure you guys will find something that is perfect even if it takes a bit longer.
P.S. I love each and every one of your choices on your song list!
My dad and I danced to “Dancing on Daddy’s Shoes” by Leone Redbone. I don’t remember if it fit the rest of our music (probably not), but we had a lot of fun dancing to it and that’s what really mattered to us.
I am planning on dancing with my dad to John Lennon’s “Imagine.” I know it’s not a typical father-daughter dance song, but I have a feeling that what you and your father are looking for is not typical. I think this song has a really beautiful message and will be a beautiful song for a father and daughter share their special moment to. Hope this helps!
We’re dancing to Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World”.
Glad to see someone else is considering ‘In My Life’ - The Beatles will be a part of our father daughter dance, because it’s special to us. What about “I Will” from the White Album?
“Love you forever & forever,
Love you with all my heart;
Love you whenever we´re together,
Love you when we´re apart.”
So sweet! 
My pops sounds a lot like your father - he’s been rockin’ in the free world since before he could drive a car! He instilled that love of music in me and took me to my first rock concert when I was 12 - we’ve been loving music together since then! So we had a tough time picking a song that spoke to both of us, until we found Landslide, by The Smashing Pumpkins. It’s a sweet song with tear-jerker lyrics that was originally done by a classic rock band (Fleetwood mac) but covered by a newer, alt-rock band (My favorite, the smashing pumpkins) - Now that we’ve picked it, I can’t listen to it without crying, even 3 seconds in. The wedding is in August, I can’t wait to hear it that day! 
What about John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy”? We had our band change the lyrics to “beautiful child” but even without that, it’s a lovely ode from a parent to their child…
I’m thinking of using the Moody Blues Wildest Dreams. It’s the only song that really reminds me of my dad but it’s awfully fast and too long…
Could you use “Sweet Pea” as the father/daughter dance, instead of as just one of the playlist songs?
My dad and I danced to Nat King Cole’s version of “You are My Sunshine,” because he used to sing it to me when I was a baby. My mom was the one who actually suggested it.
Before I settled on that one, I considered Loudon Wainwright’s “Daughter.” It still chokes me up!
Are you Jimmy Buffett fans? I thought about “Little Miss Magic” for a long time. The reason I had to say no is that it has a line about “your mother’s still the only other woman for me” and my parents have been divorced for over 20 years. It’s definitely worth a listen! Good luck!
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Mrs. Pain au Chocolat, Wilmington, DE Age and Occupation: 29, Realtor Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Realtor Engagement Date: November 21, 2009 Wedding Date: June 2011 Venue: Greenville Country Club About Me: An ENFJ with an artistic streak who loves backgammon, sailing, graphic design, and sleeping in. Travel (near or far), good wine, and tasty food makes my heart sing. I'm a compulsive list-maker who lives to plan and organize. Mr. P and I have lived together for 4 years, all the while renovating our city townhome bit by bit. We're planning a whimsical, Anthropologie-inspired garden wedding in June 2011.
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