July 2002"At least everyone would know the words."
by Valerie Carino
...
The flexibility of my freelancing schedule allows me to split my writing time between soap operas, "The View," and back-to-back episodes of "The Wedding Story." For those of you who haven't seen this daily program on TLC, it profiles a couple before and on their wedding day, with a cheesy theme song to boot.
As I munch on toast and check e-mails, I wonder what "our song" will be if one does, in fact, exist.
Certain songs come to mind, particularly, "Come" by indie group, Spain. The song was a part of a compilation CD left on our bed as part of our stay in a chic hotel in South Beach. It's the tune that sealed this romance, a groove that reminds me of stripping to my underwear and wading in the ocean after he told me he loved me for the very first time. Slow and breathy, aching and yearning, it's no song appropriate for a first dance. It's your garden variety "booty song."
The wedding magazines I've read share lists of reception favorites, but "Unchained Melody," "You Are So Beautiful To Me," and "I Swear," don't quite fit the bill. I like soul, but Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" seems so played out.
Damo loves U2. I remember finding him late at night, after he'd gotten off work, sitting in his Honda, seat tilted back, with "With or Without You" on full blast. It's his favorite song of all time. Bono delivers the lyrics so beautifully and with such melancholy that the tune should probably be best left on Damo's stereo.
"Summer Wind" is a great Sinatra standard we used to play before I left for New York. It's a breezy tune, simple and sing-able.
The summer wind came blowin' in from across the sea
It lingered there to touch your hair and walk with me
We sang along and then we strolled that golden sand
Two sweethearts in the summer wind.
I'm diggin' it, but Damo isn't sold.
That is my first dilemma. Second, what will Aileen sing? She's a friend of mine from Dublin, who I met in Tampa. She and my best friend, Niamh, have the greatest singing voices ever, but Aileen is the bigger ham, having been the lead singer of an Irish girl band just a few years ago. She's performed at Wimbley Stadium in front of 40,000 people, but she enjoys a good karaoke bar just as much. Her trademark karaoke tune is Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know." She also does a killer cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U."
... sigh ...
Perhaps I should have her sing one of the cheesiest, fruitiest, most saccharine tunes of my youth, Madonna's "Crazy For You," and have her dress up in leg warmers, jelly shoes and some sort of bow in her hair.
At least everyone would know the words.
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