There are three songs that I associate closely with weddings…
The first is Baggy Trousers by Madness, which I’ll admit is not everybody’s first choice when they think of songs associated with weddings. Tales of schoolboys squashing snails seldom gets a bride in a romantic mood. The reason it chimes a chord with me is that at one wedding I went to the dancing got so frenetic during Baggy Trousers that a kind of wedding reception mosh pit occurred – into the midst of which the Groom disappeared. When the bodies cleared, we found him flat on his back, having been knocked over in the melee.
The Bride calmed down eventually.
The second song is my own wedding song. As many of you will have realised, I have a passing interest in music, and no doubt you will be expecting a judicious choice at my own celebration. Error. In fact, I left it all to my wife, who rather romantically chose a tune from a film we had seen at the cinema together on one of our first dates: Sleepless In Seattle. (RIP Nora Ephron).
The classic “When I Fall In Love” is a lovely choice no doubt you will agree. Whatever your musical inclinations, Nat King Cole is one of the greats…
Until I found out that the version on the Sleepless In Seattle soundtrack (and thus the one played for our First Dance) is sung by none other than the Canadian antiChrist herself, Celine Dion.
I calmed down eventually.
The final song is of all things, by the band Reef. When their hit song “Place Your Hands” was played, the combination of the advanced state of refreshment we were all in together with Reef guitarist Kenwyn House’s catchy guitar riff made this a winner. We ended up circling the Groom and played a sort of grown up version of the nursery rhyme “We All Pat The Dog” to Reef’s memorable tune and lyric. He seemed less than thrilled at our placing of hands on his head at relatively high velocity…
He calmed down eventually.
Reef took a break in 2003 after four albums. But now that self same guitarist (and part time National Trust property?) Kenwyn House has resurfaced, having combined with Faithless drummer Andy Treacey under the name Goldray. Their debut single, released 30th July has a psychedelic vibe to it and you can check it out below…
Record #63: Reef – Place Your Hands
Every record tells a story 
Leave a comment