wedding liner notes
So, Jen and I got married. Some of you were invited, and to others this may come as surprising news. (We were surprised perhaps most of all: eight-odd years into a relationship between two individuals, neither of whom believe in the BS medieval patriarchical property ritual of marriage, after having two kids and long after moving in and starting
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Nellie McKay - I Wanna Get Married: What a complete straddling of the irony line! She can't be serious... can she?
Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Heartbeats Accelerating: Some Mcgarrigle content was mandatory, but it's hard to pick, given how anything biographical of theirs leads to heartbreak, tragedy and (one generation later) genius. It's just, uh, a bad omen to play I Eat Dinner at your own wedding.
Veda Hille - the Williamsburg Bridge: No, we did not get married because we had a baby, however much it might have been in keeping with family tradition. (Unaware that most of my classmates from Richie Rich Elementary would be from broken families, my parents tied the knot when I was five under the premise that it might prove advantageous to me.) My sister attended U-Hill Secondary with Veda as a classmate, though she was much closer friends with the song's co-author Suzie Ungerleider aka O Susanna.)
Colin Meloy (after The Smiths) - Ask: Ashley introduced me to this great song when I polled friends for suggested songs for my band to learn. We made an arrangement of it, but never performed it.
John Prine - In Spite Of Ourselves: Joey Only, frontman of my other historical band, had Prine's "Spanish Pipedream" performed live at his wedding. This one is pretty good also!
Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face: A great song with a great creepy-romantic origin story behind it. But things turned out well enough in the end, so why be so jugdmental?
Stefanie Roy (after Hawksley Workman) - You And The Candles: Post-apocalyptic love songs have been among my favorite genres ever since Leah Abramson's "Landfill". We absolutely had to find a cover, though, because Hawksley's friends have all been too polite to tell him that he can't hit that key change at the end and shouldn't even try.
Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger - What The Poet Called Her: A perpetual reminder that I must be a better husband.
Bruce Cockburn - Lovers In A Dangerous Time: OK, so our times haven't been too dangerous for us, personally. That's not to say they won't! Tempted to use the Barenaked Ladies version, as our introduction to the tune, but only briefly.
Brother Ali - Fresh Air: This is the upbeat song Ali chose as his first pick to introduce his work when he came to visit Prince at Paisley Park. After the first sentence, Prince shut him down, citing foul language.
Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers - Islands In The Stream: Campy, but sincere. Written by Barry Gibbs of the Bee Gees! This is as good a place as any to own up that I omitted a pile of Jen's hip-hop selections (largely the Coup, who are great) from this playlist (just ending up as a pile at the end) because unless they're Ghetto Superstar, I have no ability to make them fit intermingled with tunes such as this. The DJ's curatorial magic only goes so far!
Stevie Wonder - Living For the City: My resolutely committing to discuss this (awesome) song after Jen tried to brush me off is very likely responsible for our having a relationship.
Be Good Tanyas (after Geoff Berner) - Keep It Light Enough To Travel: No direct Berner representation on this playlist (and where's all the accordion, anyway?) but we sneak a little in here. Haven't heard it in a while, have you? Isn't it great? Maybe not great relationship advice.
Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime: No rehearsed dance moves needed for our first dance, it would be impossible to be as awkward as David Byrne's cultivated (and Toni Basil-choreographed!) canonical moves.
Ruth Moody (after Bruce Springsteen) - Dancing In The Dark: Left to her druthers, Jen could have been perfectly happy with an all-Bruce playlist, so sometimes you have to strategize alternate approaches to mix things up a little.
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Duplex - Dog With A Sweater On: Lights up, everybody out, party's over! (This song is one of Clara's faves.)
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