Folksongs Appropriate for a Wedding

Subject: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From:
Date: 19 May 98 - 02:08 PM

My son is getting married and I have been asked to play guitar and/or banjo(ouch) as part of the ceremony. Any ideas?

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Bert
Date: 19 May 98 - 02:26 PM

Just a few, some of which may or may not be appropriate

The Cornish Nightingale
Dear OL' Dutch
I've got sixpence
Two eyes of blue
Begorrah

Bert.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Tim O'K
Date: 19 May 98 - 03:26 PM

Rap, definitely a gangsta rap folksong would be great.

two other folk type songs (but really, what is a folksong? ... kidding!) that are nice and tres appropriate:

Patty Larkin's A Love That's Day to Day Shawn Colvin's version of This must be the place

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Jack (Who is called Jack)
Date: 19 May 98 - 04:05 PM

To emphasise the freindship aspects of marraige I would try

Its a Pleasure to Know You (by Si Kahn I think). You can find it on "When Howie Met Sally - Sally Rogers and Howie Burnsten"

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: alison
Date: 19 May 98 - 07:01 PM

Hi,

"Red is the rose", ... it should be in the database. Great chorus, easy tune, everyone can sing along.

Slainte

Alison

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Gene
Date: 19 May 98 - 08:21 PM

Why a folksong? Why not one of Hank Snow's songs?

WITH THIS RING I THEE WED

MARRIAGE VOW

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Will
Date: 19 May 98 - 08:56 PM

You might try Mairi's Wedding, especially if one of the nuptial couple is a variant of Mairi/Mary/Marie/andsoforth. It's in the DT.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Pete M
Date: 19 May 98 - 09:16 PM

At our wedding service we had Maries Wedding and Searching for lambs. At the reception we had courtesy of my "Best man" Maid when you're young never wed an old man!!!!??!

Pete M

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 19 May 98 - 09:29 PM

We did a wedding one time where the bride requested the NRBQ tune "This Love is True." Since it was two vocalists with two guitars, it became instant folk, and made a beautiful song for a wedding ceremony.

There's always "The Wedding Song" by Paul Stuckey and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" by Paul Simon.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 19 May 98 - 09:45 PM

Oh yeah, at our own wedding, we had friends do (among other things) "In My Life" by the Beatles.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Barbara (last time)
Date: 19 May 98 - 09:48 PM

Sorry about that. I wondered how people double posted, and now I know how to do it. Reload, and when some "unimportant" question pops up, say yes. . .

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Nora
Date: 19 May 98 - 10:14 PM

Kate Wolf's Give Yourself to Love seems particularly appropriate at weddings.

I have lyrics and chords if you want them -- I don't think it's in the database

Nora

Subject: Lyr Add: With This Ring I Thee Wed^^
From: Gene
Date: 19 May 98 - 10:24 PM

WITH THIS RING I THEE WED
Recorded by Hank Snow
Written by S. Nelson, J. Rollins and E. Nelson, Jr.

With This Ring I Thee Wed
An Angel here beside me
Just a moment more and Heaven will be mine
With This RIng I Thee Wed
As every dream inside me
Comes true each time I hear the church bells chime.

This little band of gold I hold
Will soon be on your finger
A Kiss, a vow, a moment so divine
With This Ring I Thee Wed
And now you're mine forever
To have and hold until the end of time.

With our hearts tied as one
We leave the church together
Together as we know we'll always be
In a life just begun
This day will live forever
Like blossoms in a treasured memory.

Your big bouquet may fade away
But as the years go by dear
I'll take your hand and say each day anew
With This Ring I Thee Wed
I vow I love you truly
And every day you'll hear me say I do.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 May 98 - 11:12 PM

Nora, when you search the database, you can sometimes have better luck if you choose a complete phrase that's contained in the song, and then enclose it in square brackets. If you put [give yourself to love] in the search box of the upper-right corner of the page, you'll find it. Nice song, isn't it? I find it's just a little too difficult for group singings, though.
Chords are:
C Am F C / - Am F G
C G F C / - Am FG F -
CHORUS: C Am FG C / - aM g - / C Am FG C -

The song for weddings that comes to mind just now is Cole Porter's "True Love," from the movie "High Society." Not folk, I suppose, but I think it would sound nice with a single voice and a guitar.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: BK
Date: 20 May 98 - 12:23 AM

Recently did "Give Yourself to Love" and Paul's "There is Love" at a wedding; both were extremely well recieved, even though the crowd was not particularly folkie. I'd advise considering swapping the order of the last 2 verses of Kate's song... You might also consider the wedding song from "Fiddler on the Roof." I think it's called "Sunrise, Sunset?" It has the lines about "is this the little girl I carried," etc... Also how about "Turn Around?" Depends partly on the relationship of the performer to the persons getting married..

Cheers, & break a leg! BK

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: rosebrook
Date: 20 May 98 - 02:48 AM

This song has become a source of agitation for me now. It reminds me of a song which I really like about two people getting married for the third time (not to each other three times, but like three time's a charm?). It's a waltz, and it's just really down-to-earth and folksie and touching....some of the lyrics are: .we'll hire us a band that plays nothing but our requests....Just me in my suit while I waltz you around, and you in your off-white dress...anybody know the name of this song?

Rosebrook

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 20 May 98 - 08:04 AM

Give a listen to Tom Paxton's "Outward Bound".

Bob S.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Bert
Date: 20 May 98 - 09:04 AM

Kisses Sweeter than Wine

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Big Mick
Date: 20 May 98 - 10:42 AM

You might consider "One Hand, One Heart" from West Side Story, done acoustically. Neil Diamond recorded it on one of his more obscure albums. Also, Babs Streisand. My Irish band was asked to play for a wedding, and the Bride asked us to do this song, so we arranged it using a guitar and whistle and it was beautiful.

Also, Mairi's Wedding is a grand recessional. Listen to the Chieftains with Van Morrison's version on Irish Heartbeat (or is it Celtic Heartbeat?)

Mick

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Bill D
Date: 20 May 98 - 01:32 PM

At my wedding 17 years ago, the processional was "Southwind" on dulcimer and concertina...sung at the ceremony were "Ned of the Hill" (the #2 version in the database) and "Chickens in the Garden".....and perhaps the highlight of the reception/party was "Will His Love be like His Rum" great fun....drank exotic beer and sang for hours! Have it all on tape...

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: John Nolan
Date: 20 May 98 - 08:03 PM

If you don't mind weddings that finish up in a riot, there's The Tinkers' Wedding, of which a snatch goes:

The bridegroom was wild Norman Scott
Who thrice had tied the nuptial knot,
And yince was sentenced tae be shot,
For breach o' marshall order-o.
His gleesome jo was Madge McKell,
A speywife match for Nick himsel'
Wi' glamor and cantrip, charm and spell,
She frichted baith the borders-o.

The tune is the same as The Day We Went to Rothsay-o, but this song came first, and dates back to the late 1700s.

Subject: Lyr Add: Love Chooses You^^
From: Roger Himler
Date: 20 May 98 - 08:50 PM

It's not really folk, more like country, but with a folk heart: "Love Chooses You" by Laurie Lewis (maybe)

Love comes unbidden, can't be forbidden.
It takes you and shakes you right down to your shoes.
Knows heartaches and trials, but accepts no denials.
You can't choose who you love, love chooses you.

In the wink of an eye love looses an arrow,
We can fault it no more than the flight of the sparrow,
The swell of the tide and the light of the moon,
You can't choose who you love, love chooses you.

CHO:
Tell me now am I wrong? Are you feeling the same?
Are your feet on the ground? Are you calling my name?
Do you lie awake nights? Please, say you do.
You can't choose who you love, love chooses you.

Love comes like a torch to a heart behind steel,
And though you may hide it, love knows how you feel.
And though you may trespass on the laws of the land,
Your heart has to follow when love takes your hand. CHO:

It seems we're two people within the same circle,
It's drawn tighter and tighter 'til you're all that I feel.
And I'm full and I'm empty, and your loves pourin' through me.
Like the warm rain a'fallin' through the leaves of the tree. CHO:

I would also give a second vote for Wolf's "Give Yourself to Love" and Paxton's "Outward Bound."

May the event be blessed!!!

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Art Thieme
Date: 27 May 98 - 01:45 PM

Woody Guthrie's "Philladelphia Lawyer"

Subject: Lyr Add: THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU (Ray Noble)^^
From: Jack (who is called Jack)
Date: 28 May 98 - 12:06 PM

Some folks suggested songs that drifted away from the "folk" spectrum. I'll suggest one other from the popular ballads.

THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU.
Not sure about the author. It's either Gershwin, Eubie Blake, Hoagie Carmichael, or some such.

The very thought of you
And I forget to do
All those ordinary things that everyone ought to do
I'm living in a kind of daydream
I'm happy as a king
Funny though it still seems to me, it's everything.
The mere idea of you
The longing here for you
You'll never know how slow the moments go till I am near to you.
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you
The very thought of you my love

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: farris
Date: 28 May 98 - 08:39 PM

This one's a little upbeat, but at our wedding, the recessional was Hank Williams's "Baby, We're Really in Love." It kinda got people in a party mood before the reception.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Sir
Date: 28 May 98 - 11:36 PM

I mentioned in another thread that I played a 'pretty' version of "Crawdad Hole" on the piano as prelude music for the wedding of my niece. (and no one noticed what I was playing) "Froggy Went a Courtin'" might be fun at some point when you don't have to be too serious. "Longer" though not 'folk' is a pretty song for weddings and would sound very nice with a guitar accompaniment and would sound even better if you could find a woodwind instrument to take the trumpet solo that Dan Fogelberg had in his recording.

Subject: Lyr Add: COULD I HAVE THIS DANCE? (Anne Murray)^^
From: Sheye
Date: 29 May 98 - 12:12 AM

Not folk...or is it?

COULD I HAVE THIS DANCE?
Recorded by Anne Murray

I'll always remember the song they were playing
The first time we danced and I knew
As we swayed to the music and held to each other
I fell in love with you.

CHORUS:
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Would you be my partner every night?
When we're together it feels so right could I have this dance
For the rest of my life?

I'll always remember that magic moment
when I held you close to me
As we moved together I knew forever
you're all I'll ever need

Chorus,

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From:
Date: 29 May 98 - 05:31 AM

What about 'Leezy Lindsay'?

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: AndreasW
Date: 02 Jun 98 - 04:26 AM

at a friend's wedding they played
In a country churchyard
(from Chris de Burgh)

It's a lovely song and (as I think) very appropriate [did I get this word right?]
Andreas

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Mark Fry
Date: 02 Jun 98 - 12:53 PM

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 02 Jun 98 - 11:33 PM

Mark- Try a search on [Come write] You'll get the song, and a free parody as well.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Whippoorwill
Date: 03 Jun 98 - 10:34 AM

If you want to give some advice to the groom, how about Wee Cooper o' Fife?

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Tom
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 02:51 AM

Note to Rosebrook--I think you're looking for Bill Morrissey's song "Off-White Dress."

I've also heard Richard Thompson's "Dimming of the Day" sung at a wedding & thought it was a nice choice. And, you probably don't have to be in Texas to have that I-could-"Waltz Across Texas"-with-you feeling ("When you look at me with those stars in your eyes...")

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: SlowAlan
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 10:22 AM

When I used to dance the Morris, at weddings we used to play an old Morris tune called "Getting Upstairs" It had a bastardised chorus : "Some like whiskey, some like tea, some like a little girl just like me(ritual half pint) such a gettin upstairs and playin on the fiddle such a getting upstairs you never did see"

We also played "Haste to the Wedding", and "Marie's Wedding",and sang "Rocking the Cradle" with its chorus of "Oh dear, rue the day ever I married...how I wish I were single again". We also sang "Sorry the day I was married, sorry the day I was wed, oh if I for a moment had tarried when I to the altar was led..."

As you see..marriage is ambivalent for Morrismen - it of course means good fertility, but can also mean the loss of a good dancer and drinking partner if the new wife is shrewish.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: aldus
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 01:50 PM

I would suggest "Wedding Song" by Bob Dylan. It is one of the lovliest songs ever. It is on the Planet Waves album. I have played it at Weddings several times and those who have never heard it beore find it a surprise that it is A Bob Dylan song.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: AnnieT
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 04:40 PM

A big ditto on "Give Yourself to Love" - my daughter sang it at our wedding (2nd time around!), I sang harmony. We also sang "Call and Answer" to each other, from DeDannon's "Jacket of Batteries" album.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: JVZ
Date: 05 Jun 98 - 12:45 AM

I have been waiting for years for someone to ask me to sing at a wedding so that I could sing Woody Guthrie's "It Takes a Married Man to Sing a Worried Song." Maybe that's why I never get asked.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: goya
Date: 05 Jun 98 - 09:25 PM

I was sure that the post by aldus was wrong 'till I checked the dylan data base at . Guess I confused "Wedding Song" with Noel Paul Stookey's "The Wedding Song". I have also heard any number of the Psalms and I Chor 13) done with single voice and guitar as folk songs. Probably from an early wedding song book for folk style weddings. I have done them. They are very easy, but I cannot remember where they were printed.

Subject: Lyr Add: The Riddle Song (variant)^^
From: JB3
Date: 06 Jun 98 - 03:31 AM

Traditional folk songs tend to be more often about the loss of love than the finding of it. Lots of gloom and doom and very few happy endings. There are several Riddle Song versions that I know and I did sing this one at a friend's wedding:

I will give my love and apple without e'er a core
I will give my love a dwelling without e'er a door
I will give my love a palace wherein she might be
That she might unlock it without e'er a key

How can there be an apple without e'er a core, etc.

My head is the apple without e'er a core
My heart is the dwelling without e'er a door
My life is the palace wherein she might be
And she might unlock it without e'er a key

Subject: Lyr Add: ALONE IN THE BEDROOM . . .^^
From: Frank in the swamps
Date: 08 Jun 98 - 12:21 AM

Diggin' way back in the ol' memory here. This is from Wat Nichol, an album called "Wat a Night" it was popular in Scotland more than twenty years ago, and it's been that long since I heard it, if anyone over there can give us a correct version, it would be a great addition to the database...

Alone in the bedroom the bride & the groom,
Go to bed for the first time on their honeymoon.
Says the wife, "One condition to which you'll be bound,
If you want to sleep with me, 'twill cost you a pound.
Not only tonight, but as long as we're wed,
Put all thoughts of freedom right out of your head.
Sure a pound in the hand brings a night of sheer bliss.
If you don't pay the pound, there's not even a kiss."

Now the guests they are happy with whisky and beer,
While this couple they celebrate twenty-five years,
And the wife calls the company to gather around,
As she gives to her husband some three thousand pounds.
"All the pounds that you gave me I put safely away,
Intending to surprise you on this happy day."
"Sure if I'd have known this was what you'd meant to do,
I'd have made sure I gave all my business to you!"

That's as well as I remember it. If you want to play it safe, I've found that "Ashoken Farewell" always goes over well at weddings. If we could just get Ken Burns to do a documentary on folk music.

Frank i.t.s.

Subject: Lyr Add: The November Wedding^^
From: mulley
Date: 08 Jun 98 - 08:38 AM

All the other messages seem to have some wonderful and very appropriate songs for weddings. Here is my favorite, It's called November wedding by Vin Garbutt and can be found on his CD (Called The By-pass Syndrome) He accompanies this lovely song with the tune The South Wind. Here are the words in case you can't find them anywhere.

November Wedding.

Dancing and singing and bringing in flowers in springtime,
In Autumn for you love thoughts of the true love that I hold for you love,
For I have no other it bothers me not that my lot is with you for a lifetime and long,
O my love it grows stronger it knows no bounds,

Sounds on the south wind and whistling and wedding rings glistening on fingers,
And singers of songs raising voices rejoicing the choice of each other,
As partners in marriage the carriage that carries us in to future,
With presents material feelings etherial,
Casting the fear of all trouble and strife that this life has to offer.
And I have no other it bothers me not that my lot is with you for a lifetime and long
O my love it grows stronger it knows no bounds.

Sorry this is only a rough outline from my head but the complete words should be available somewhere on the net. Let me know if this is any good.
From Mulley.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Alice
Date: 02 Nov 98 - 12:38 PM

Refresh for request on thread titled "Special Occasion Songs"

alice in montana

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 02 Nov 98 - 09:21 PM

All the above choices seem very good. My only advice is to stay away from F.J. Child nos. 17 and 53.

All the best.

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Lucia
Date: 03 Nov 98 - 12:22 AM

Plenty of folk songs but songs which went really well in the past were:

SO HAPPY TOGETHER - This is an old pop, but is away from the usual mish mash, golly gosh and simply states what a really good marriage is all about.

WIND BENEATH MY WINGS - Goes without saying - brilliant

In the more traditional Irish vein there is: TAKE HER IN YOU ARMS - upbeat and to the point

LAKES OF PONTCHARTRAIN - tissue job though ,

Subject: Lyr Add: STANDING AT THE ALTAR
From: The Shambles
Date: 03 Nov 98 - 06:07 AM

This is probably not to be sung at a wedding and not to be taken too seriously but it is my latest baby and belongs to all of you at the Mudcat, for it was you who inspired it. It was one of those songs that appear to write themselves. It's out of my 'minimalist' period and has two chords, the 1st and 7th. The sub-title is... A Single Man's Second Thoughts.

STANDING AT THE ALTAR

I would like to say I love you but I just don't know
I would like a love that flowers but this just won't grow
I'm counting up the hours, they run so slow
I would like to say I'll miss you but you just won't go

CHORUS: I just can't seem to see the wood from the trees
You won't find me at my best at moments like these
It's not the ground that's shaking. It's just my knees
I'm standing at the altar, Lord help me please

I say that there's no water at the bottom of this well
It maybe smells of roses but I've lost my sense of smell
I would like to say it's special but I can't tell
I would like to say it's heaven but it feels like hell. CHORUS

I'm just try to tell you everything's gone wrong
But you just carry on singing that same old song
You don't know what you've got until it's gone
I know what I got and I know it don't belong. CHORUS

They say that a good woman may turn water into wine
I think maybe somebody must have left the cork in mine
All the things you're saying only come out as a whine
But when you're far away, you will sound just fine. CHORUS

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Pete Peterson
Date: 04 Nov 98 - 10:55 PM

Night before Betty Vornbrock (of Autumn Wind cases and gigbags) and Billy Cornette (of Reed island Farm, which grows the best Christmas trees in VA and I have seen the blue ribbon that proves it) got married we were singing them such wonderful songs as Beware O Take Care (Blind Alfred Reed) Look Before You Leap (Charlie Poole) No Place like Home for a Married Man (Martin and Hobbs) God Made Woman After Man (Blind Alfred Reed) The Man who Wrote the Home Sweet Home Never Was a Married Man (Parker and Woolbright) Sorry the Day I was Married (Johnstons?) The Baldheaded End of a Broom (Grandpa Jones) they got married anyway

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: harpgirl
Date: 05 Nov 98 - 02:24 PM

Just so I can get next to Pete Peterson somehow, may I suggest "One I Love" by Jean Ritchie. If I ever get married again (my friends tell me definitely NOT TO) I would want that song... harpgirl

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Anne
Date: 05 Nov 98 - 10:16 PM

One my favorite songs for a wedding "Since You've Asked." It can be found on Dan Folgelberg/Tim ? Twin sons of different mothers or better yet Judy Collins -- ...What I'll give you since you've asked is all my time together...

ROSEBROOK: The song you're looking for is by Bill Morrissey, one of New England's best singer-songwriters. It's actually about a second marriage. He wrote it for his wife Ellen. He's also written a book, --EDSON-- which is set in New England and is loosely about music. Alot of references about music and guitars and the life of a former folk-singer. A good read.

Anne in Hartford, CT

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: Ronda
Date: 05 Nov 98 - 11:01 PM

The Blackest Crow is a lovely song. Also, If I Were a Featherbed (John McCutcheon). I've done both for weddings. Both have verses that can be bittersweet, but thouse can be altered or left out.

The blackest crow that ever flew would surely turn to white, if ever I prove false to you bright day would turn to night. Bright day would turn to night my love, the elements would mourn, if ever I prover false to you, the seas would rage and burn. (1st verse)

If I were a featherbed, in your house so fine, I'd hold you in my arms each night and keep you warm in the wintertime. If I were an old wool rug sitting in your front hall, I'd tickl your feet and make you laugh if you stepped on me at all. (1st verse)

Subject: RE: FOLKSONGS APPROPRIATE FOR A WEDDING
From: John Nolan
Date: 05 Nov 98 - 11:48 PM

"She gaun tae be wad tae anither" (or its English equivalent is probably in the data base. Some people sing this verse, which would surely be a hit at any wedding:
The clerk o' the parish, he gied a loud cry
If ye've ony objections, then bring them by,
And I thocht tae masel' guid objections hae I
But I hadnae the will tae confront her.

Then there's always:
"They're burning down the house I was brung up in
And they're yelling come on out and take your bride...
etc., etc.