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Help: wedding song to make you cry!

10 Jan 00 - 04:52 PM (#160840)
Subject: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Emmie

A very close friend of mine is getting married in September. She has asked me to sing a song (acapella) at the part of the ceremony where they will sign their names in the book ( I think)She specifically requested a song that will make everyone cry or atleast get a lump in their throat!!(She's a real drama queen my friend!) This will all take place in a lovely old chapel I am told and have been told also that I have to wear a long floaty dress and look mystical!!(oh dear)

Anyway, the only songs I know specifically to do with marriage are comic. I want a song about love, marriage, joining together all that, that will work well acapella with a beautiful haunting tune. It can be a contemporary song but I would like it to have quite an old sound, kind of folky or medieval or hymn like if you know what I mean.

Please has anyone got any suggestions? It would really help if people can suggest a way of hearing the tune as well as taking down the lyrics so if anyone has recorded it please let me know.

I'm counting on you mudcatters I know you will come up with something!!

Emmie

10 Jan 00 - 04:59 PM (#160847)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Mbo

I guess "Anachie Gordon" is out of the question! I wrote a song with Sir Walter Scott's poem "Lochinvar" (about a bride who rides off with her true love while leaving her wimpy intended at the altar.) a while ago. Hmmm...let me think about this a little...I'll get back to you!

--Mbo

10 Jan 00 - 05:12 PM (#160856)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Peter T.

Emmie, you might want to check out the Forum search under wedding songs. We have had many threads about wedding songs, some cruder than others, but we have certainly had at least one very long thread asking for suggestions for favourite weepies. (I can't believe I didn't make a joke about Neil Diamond here. Must be the New Millenium resolutions kicking in.)
yours, Peter T.

10 Jan 00 - 05:17 PM (#160860)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: JenEllen

Favorite that I did at a wedding just last Saturday was Kate Wolf's "Two-Way Waltz" VERY WEEPY. Elle

10 Jan 00 - 05:22 PM (#160863)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: McGrath of Harlow

You could n't do much better than Thomas Moore, I reckon. And thanks for asking, because you pushed me into finding a great site about him with piano midis of a few of his songs, with the words as well. If you click here you'll get "Believe me if all those endearin' young charms". Which should bring a tear to any eyes when sung right.

(And in case the blue clicky thing doesn't work, here is the URL: http://www.contemplator.com/folk/believe.html)

10 Jan 00 - 05:29 PM (#160865)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Clinton Hammond2

Check Out Garnet Rogers New Album, Sparrow's Wing....

There's a song on it called All That Is...

Who can tell when in love you'll finally fall
Some live in vain and never love at all
But as lighting strikes or as a small insistent voice
If we are blessed we will hear and heed the call

Chorus
Give your love and never count the cost
Lose your heart and never call it lost
May your love be a shelter to the ending of your days
Love is all that is and all that ever was

May your love grow strong and always kind
May your hearts grow forever more entwined
In the brightest day or in the stillness of the night
May it be each other's hand you seek and find

Never more to be alone
Ever closer you have grown
Forever now may no distance come between
And in each other's loving hearts you find a home

I really hope the HTML stuff is right.... this board needs a preview feature for us dullards...

;-)

10 Jan 00 - 05:44 PM (#160873)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: bflat

Emmie, JenEllen suggested Kate Wolf's Two-Way Waltz. I love Kate's music and think "Give Yourself To Love" is perfect. It begins, "Kind friends all gather round..." Check this out. I get a great big lump in my throat over it.

10 Jan 00 - 06:07 PM (#160879)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Emmie

Thankyou for all that. I am checking out old threads on the forum as well. Where can I find lyrics and tunes by Kate Wolf?

10 Jan 00 - 06:08 PM (#160880)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Llanfair

When my sister renewed her vows last summer in a beautiful Welsh chapel, with all her friends and family there, I did "In My Life"
There wasn't a dry eye in the house.
I imagine it could be done A Cappella, but a simple accompaniment makes a huge difference. Hwyl, Bron.

10 Jan 00 - 06:21 PM (#160887)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Mary in Kentucky

What timing...I just got back from my son's wedding.

I've never seen this used, but I like "Come Share My Life" from the movie "How the West Was Won." It has the "who will shoe your foot" melodic theme used in the folk songs:
He's Gone Away
Ten Thousand Miles
and I think others

The words are quite lovely also:

Come share my life
You can make it wonderful
Make it wonderful
For a heart so much in love.
And I will give you spring
With skylarks on the wing
And precious memories gathered when our love was new.
And all the way, everyday, I'll be loving you.

...There's more...but I don't think the words can be posted publicly. Write me personally if you want them. Also I have a MIDI file if you write to me.

If you want a religious song (I think it would be Christian and Jewish), how about "On Eagles Wings." Don't quote me on this, but I think the "Eagles wings" metaphor is throughout the Old Testament. I particularly like the Isaiah 40 text. I think this could be done a capella if in a low enough key. If you need the words, I can come up with them in a week or so. The MIDI is here.

Good luck,
Mary in Kentucky

10 Jan 00 - 06:49 PM (#160898)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: JenEllen

Emmie: Have to go with bflat on "Give Yourself to Love", it's a tear jerker too.... A pretty comprehensive Kate Wolf site can be found at:KatePage

Good Luck! Elle

10 Jan 00 - 07:00 PM (#160904)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Gary T

Check out "My Only Love" and see if that fits the bill. It was a chart hit for the Statler Brothers about 15 years ago. It's very definitely wedding-appropriate, not necessarily a tear-jerker but beautiful sentiment, and I like the tune quite well. See what you think. If you can't find it, send me a personal message and I'll get you the lyrics, even sing it over the phone if need be.

10 Jan 00 - 07:20 PM (#160911)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From:

The late, great Kate Wolf recorded on her own label, Kaleidoscope Records, PO Box O, El Cerrito, CA 94530

"Two way Waltz" is on Kal. rec. C-11, Safe at Anchor, released in 1981. "Give Yourself to Love" is on her album of that name, Kal. rec. F-3000. There have been posthumous releases of her material, so both these songs may be on one "greatest hits" disc now. "Give Yourself to Love" is also in _Rise Up Singing_. I'll give you a little more of a taste of it...

Kind friends all gather round, there's something I would say

That what brings us together has blessed us all today

Love has made a circle that holds us all inside

Where strangers are as family, & lonliness can't hide

you must (chorus) Give yourself to love, if love is what you're after

Open up your hearts to the tears and laughter

And give yourself to love, give yourself to love

I've walked these mountains in the rain, I've learned to love the wind

I've been up before the sunrise to watch the day begin

I always knew I'd find you, tho' I never did know how

But like sunshine on a cloudy day, you stand before me now

so (chorus)

Love is born in fire, it's planted like a seed

Love can't give you everything, but it gives you what you need

Love comes when you're ready, love comes when you're afraid

It will be your greatest teacher, the best friend you have made, so

(chorus, usually 2x)

Well, that was the whole thing, not just a sample. The words are so beautiful, I just got carried away. The tune is beautiful, too. This one gets my vote!

Mary McCaffrey

10 Jan 00 - 08:03 PM (#160927)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: bob schwarer

Try Tom Paxton's "Outward Bound". I've always thought this would make a great wedding song.

Bob S.

10 Jan 00 - 09:59 PM (#160961)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: DougR

The old standby of the forties and early fifties: "Because!" I can supply the words but you'd have to rely on someone else to tell you where you can find the music.

DougR

11 Jan 00 - 03:42 PM (#161249)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Emmie

I think it is oging to take the next few days to check out all these songs and see if they are ok to sing a capella, but thankyou. So far I am quite keen on singing you'll never be the sun. I got the idea from one of the old threads on wedding songs and realised I had a copy of the song on tape. However I have to say the words really are beautiful for the kate wolf song, just not sure it would work a capelle. Good job I have a while to work all this out. Several months infact!

Thanks again everyone I really appreciate it.

11 Jan 00 - 04:40 PM (#161291)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: peg

I have sung "Call and Answer" at two weddings, and have heard it sung at several...now if I could only remember the name of the band that recorded it; contemporary folk/Celtic...mostly a male singer now, though a female singer in the past...um...they also do a version of Flower of Sweet Strathban... you can find it on one of their albums, at any rate...

also if you want something in Gaelic, consider the title track from No Dowry by Mairead ni Dhomnail;

partial translation: I would marry you if you had not two pennies to rub together..in the whiteness of the dawn, I would lay you down...In the castle of black rock, I would sleep with you, though we had nothing for our bed but a plain board of wood...

the song is beautiful, despite the oddity of this first verse...

hope this helps.

peg

11 Jan 00 - 05:56 PM (#161351)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: bikerchick-spike@home.com

Hawaiian Wedding Song

Andy Williams recorded it in 1960 or so.

11 Jan 00 - 05:56 PM (#161352)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: bikerchick-spike@home.com

Hawaiian Wedding Song

Andy Williams recorded it in 1960 or so.

12 Jan 00 - 08:23 AM (#161602)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: GeorgeH

Personally I'd always go for "The Wedding Song" as it's known to many folks in the SE of England (although not to the Coppers). Simply because to my mind it's one of the most beautiful of all folk songs. It's in the database under its more common title of "Come Write Me Down". And it certainly works unaccompanied . .

There are a couple of modern songs that run it close, but I forgot to bring those in with me today.

G.

12 Jan 00 - 02:31 PM (#161744)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Emmie

George H, I sung the wedding song and also (don't know proper name)I'm going to be married on Monday morning at my Dads wedding last summer. This was a very interesting experience I can tell you. The wedding took place in Finland as my Dad now lives there with his Finnish partner. Her mother is an opera singer and she (partner) is a classical pianist (my Dad used to be a folk singer) Lots of people got up and sung or played and it was all classical stuff. When My Dad and me sung it was very funny as they really did not know what to make of it!! Typical of Finnish people though they were very polite. One man came up to me and said oh that was very interesting, that is music that peasants do isn't it?

13 Jan 00 - 09:43 AM (#162143)
Subject: ADD: The turn of the road (Barker) & Red Roses
From: GeorgeH

Emmie, I applaud your taste. And the wedding sounds a really wonderful experience.

In general, I prefer songs with a touch of "hard reality" alongside the romance, so here's two contemporary offerings I think deserve to be better known:


The Turn Of The Road
(Les Barker)

Will you walk with me beyond the road's turning,
Where day takes the valley that leads into night?
Love, will you walk with me all through my journey
Or only till the light?

Believe me, I need you; don't think of leaving;
This evening your love lights my way to the dawn;
Don't leave me here now you've got me believing
Tomorrow I'll wake new-born.

If you love me as I love you
Who cares how dark the night may appear;
If you love me as I love you
I will know no fear.

The signs on the road are just there to mislead you
At times I misread them, though I was so wise;
The turn of the road, love, that's where I need you;
Tears always blind my eyes.

Will you walk with me beyond the road's turning,
Where day takes the valley that leads into night?
Love, will you walk with me all through my journey
Or only till the light?

Love will you hold me through all my life's evenings?
Love, will you take the road right to the end?
I've never had someone I can believe in;
Forever my lover, my friend.


Red Roses (Jessica Ruby Simpson)

When first I loved you I was a flower
Bent by the wind in the stormy late hour
Tossing by night and scattered by day
Laughing and lonely and blown away

And you gathered me up like a bunch of red roses
Gathered me easily into your arms
You gathered me up like a bunch of red roses
Scattered around in the wake of a storm

And there in your arms for the joy of the roses
You took the thorns with the flowers you found
There in your arms for the joy of the roses
You took the thorns with the flowers you found


I was here and there and everywhere
With no promises to keep and no fences worth mending
Wicked I smiled like some lost angel child
Come falling home to you
Don't I belong to you?


In addition to that, if you can pull it off I'd certainly consider "The first time ever I saw your face" (which, sung well and preferably unaccompanied, is guaranteed to bring a lump to my throat).

Be happy (more often than not)!

George

13 Jan 00 - 02:14 PM (#162259)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Emmie

Thank you George H, both songs have beautiful words and I will have to check out those two artists that wrote them, hadn't heard of them before. This is fun, I'm glad I have so long to get ready for this wedding as I'm sure I will find it hard to choose from all these songs.

14 Jan 00 - 01:25 AM (#162602)
Subject: ADD: Huree, Huroo (Tiree Love song)
From: PJ

There is a lovely traditional scottish(?) song called Huree, Huroo. The lyrics are:

CHORUS:
Huree, Huroo, my bonnie wee lass,
Huree, Huroo, my fair one
And will you come away, my love, to be my own
My rare one?

Smiling the land, smiling the sea,
Sweet was the smell of the heather,
Would we were yonder, just you and me
The two of us together

CHORUS

All the day long, down by the peat,
Then by the shore in the gloaming,
Tripping it lightly with dancing feet,
And we together roaming.

CHORUS
And will ye come away, my love,
To be my own, my rare one?
This song has been recorded actually accapella, by a celtic harpist/singer by the name of Roger Helfrick. He has a beautiful voice and gets quite a bit of airplay on CKUA radio -awesome site for folk!! They have a website in real audio. Contact Andy Donelly at CKUA, and he will put you in touch with Roger if you would like a CD.

09 Nov 00 - 11:28 PM (#337610)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: GUEST,Andrea

Help! Does anybody have the lyrics to Kate Wolf's "Two Way Waltz"? My mother loves this song and I would love to be able to sing it to her. Can anybody help me?

09 Nov 00 - 11:44 PM (#337619)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: BK

PP&M's "wedding song" would work a'capella, but not too tear jerky & very christian theme (& words a little chauvenest - as well as not fully logical), but I'd seriously consider, as mentioned above, Kate Wolf's "Give Yourself to Love," which I've sung (& accompanied myself on guitar) at a wedding & it seems to go over very well.

(& at least the last wedding, w/Kate Wolf's song, has not ended in divorce yet)

Cheers, BK

10 Nov 00 - 10:22 AM (#337860)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: L R Mole

"The Mexican Hat Dance" would, I think, not be good.

11 Nov 00 - 12:22 AM (#338458)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: GUEST,Victoria

Robert Burns' "My Love is like a Red Red Rose" always does it for me, weep-wise! :-) - Victoria

11 Nov 00 - 12:44 AM (#338464)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Matt_R

What about Bob Dylan's "Wedding Song" from PLanet Waves? That's such a gorgeous song...I want to play it one day at my wedding, IF I have one!

11 Nov 00 - 04:51 PM (#338781)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: GUEST,Chocolate Pi (cookieless)

There's a really beautiful one on Magpie's CD "Give Light." I don't have the CD case handy, but I believe the title is something like "Safe Harbour;"
"In you I have safe harbour, a refuge from the storm
As long as you are holding me, I know no one can do me any harm."

Chocolate Pi

12 Nov 00 - 11:29 AM (#339184)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: JTT

Perhaps it's a bit cynical, but if you want something that will *really* bring tears to the eyes (at least of the married people in the room), what about the Dublin song that starts "Before I got married, I wore a black shawl, but now that I'm married I wear bugger-all; ah, but still I love him, can't deny him, I'll go with him wherever he goes"?

13 Nov 00 - 04:54 AM (#339585)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: mcpiper

If there is a hint of Scottishness? about the wedding, maybe the Crookit Bawbee would go well, although I have no idea where to find the lyrics. Were it my wedding, I would love either Endearing Young Charms or My Love is like a Red Red Rose, sob sob.
Good luck
mcpiper

14 Nov 00 - 09:10 AM (#340398)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Garry Gillard

The Coppers' version of The Wedding Song, under the title "Come Write Me Down" is on my Coppers site here.

Garry

14 Nov 00 - 01:02 PM (#340554)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: annamill

Ahh Guys..Emmie asked this question in Jan for a friend getting married in September. We're a little late. I'd like to know what she sang though.

My wedding song was "Thank You" by Led Zeppelin. Beautiful.

Love, annamill

14 Nov 00 - 02:39 PM (#340639)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: GUEST,Matt_R

Should the sun refuse to shine, I'll still be loving you..

14 Nov 00 - 02:51 PM (#340646)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: mousethief

Thanks, Matt, you too.

In addition to those mentioned above, another snog appropriate to be sung at a wedding is Billy Joel's You're My Home.

Alex
O..O
=o=

14 Nov 00 - 03:02 PM (#340653)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Matt_R

Here are the lyrics to Wedding Song, BTW.

14 Nov 00 - 03:10 PM (#340655)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: GUEST,9deaneje@richuish.ac.uk

My personal favourite would have to be aclassic by Nina SImone, My baby just cares for me, but difficult to do a cappella maybe?

14 Nov 00 - 03:57 PM (#340676)
Subject: RE: Help: wedding song to make you cry!
From: Tiger

Nora and I sang Tom Paxton's "Outward Bound" to our daughter and about-to-be in their August wedding ceremony. We're not great, mind you, but the result was wonderful. Certainly, personalizing the ceremony is memorable for the wedding couple.

Anyway, "Outward Bound" is a marvelously appropriate wedding song - Paxton gets a lot of images and feeling into three short stanzas. I put him at the top of the contemporary songwriters list (sorry, John, Bob and Paul), though I'm not thrilled with his recent stuff.