have been listening to tori amos' strange little girls, which i've had for years but i don't think i've ever listened to the whole thing. previously i was put off by tori being too...well...tori, but today i'm enjoying its weird darkness. this was brought on by watching the west wing last night when they used her cover of 'i don't like mondays' to moving effect and remembering that i actually do rather like tori's music, even her covers.
which oddly reminds me that i have to start thinking of what i'm going to sing at emma and stuart's wedding during the signing of the register (definitely not 'i don't like mondays'!). oh, no, it was reading karen's blog that did it and thinking that the finn brothers' 'won't give in' is a gorgeous wedding song. i would quite like to sing ben folds' 'the luckiest', but then i know another couple who walked down the aisle to that and it might not be em and stuart's taste - although they have had absolutely no suggestions for music, and are leaving it up to me. which is a bit freaky, really.
it's such a privilege to be asked to do music for someone's wedding. i was really touched that tom and vanessa asked john and i to lead the singing last year at their wedding, and i loved when we did 'you loved me' with 3 part harmony at kim and brendan's wedding a couple of years ago. i know they would be happy with whatever i chose to sing, but i really want it to be special of course!
hmm. i'd best think on this awhile.
Do you have a favourite song to sing at weddings?
ReplyDeletedo you mean solo or congregationally? solo, i have no idea...though i do have to say 'you loved me' worked really well.
ReplyDelete'in Christ alone' seems to be becoming the anthem that people sing for any occasion - which is fine, because it's a great song! a girl i grew up with had 'the servant song' at her wedding, which i don't particularly like but the sentiment behind it is a great thing to focus on at a wedding.
it's weird, i've never really thought about what songs i would choose for a wedding. if anything, between mum and our friend barbara, it's usually "oh you have to play this at my funeral" - mum's absolute must have is "it is well with my soul", which already i can't sing without getting teary! :) and barbara's is "one step away from glory".
how about you? (faves for weddings, i mean)
I am totally biased—I walked down the aisle to “Love With Me” by Keith Green and since then it's been my most favourite wedding song ever but no one else I know has ever used it for a wedding. But the lyrics are just fantastic:
ReplyDeleteYou want to love with me,
love with me then.
I only ask that you still be my friend
for there are many where friendship's unknown;
they live together but they're really alone
and the days go their way in silence,
tense hours of woe.
We do not mean to have it so.
(and the rest of them are up here).
I've never gotten into “In Christ Alone” as much as other people have. I like “How Deep the Father's Love” better.
A wedding solo needs to be something special—not something you'd necessarily sing as a congregational number (or else you'd do it a bit differently).
In terms of solos for weddings, I like the following (though I haven't necessarily heard them as solos at a wedding):
Thanksgiving (Ruth Buchanan)
Song of the Wealthy Beggar (Ruth Buchanan)
I saw the Lord (Matthew Salvetti—except it's hard)
Congregational songs I would love to sing at weddings:
How Deep the Father's Love
Rock of Ages
Jesus, Your Blood and Righteousness
Salvation Belongs to Our God
See Him Coming
Tell Out My Soul, the Greatness of the Lord
That Day (Ruth Buchanan)
Great God, What Do I See and Hear? (Philip Percival)
You are My Son (Philip Percival)
Hmm, there are a couple of eschatological ones in there ... fitting, really.