Music to eat to. Romantically.

September 1, 2008 4:24 PM

Looking for suggestions of songs to be played during dinner at a fairly casual wedding.

No DJ, we're just using a PA and some variety of cd player. We're looking for mostly mainstream type mellow-ish music. The bride so far as come up with:

- Amy Winehouse
- Coldplay
- Radiohead
- Feist
- Verve
- The Smiths

So along the vein of those artists probably. At least vaguely romantic in tone/lyrics would probably be best. Thanks in advance, Hivemind!

posted by heavenstobetsy to Media & Arts (16 answers total)

Any kind of classic jazz would be great.
posted by mdonley at 4:29 PM on September 1, 2008

Recently
posted by nkknkk at 4:40 PM on September 1, 2008

Have you seen this thread from last week? There are a few mainstream items in there.

I am going with Madeline Peyroux for the casual cocktail hour part of my wedding next week. For more mainstream stuff, I'd probably do some of the Garden State soundtrack or Cat Power. And I still love David Grey, so I'd throw some of that in too. Oh, and definitely The Luckiest by Ben Folds.
posted by smalls at 4:44 PM on September 1, 2008

hmmm.... and the Beatles "When I'm 64" because it's just so darn cute.
posted by smalls at 4:49 PM on September 1, 2008

Response by poster: Yep, saw that thread, and I did get some good suggestions from it. We're not looking for anything as specific as blues and jazz though. In fact, staying slightly closer to rock and it's assorted related genres is probably preferred. Thanks!
posted by heavenstobetsy at 4:51 PM on September 1, 2008

Hawksley Workman would be good. Personally I'd recommend either [A House or Maybe a Boat] or [Safe & Sound], but don't see those on youtube.

Even better, check out Po' Girl. Here's a few more, from my server. Links'll last 2 weeks or so, depending on how many people I evangelize them to.
posted by Lemurrhea at 4:53 PM on September 1, 2008

Based on what you've got so far:


Belle and Sebastian -- Not sure what to recommend by them; a lot of their songs sound nice but have terribly unromantic lyrics. Like Seeing Other People, which is beautiful but also maybe not good for a wedding.
Jose Gonzalez -- Heartbeats
I-Nine -- Same in Any Language
Daniel Johnston, or covers of his work -- Good Morning You, as covered by The Rabbit, is good
David Mead -- Mine and Yours, Wherever You Are ... a multitude of others
Tom Petty -- I want to recommend a million of his songs, but I'll stick to Wildflowers, Accused of Love, Angel Dream, and Here Comes My Girl
Magnetic Fields -- something from 69 Love Songs might work well
Matthew Sweet -- Sick of Myself, maybe We're the Same
Pixies -- Here Comes Your Man
Cat Stevens -- The Wind? Someone must have a better recommendation, but I love that song.
The Weepies -- Gotta Have You
Wilco -- Reservations

I could think of more, but I've probably already given too many. :)
posted by brina at 5:12 PM on September 1, 2008

The Proclaimers - Let's get Married or Sunshine on Leith
James - Just Like Fred Astaire
10,000 Maniacs - These Are Days
The Cure - The Love Cats
David Gray - Please Forgive Me (It's more lovey-dovey than the title might suggest).
The Waterboys - The Whole of the Moon
Paul Weller - You Do Something to Me
Blondie - Rapture or Touched by Your Presence
(Inspired by the earlier post on the blue ) Madness - It must be Love
posted by Jakey at 5:28 PM on September 1, 2008

Jason Mraz
posted by meeshell at 5:41 PM on September 1, 2008

Well, having just DJed a wedding one week ago, here's a few selections that seemed to work for me at dinner time:

"This Guy's in love with you" Fastball
"Girl of the North Country" Waterboys
"Clouds (both sides now)" Neil Diamond
"I get a kick out of you" Gary Shearston
"Hello it's me" Isley Brothers
"Let's spend the night together" Claudine Longet
"Livin' Thing" Beautiful South
"I melt with you" Nouveau Vague
"Suzanne" Nina Simone
"Lay Lady Lay" Isaac Hayes
"Loves me like a rock" O'Jays
posted by philip-random at 6:21 PM on September 1, 2008

I'm not here to judge you or the bride's taste in music, but the bands you listed don't strike me as particularly romantic. Or mellow. To be honest, rock music can be a little jarring to listen to while eating. But you know your guests.

I think Frank Sinatra is a universal crowd pleaser and pleasant enough to eat dinner to.
posted by Wayman Tisdale at 8:19 PM on September 1, 2008

sountrack for 'The Wedding Singer'?
posted by docmccoy at 8:22 PM on September 1, 2008

What? No Phil Collins? :)
posted by Fezzer at 2:04 AM on September 2, 2008

Iron and Wine
Feist
The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
Big Star
ELO
The Flaming Lips (The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots)
Air
Chet Baker
Modest Mouse
Belle and Sebastian (seconding!)
Broken Social Scene

You'll probably have to pick and choose through all of these to avoid downers about heartbreak and/or inappropriate lyrics...
posted by dearest at 9:10 AM on September 2, 2008

The Decemberists! Their songs are usually pretty mellow, and the more upbeat ones are really fun.

We played The Decemberists at our wedding, before people got there and as they were filing in. We used iTunes and put all the songs we had from them into a playlist and hit random, which worked beautifully.
posted by meggan at 2:13 PM on September 2, 2008

I was at a wedding party a few years back where a friend DJ'd (via iPod playlist or maybe premade mix CD's). In terms of genre, the playlist was ALL OVER THE PLACE; rock, disco, hiphop, jazz, electronic, folk. It should have been jarring, but it worked. Grandmas and children and rabbis and young urban hipsters were all dancing and enjoying themselves.

The secret was that he chose only love songs.
posted by Cranialtorque at 6:19 PM on September 2, 2008