So only happy Nick Drake, right?

July 11, 2007 12:52 PM

Help me decide what song(s) to play at a friend's wedding?

One of my closest friends is getting married in a month and has asked me to play guitar during the ceremony at his wedding. I've known he and his fiancee for years, at one point lived with his fiancee even, and he's sort of an older brother/paternal influence on me due to our age difference (he's about ten years older). Needless to say it's probably going to be a very emotional occasion. They want me to play two songs during the ceremony, when they walk down the aisle, then when they march back after the vows are exchanged. It's going to be a rather large wedding too. The tough part is that they've asked me to pick the songs. I have been thinking about playing an instrumental of Nick Drake's "Thoughts of Mary Jane" but can't really settle on anything. I'd like something finger-picky and beautiful. Help me out MeFites!

posted by inoculatedcities to human relations (29 comments total)

"Fire and Rain."

I kid.

If it's a religious wedding (because it will probably echo some of the liturgy, and they have a little hippie in them), "The Wedding Song" by Peter Paul and Mary is nice and fingerpicky (once you get the weird tuning down), although the song can be a bit corny.

I think Secret O' Life by James Taylor is a nice wedding song.
posted by 4ster at 1:17 PM on July 11, 2007

I should also add that I am assuming that you are singing and not simply playing instrumental versions.
posted by 4ster at 1:20 PM on July 11, 2007

How "fingerpicky" are we talking? Leo Kottke's "The Fisherman" has always struck me as a beautiful song, and somehow evocative of a kind of simple country domesticity.
posted by saladin at 1:22 PM on July 11, 2007

Yeah, it's hard to go wrong with Nick Drake. If you're gonna use an instrumental of one of his songs, I'd recommend "Which Will," "Horn" or "Road" from Pink Moon.

Or if you want to go totally nuts, play some Led Zeppelin. They have a song called "Bron-Yr-Aur" from Physical Graffiti which is actually a very nice instrumental acoustic guitar piece.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 1:50 PM on July 11, 2007

Hotel Yorba.
posted by klangklangston at 1:51 PM on July 11, 2007

Leo Kottke's version of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring on his first album is, in my opinion, perfect. Fingerpicky (it's Kottke), pretty, recognizible, religious.

Michael Hedges' "The 2nd Law" or "Baal T'shuva" from Oracle are also fingerpicky and beautiful, though you'd need to retune to play something other than them.
posted by The World Famous at 1:52 PM on July 11, 2007

Forgive my caffiene-deprived post above, which should have read "IF they have a little hippie in them."

Anyway, are you going to be using nylon or steel strings?
posted by 4ster at 1:57 PM on July 11, 2007

All good suggestions. Thank you.

He told me I can sing or not, either way (you can hear my not-so-great voice here). What's making me nervous is how casual he is about it, "Hey whatever you want to play is great with us". Unfortunately for this occasion, much of the music I listen to and play is somewhat dark. The wedding will be minimally religious, I think, for their families' sake but I don't want to play anything too typical.
posted by inoculatedcities at 2:09 PM on July 11, 2007

Steel, playing a Yamaha FG series from the seventies. Best guitar I've ever owned!

I can play all of the Drake stuff from Pink Moon but even "Which Will" sounds a little sad, no? I thought about "Road" too. Unfortunately, due to his idiosyncratic (and awesome) alternate tunings, if I play any Drake and then have to play something else I'm going to need to duck out and retune somewhere.

I'm going to check out the Leo Kottke stuff, never really listened to him.
posted by inoculatedcities at 2:13 PM on July 11, 2007

Maybe from the "too typical" file... but classic love songs make me cry like a baby.

And I Love Her
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Finger-picky and melancholy enough for the likes of you?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:20 PM on July 11, 2007

Obviously skill level comes into play here. The Kottke and Hedges stuff will take a lot of time to work up to "performance ready". Hedges will always be in an altered tuning so you'd have to retune, which could be tricky depending on the logistics. Agree that Kottkes Jesu... is a good call.

Are Beatles tunes too cliche? Because there are tons of fingerstyle arrangements that are easy enough, and still sound great. You don't have to do the obvious ones, I'm thinking more like "Here, There, & Everywhere", or "I Will".

This book has some easy and nice arrangements
posted by eightball at 2:22 PM on July 11, 2007

Run whatever songs you pick by him, maybe even sit him down for a quick demo.

I have no bright ideas.
posted by canine epigram at 2:23 PM on July 11, 2007

Ask them both who some of their favorite artists are to start.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:30 PM on July 11, 2007

"In My Life" by the Beatles. Gets me every time.
posted by gnutron at 2:30 PM on July 11, 2007

Crap. "In My Life" would be good for the reception, but probably not the ceremony. That's what I get for not reading the whole post.
posted by gnutron at 2:32 PM on July 11, 2007

If you can play Nick Drake's "Road," I think that'd be awesome.

How about Led Zep's "Going to California" as an instrumental?

Or some classical pieces? Maybe a Bach suite transcribed for guitar?
posted by ludwig_van at 2:58 PM on July 11, 2007

I don't know why, but hearing your voice made me think that "Green Eyes" by Coldplay would be a good song.
posted by 4ster at 3:00 PM on July 11, 2007

I personally love Nick Drake's "Place to Be," which you already seem to know really well -- it doesn't sound sad to me. In my book it's a gorgeous lovesong - "now I'm weaker than the palest blue / oh so weak in this need for you."

Then again I have somewhat atypical taste, and generally eschew what's deemed 'proper' for weddings.

If you don't know Owen, I highly recommend him for finger-pickin' gorgeousness. Or the song "Lion's Mane" by Iron & Wine.
posted by dorothy humbird at 3:10 PM on July 11, 2007

Both are huge melodic-pop and "indie" fans: Big Star/Alex Chilton, Beatles, Elliott Smith, Aimee Mann, Jon Brion, old Brian Wilson Beach Boys stuff, Ryan Adams, Built to Spill, etc. He's actually a very good musician himself, has put out two records and toured a bit.

A Bach excerpt is a good idea but I'm not familiar enough with the music to really know what might be good (meaning appropriate and choice -- obviously its all more than "good"). There are a lot of Bach transcriptions online it seems.

Oh and he absolutely won't make suggestions. He just smiles and tells me to pick.
posted by inoculatedcities at 3:31 PM on July 11, 2007

Electric guitar. Theme song to Top Gun. 'nuff said. ;)
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 3:54 PM on July 11, 2007

In addition to Kottke, I'd look into Robin Bullock. He has some beautiful waltzes.
posted by sculpin at 4:22 PM on July 11, 2007

"Say Yes" by Elliot Smith
posted by Caper's Ghost at 5:46 PM on July 11, 2007

Electric guitar. Theme song to Top Gun. 'nuff said. ;)

HIIIGHWAY TO THE DANGER ZONE
GONNA TAKE IT RIIIIGHT INTO THE DANGER ZONE

Just play that on acoustic guitar and sing it in as close an approximation of Kenny Loggins's voice as you can. It'll be worth it when everybody just spontaneously starts rocking out.

Or, alternately, some Impaled Northern Moonforest. :)
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 6:45 PM on July 11, 2007

Both are huge melodic-pop and "indie" fans

Death Cab for Cutie - Passenger Seat (can be easily arranged for a drop-D tuning)

The Postal Service - Brand New Colony (obligatory answer for any question that asks for indie love songs)

And if they like the Beach Boys, the obvious choice is God Only Knows. It'd take some creativity to arrange a "finger-picky" version, but you could do it.
posted by Jaltcoh at 8:18 PM on July 11, 2007

I'll suggest a song that was played at my own wedding, which is "Come and Find Me" by Josh Ritter -- simple but pretty and easy to sing as well, if you choose to do so.

There's an MP3 of it here if you're not familiar with it (I just found that link, so I don't know how long it'll be there).
posted by camcgee at 9:27 PM on July 11, 2007

Thanks again for the recommendations. I have a lot to check out, though it's probably obvious I'm going with my man Loggins.

I can play almost every song Elliott Smith ever wrote (except "Southern Belle" and "Tomorrow, Tomorrow") but I just don't think any of it screams "You're getting married!" you know? Don't get my wrong, he's absolutely my favorite songwriter, I just ruled him out from the beginning; I don't want to do sad-pretty, just pretty. Also nada on the Death Cab and Postal Service just because I hate them both.

That Josh Ritter song is pretty good, by the way.
posted by inoculatedcities at 1:01 AM on July 12, 2007

Recently on NPR: Wedding Day Blues: Finding the Perfect Mix CD
posted by dgaicun at 10:30 AM on July 12, 2007

this recent question might give you some further ideas. . . .
posted by FlyingMonkey at 6:48 AM on July 13, 2007

ludwig van wrote: Or some classical pieces? Maybe a Bach suite transcribed for guitar?

I played one of my guitar student's wedding last summer and for the processional I played Bach's famous Prelude No. 1 in C from the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier [MIDI file] as transcribed by Christopher Parkening.

It's a very tricky bit of drop-D and I have been working on finishing up a tablature transcription of it. If you're interested and have the time to learn it I'd be happy to finish the tab. I could send you the first page if you want to have a look. My email is in my profile.
posted by St Urbain's Horseman at 8:03 AM on July 13, 2007