What monsters? Mountain Goats? Wedding songs.

November 11, 2010 8:45 AM

I am looking for songs to play at my wedding when everyone is being seated and waitiing but want kind of ironic indie "nonlove" love songs.

If you know The Mountain Goats "No Children" and/or Andrew Bird's "Fake Palindromes" then you get what I mean, even if our grandmothers won't. Oh and please no Sufjan, or Belle and Sebastian or Iron and Wine type "sad bastard" music, we love them as much as the next guy but that's not the vibe we want.

posted by holdkris99 to Media & Arts (31 answers total)

Best answer: How about some Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs?
posted by bobafet at 8:53 AM on November 11, 2010 [7 favorites]

Heh, came in here to mention 69 Love Songs. There's a number of good ones on i as well. Quite a bit of NMH's On Avery Island fits this as well, but that might be a bit much. Also, Mountain Goats' "Autoclave" (off Heretic Pride) is a great one as well, even if the metaphor is a bit strained.
posted by griphus at 8:56 AM on November 11, 2010

Yeah, Book of Love from the Magnetic Fields is pretty great.
posted by rtha at 8:58 AM on November 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

This AskMe is similar and might give you some ideas.
posted by headnsouth at 9:03 AM on November 11, 2010

Best answer: Emmy the Great's "First Love" is great, and I think the ironic use of "Halleluyah" (gag) might be the kind of thing you're looking for.
posted by AngerBoy at 9:04 AM on November 11, 2010

Off 69 Love Songs: "I Think I Need A New Heart." "'Cuz I always say I love you when I mean turn out the light..." Damn.
posted by Beardman at 9:05 AM on November 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

The last minute of Child Star.

Plenty of other Mountain Goats songs. Orange Ball of Hate is perfect. Also try Alpha Sun Hat.

Bewitched by Beat Happening, sort of.
posted by theodolite at 9:09 AM on November 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I came back to suggest the Talking Heads Sugar on My Tongue.
posted by bobafet at 9:20 AM on November 11, 2010

Play some Peaches.
posted by dobie at 9:20 AM on November 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

We played instrumental versions of radiohead songs during the meal at our wedding. We knew what it was & loved it, most of our family & friends just thought it was nice background music. Win-Win.
posted by nuclear_soup at 9:31 AM on November 11, 2010

Not sure if these fit exactly, but here's what I come up with from my mp3 mini-collection at work:
Joy Division - Love will Tear us Apart and Transmission and others...
The Faint - I Treat You Wrong
Prince - When Doves Cry
posted by aganders3 at 9:38 AM on November 11, 2010

nthing 69 Love Songs. While there are a few unabashed love songs in there (however well their message is hidden), quite a few are more like anti-love songs so watch what you play. For my recent wedding reception, the playlist on my iPod included Book of Love, Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits, The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure, and maybe a couple others. If you're not looking for "love in turmoil" songs or break-up songs, I'd avoid songs like Yeah, Oh Yeah and How Fucking Romantic.
posted by LionIndex at 9:55 AM on November 11, 2010

I'll also add Pixies - Hey, but there is some language in there that may not be G-Momma appropriate.
posted by aganders3 at 10:02 AM on November 11, 2010

Arab Strap - There is no ending
posted by IanMorr at 10:03 AM on November 11, 2010

My two favorite songs along these lines are songs that a lot of people even think really are love songs, which are "Friday I'm In Love" by the Cure and "With Or Without You" by U2. I'm assuming by the inclusion of "No Children" that that's what you want, rather than actual, you know, LOVE songs.

Other Mountain Goats songs I'd look at include Jenny and Dilaudid.
posted by KathrynT at 10:15 AM on November 11, 2010

"If I Didn't Have You" by Tim Minchin.
posted by teraspawn at 10:30 AM on November 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

You could always go for the disturbed stalker subset of "non-love love songs". "I will possess your heart" (Death Cab for Cutie) or 'Posession' (Sarah McLachlan) being two fine examples.
posted by true at 10:32 AM on November 11, 2010

Response by poster: Great suggestions thus far. As for the Magnetic Fields (who, I think, manage to pop up on every Ask question about music one way or another) the problem becomes which song to choose. I have always been partial to th opener, Absolutely Cuckoo, which fits for sure but is a little hard to pick up on the lyrics the first time through. AngerBoy, the Emmy the Great song is perfect. Absolutely want I am looking for, plus its good to have a female voice in the mix.
posted by holdkris99 at 10:57 AM on November 11, 2010

Another good disturbed stalker song is "Every Breath You Take" by the Police.
posted by kindall at 11:10 AM on November 11, 2010

At our wedding, the string quartet version of El Scorcho was part of the playlist during that time.
posted by chrisamiller at 11:33 AM on November 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Poi Dog Pondering - Spending the day in the shirt that you wore
Modest Mouse - You're the Good Things
posted by carsonb at 11:44 AM on November 11, 2010

Laura Marling's Ghosts and Amanda Palmer's Ampersand fill similar niches as that Emmy the Great song that sort of also overlap with the Mountain Goats' No Children.
posted by togdon at 11:57 AM on November 11, 2010

Bowie - Modern Love

It's not "indie" but has the right tone. I'd save it for dancing if there is going to be any - very fun song to dance to on top of its subversive lyrics.
posted by Jorus at 12:03 PM on November 11, 2010

Here to second the Mountain Goats Orange Ball of Hate and Nth 69 Love Songs.
As far as the Pixies, I also recommend Letter to Memphis.
posted by natasha_k at 1:11 PM on November 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

On preview, which of the 69 Love Songs to choose:
When my boy walks down the street
Sweet-Lovin' Man (femal vocal)
posted by natasha_k at 1:21 PM on November 11, 2010

I love Something that you said by The Beautiful South - sorry, I could only find the lyrics.
posted by Wantok at 2:23 PM on November 11, 2010

Hey, we did this at our wedding. We are probably not quite as cool as you, but we used:

All I Want Is You - U2
First Day of My Life - Bright Eyes
Quelqu'un m'a dit - Carla Bruni
Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis
You and I - Wilco & Feist
Strange Steps - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

During the ceremony, our musician friends sang/played Book of Love - Mike Doughty's version
We walked down the aisle to Moon River - the full cheesebag orchestrated version
We recessed to Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
posted by thinkingwoman at 3:10 PM on November 11, 2010

David Bowie - Be My Wife

Talking Heads - Naive Melody (we did this for the same kind of transition period), I'm Not In Love (love that my husband and I both on our own thought that'd be wickedly delicious)

Bill Withers - Lovely Day

and when in doubt, it is hard to go wrong with Stevie Wonder (I Believe When I Fall In Love, For Once In My Life, save Superstition for dancing...)

if you need more Stephin Merritt fodder, don't forget to consider stuff from his side projects--the 6ths albums have great love songs (You You You You You, etc.), Future Bible Heroes, etc.
posted by ifjuly at 8:47 PM on November 11, 2010

Can't get indier than Pomplamoose..."Little Things" sounds to be in the appropriate tone.
posted by Pomo at 11:48 PM on November 11, 2010

David Bowie - Heros
posted by alfanut at 4:50 AM on November 12, 2010

I really wanted to work in
the a cappela version of the Beach Boys singing God Only Knows at our wedding but could not find a proper spot for it. The round toward the end is kind of amazing. And I'm not a Beach Boys fan.
posted by Jezebella at 4:33 PM on November 12, 2010