Wedding Songs

June 21, 2007

So last week Dr. H blogged about movies he's watched recently, including the Neil Young concert. Toward the end, Neil played "Comes a Time," and I said, "Hey! That was one of our wedding songs!" And then I thought to myself, we are probably the only people in the U.S. who had that song as our recessional. Maybe ever. Probably even Neil Young didn't use it in his wedding. Of course we were somewhat young and very wacky when we got married, but looking back on the lyrics, I think I would still include this song in our wedding:

Comes a time
when you're driftin'
Comes a time
when you settle down
Comes a light
feelin's liftin'
Lift that baby
right up off the ground.

Oh, this old world
keeps spinning round
It's a wonder tall trees
ain't layin' down
There comes a time.

You and I we were captured
We took our souls
and we flew away
We were right
we were giving
That's how we kept
what we gave away.

Oh, this old world
keeps spinning round
It's a wonder tall trees
ain't layin' down
There comes a time.

I will have to think about who will sing that when we renew our vows sometime on a mountaintop. In autumn. Perhaps Jesse will play guitar.

And so then I had to remember our other wedding songs. Before I walked down the aisle, it was Simon and Garfunkel's "For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her":

What a dream I had
Pressed in organdy
Clothed in crinoline
Of smoky burgundy
Softer than the rain

I wandered empty streets down
Past the shop displays
I heard cathedral bells
Tripping down the alleyways
As I walked on

And when you ran to me
Your cheeks flushed with the night
We walked on frosted fields
Of juniper and lamplight
I held your hand

And when I awoke
And felt you warm and near
I kissed your honey hair
With my grateful tears
Oh I love you, girl
Oh I love you



And as special music in the middle, I think when we were lighting our candles, was Gene Cotton's "Forever and a Day." This particular song was a "village" tradition: we all swore to use it in our weddings.At least a few of us did, but the tradition eventually died out. The lyrics are beautiful, but I can't find them online and I surely can't remember them.

I think that most people pick more traditional songs than we did. I'm glad I didn't know that then because, even now, I'm not sure I'd change a thing. Our wedding songs reflected who we were then and who we were to become. We chose them very carefully, as each song had a story behind it for us. And so even if we are the only people in America who had "Comes a Time" at their wedding, that's OK. I'd do it all over again.