Just Dance it Out

by Gillian

Phew, as awesome as those pre-cana lessons are… let’s not get too carried away with the fun. The real question is: where’s the dance party?

You might not know this, but I like dancing. A lot. I know, it’s a shocker, but sometimes I let my hair down, loosen up my proper, ladylike demeanor and just dance it out. This, for example, will probably happen at the reception:

We’re using Crescent City DJ for our reception, and the company has a pretty sweet Web site where you can search through their huge music database and request songs for three playlists: “Must Play,” “Play if Possible” and “If You Play This, I Will Strangle You With My Bare Hands.” Sweet! Here are some we have so far:

Must Play

  1. No Diggity- Blackstreet
  2. Twist and Shout- The Beatles
  3. SexyBack- Justin Timberlake
  4. Shoop (of course)- Salt ‘n’ Pepa
  5. Brown Eyed Girl (it’s about me)- Van Morrison
  6. Bust a Move- Young MC
  7. Crazy Little Thing Called Love- Queen
  8. Don’t Stop Believin’- Journey
  9. Tainted Love (not a commentary on our relationship)- Soft Cell
  10. In Da Club- 50 Cent

Play if Possible

  1. Modern Love- David Bowie
  2. Kiss- Prince
  3. Baby One More Time (what?)- Britney Spears
  4. Stagger Lee- Lloyd Price
  5. Bonnie & Clyde- Beyonce and Jay-Z
  6. California Love- 2Pac & Dr. Dre
  7. I Saw Her Standing There- The Beatles
  8. Take On Me- a-Ha
  9. Build Me Up Buttercup- The Foundations
  10. Word Up- Cameo

Play And I Will Cut You

  1. Dancing Queen- ABBA
  2. Conga- Gloria & the Miami Sound Machine
  3. Who Let the Dogs Out- Baha Men
  4. Every Breath You Take (creepy stalker song)- The Police
  5. I Will Always Love You (totally a break-up song)- Whitney Houston or Dolly Parton
  6. Limbo Rock- Chubby Checker
  7. Macarena- Los Del Rio
  8. Any other group participation dance song you can think of (the chicken dance, conga line, limbo… except perhaps the cha-cha slide and one round of the electric slide)
  9. We Are Family- Sister Sledge
  10. I’ll Make Love to You (a. awkward lyrics and b. reminds me of 7th grade dances)- Boyz II Men

I would love some input here. We want a good blend of ’80s, top 40/hip-hop, oldies, swing and a few slow songs thrown in there. So tell me this, what three songs would you add to each of those lists?

8 comments

1 Brian { 12.23.08 at 9:25 pm }

I guess Nine in Nails- Closer is out of the question, huh?

2 Ide { 12.24.08 at 9:34 am }

I can’t believe you’re depriving the wedding guests of the Hokey Pokey AND the chicken dance. I’ve done both of those dances at every wedding I’ve ever been to. You are so going to fail the pre-cana class now, because I’m pretty sure those songs are requirements for an official Catholic wedding.

Or it could just be that my rural Illinois cousins got their doctrine confused. Again.

3 Gene { 12.24.08 at 7:59 pm }

Thanks for the comment.

Don’t Stop Believin’, eh? Next thing you’ll tell me is that there will be jack and coke there, too. Oh, boy.

P.S. To use your word: I heart your blog, too.

4 Meg { 12.24.08 at 8:47 pm }

Okay Gillian, I can’t possibly adhere to only picking three in each category. I got a bit carried away, so deal. Katie, I too have danced the Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey at almost every wedding too, so I don’t think it’s your Illinois cousins. (however, the rural Illinois thing may explain other things about you. I’ll let you know when I actually meet you face-to-face)

Musts

Hey Ya–Outkast
Mustang Sally-The Commitments
Fade Away–Grateful Dead
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da-Beatles
Love Shack–B-52’s

Maybes

Baby Got Back-Sir Mixalot
Love will Keep us Together-Captain and Tenille
You are the Sunshine of my life-Stevie Wonder
Hooked on a Feeling–Blue Swede
Get Down Tonight–K.C. and the Sunshine Band
You’re The One That I Want
John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
Just the way you are–Billy Joel

don’t u dare
Mony Mony–Billy Idol
Anything by John Cougar Mellencamp (Rob might actually leave…)

5 Tony { 12.27.08 at 7:25 pm }

I don’t really know what to say about the selection. I will say my two cents regarding what I would do for my wedding, rather than comment on the selection. The bulk of these songs (all 3 categories) are super standards for weddings, and thus only a limited amount would I use. Just because old people don’t know newer songs doesn’t mean you should succumb to their inability to evolve musically. Now, if all these songs have significant meaning to you, your future hubby or the both of you together, go for it. Because that’s what it’s really about. I would go for the songs that you love to dance to, the songs that you love to slowdance to and the background songs (the during dinner stuff) which, I’ve learned in past weddings, tend to reflect the bride & groom the most. Next, I’m personally over the DJ thing. No offense to our friends that DJ and no offense to people that make it a profession but iPods, laptops and software have thusly made it obsolete unless you plan on throwing the reception at a warehouse and have it go from 8pm till 7am the next day. Me thinks no on that, so really the only reasons for a DJ is 1) sound system & 2) a semi-master of ceremonies. With #2 I’ve found most of th DJs to be awful, awful, AWWWWWWFUL, egotistical and at times sexually offensive. If you can rent a sound system and have an iPod with all your favorite songs, you can actually organize the flow of your wedding, no joke. You could even have one of your sexy voiced friends record a few announcements and make them tracks on your play-list which would go in order of the wedding, which helps when your renting a hall that’s based on a time limit. With this you really only need a person to set up the system and I feel most of us 20-30-somethings have that limited amount of knowledge. My reasoning is, I know a few DJs and they overcharge for very little work and get fed and drunk and I’ve yet to leave a wedding and thought “Damn that DJ was good”. That being said, I’ve also only left 2 weddings saying “Damn that music selection was awesome!”, so take that as it may. Lastly, my whole intent on this comment is, really, seriously, an attempt to save money, which if you’re making a killing or getting a sweet deal with this company, my hat’s off and I’ll say no more. ;-)

6 Karla { 01.05.09 at 7:56 am }

How about Body Movin’ by the Beastie Boys? that’s one of my faves, and you know Brian’s a Beasties fan to the core.

7 Nick { 01.12.09 at 8:06 pm }

Must Play:

Just Dance – Lady Gaga
Shout – The Isley Brothers
Bombs Over Baghdad – Outkast

Maybe:

Intergalactic – Beastie Boys
Apache – Sugarhill Gang
Triple Trouble – Beastie Boys

8 Gillian { 01.13.09 at 12:06 am }

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks!