Wedding music (yet again!)
  • bwag217bwag217
    Posts: 10
    This topic may have been discussed on here before, I'm not sure. BUT. I have a bride who wants to process in to a song which isn't necessarily liturgically appropriate textually, but it's going to be instrumental only. Yay, nay? Thoughts on this?
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    The answer is usually nay.

    Tell us the song and then we will discuss.
  • Carl DCarl D
    Posts: 992
    Depends on the associations people will make, I suppose. Will people be singing the words in their heads, or thinking about the movie it came from?
  • bwag217bwag217
    Posts: 10
    One is this 'Hallelujah' thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AWFf7EAc4

    I was thinking the same thing, about people singing the lyrics in their heads.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    I can't think of a good reason to admit it. Something about "saw her bathing on the roof", if I heard that correctly, strikes me as unworthy - even instrumentally - for so august a sacrament.
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    I think your pastor once specifically told someone it was inappropriate for Mass while standing in the narthex after Mass. You might want to talk to him.
    Thanked by 3bwag217 Ben Gavin
  • TimTheEnchanterTimTheEnchanter
    Posts: 206
    I'm solidly in the No camp, but I'm wondering:

    Does the bride know the lyrics to the song, or is it just a song she likes with "Hallelujah" in it, and so she thinks it's OK? It might help to have an idea of why she wants it ... before you say no anyway. If it's a song she likes, that's probably pretty easy to turn down. If it's a song that's supermeaningful because of supermeaningful/sentimental reasons X, Y, and Z, you might have to gently coach your No another way.

    My cousin, at her wedding, meandered in to an instrumental version of a pop song by Paramore. My head asplode.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Flay me with a thousand noodles, but I'd just as soon hear OEW/Toolanbread/BKnotAphrayed/HereIGo, Bored etc., rather than the Cohen tune! Honestly, a two note ostinato that sequences up interminally, seriously?
    Jobim's "One Note Samba" would even be better. Honestly, people (bridezilla's), get a clue.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,980
    Something about "saw her bathing on the roof",


    Hmmm, seems like King David had that same issue. ;-)
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    The topic came up, because some priest in Ireland wrote his own lyrics to that tune and has been singing them at weddings for quite a while. It got attention because some couple who didn't live in the parish was surprised by this practice, and their video hit the internet.

    The song by Leonard Cohen is about the pain lovers inflict on one another, and it starts by recalling David's adultery with Bathsheba, so to present it, even as an instrumental, in a wedding would be practically a blasphemy against the sacrament of matrimony.

    The song is musically dull -- really dirge-like -- so it would be miserable to listen to.

    If she just wants something out of the ordinary, there are plenty of good choices that meet that goal.
    Thanked by 2Ben Spriggo
  • musiclover88
    Posts: 156
    If I heard that song played instrumentally at a wedding, I'd definitely be singing the words in my head. Also, I agree with chonak, it would be pretty dull to walk down the aisle to.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,980
    My experiences dealing with weddings have created a convincing case for living in sin. It's much simpler.

    Thanked by 2Jani cantorconvert
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Thank you, Cdl. Kasper.
    Thanked by 1Jeffrey Quick
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjbZkgzLbng
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    That sure as _ _ _ _ is a broken "hallelujah." Thanks for the earworm, MJM.
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