Songs can define big moments in life, and there have been a number of songs that have been there alongside our big moments. From the first concert my wife and I went to when we first were dating, to our Last Dance at our wedding, to the Beautiful Day of taking our daughter home after being born…
I Want You to Want Me – Cheap Trick
For one of our first dates, my future wife and I went to the old Boathouse in Norfolk to go see the legendary Cheap Trick in concert. While they have quite the song list and played what seemed like every one of them, I Want You to Want Me always stood out in the memory of that night. For obvious reasons…
I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I’d love you to love me
I’m begging you to beg me
I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I’d love you to love me
I’ll shine up the old brown shoes
Put on a brand new shirt
I’ll get home early from work
If you say that you love me
Didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you crying?
Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you crying?
Feeling all alone without a friend, you know you feel like dying
Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you crying?
I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I’d love you to love me
I’m begging you to beg me
I’ll shine up the old brown shoes
Put on a brand-new shirt
I’ll get home early from work
If you say that you love me
Didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you crying?
Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you crying?
Feeling all alone without a friend, you know you feel like dying
Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you crying?
Feelin’ all alone without a friend, you know you feel like dying
Oh, didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you crying?
I want you to want me
I need you to need me
I’d love you to love me
I’m begging you to beg me
I want you to want me
I want you to want me
I want you to want me
I want you to want me
The Last Dance – Frank Sinatra
We really wanted our wedding to be classy. It was held at an old, historic local hotel. Check. Sit down dinner. Check. Nighttime event. Check. Frank Sinatra. Check. In fact, Frank had played at the same hotel back in the day – check out my previous post here. I wanted the music to be perfect, so I put together a list of what we wanted played – and on that list was The Last Dance – as our last dance of the night. I had been listening to a lot of Frank Sinatra during those years and always loved the song – and thought it would be the perfect end to the night. Not just because of the title, but because of the mood of the song and how well it fit into the setting. I’m not sure a lot of people noticed, but it was a perfect moment for us…
It’s the last dance, we’ve come to the last dance
They’re dimming the lights down, they’re hoping we’ll go
It’s obvious they’re aware of us, the pair of us, alone on the floor
Still I want to hold you like this forever and more
It the last song, they’re playing the last song
The orchestra’s yawning, they’re sleepy I know
They’re wondering just when will we leave, but till we leave, keep holding me tight
Through the last dance, each beat of the last dance
Save me the first dance in your dreams tonight
[instrumental-strings and clarinet]
They’re wondering just when will we leave, but till we leave, keep holding me tight
Through the last dance, each beat of the last dance
And save me the first dance in your dreams tonight
Beautiful Day – U2
The first song we ever played for our daughter was Beautiful Day by U2. It was through headphones while she was still in my wife’s stomach. Then she heard it again when we went to see U2 in concert a few months before she was born. She kicked and danced during that one. So we made sure what song was playing on the car ride home from the hospital after she was born. And it really was a beautiful day…
The heart is a bloom
Shoots up through the stony ground
There’s no room
No space to rent in this town
You’re out of luck
And the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck
And you’re not moving anywhere
You thought you’d found a friend
To take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand
In return for grace
It’s a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It’s a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
You’re on the road
But you’ve got no destination
You’re in the mud
In the maze of her imagination
You love this town
Even if that doesn’t ring true
You’ve been all over
And it’s been all over you
It’s a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
It’s a beautiful day
Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I’m not a hopeless case
See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out
It was a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
Beautiful day
Touch me
Take me to that other place
Reach me
I know I’m not a hopeless case
What you don’t have you don’t need it now
What you don’t know you can feel it somehow
What you don’t have you don’t need it now
Don’t need it now
Was a beautiful day
