Nothing all that noteworthy’s happened on this date, Yo La Tengoly speaking, over the years (that I recall, at least), so instead perhaps today’s the day for a non-date-specific spin through our life as a wedding band. Without naming names, I’ll say that we’ve participated in about a dozen weddings over the years (and that list does not include two bills with the Wedding Present). We have never played “Hava Nagila” (though we’ve been asked) and never been asked to play “My Girl” (so we haven’t). We did deem “He’s a Whore” to be appropriate once, and it turned out that Tom Petersson was in attendance. When he didn’t seem too miffed, we realized we had a keeper, and trotted it out twice more, once in the prelude to the actual ceremony, an instrumental version with Georgia on the church organ. “Eye of the Tiger” has proven another staple of the repertoire, perfect for guest singers. Borrowing a couple of songs from Georgia and my wedding party, musical accompaniment by Will Rigby, his band including Dave Schramm and Sue Garner, our setlist usually includes “Mother-in-Law” and “Gloria” relettered to the bride’s first name. And I don’t want to leave the impression that we don’t take requests; once-and-only-once selections over the years have included “Karma Chameleon,” “Could You Be Loved” and “Here Comes Your Man.”
