Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It – Will Smith  3:48
OH BABY IT IS DANCING TIME! Rather than put this song list as a flat out playlist, I decided to blog my dance song selections into groups by genre, audience, and/or function at the wedding. No videos this time because I felt like linking 42 or whatever number of videos to this post might be a bit much, and besides they are pretty well-known songs, so look them up on youtube for ya’ own damn selves! What a democracy! I spelled that “democrazy” the first go-around, and I feel like that spelling error may actually be more accurate, as we are now presenting you with hours #6 & 7 of the Joan-has-to-pick-every-single-morsel-of-audio-stimuli-festival that many people lovingly refer to as a “wedding day”.
Songs to Make My Friends Dance
Having been born in the 1980’s—with many of my friends 80’s babies, and many of our aunts & uncles true 80’s graduates (like prom and wedding photos, hair-a-licious 80’s, whereas I was just a kid in neon and sequins 80’s)— music from this decade fared generally well during the dancing portion of the evening. I would say at least 50% of all those present were dancing to these songs.
Poison – Bell Biv DeVoe  4:22 – One of our favorite songs since we heard Mos Def perform it at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2007 backed by a helluva brass section. Our friend Pete was at that concert with us and was psyched that we played this song at the wedding for him! I was surprised how many people knew the words!
Come On, Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners  4:15 – Classic! Of course, all the Irish cousins came running to the dance floor for this one. I got to dance with the cream of the Irish crop, Laura! And Dad danced next to us!
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – Elton John with Kiki Dee  4:25 – Definitely fun watching Regina dance this with her daughter Lily. Yes, ma’am! Pass this song on to the next generation and let them be here and now raised in the church of Elton!
A Little Respect – Erasure  3:32 – This song was for Regina—we saw Erasure on Cyndi Lauper’s True Color Tour a few years ago—and Caiti had to run and get her because she had gone to take care of her two month old! Imagine the nerve! Surprise Lover Of This Song Award goes out to Uncle Kevin who I saw singing along to all the words while he was dancing with his little ‘uns!
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) – Michael Jackson  3:59 – I was born in 1983, the year of Thriller. No joke, my mom calls it that. Not “the year my eldest child was born”; it’s “the year of Thriller“. Not that I care what she calls it too much, and M.J. can upstage me any day. R.I.P. ANYHOW, this is a song from that album, and my favorite Michael Jackson song. You gotta have a little Michael Jackson at a wedding, but I opted out of the more classic M.J. wedding selections and chose the song that I love the best!
Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now – Starship  4:35 – This is a ridiculous song with ridiculous vocalizations, right? I couldn’t help but want to sing this one on the dance floor with my friends, and they did NOT let me down! There weren’t too many people “fully” into performing this song—a lot of just “dancers”— but those who were, man, I can’t wait for the video footage. It’ll be sick. I think we may have pulled out some old musical theatre dance moves?
Songs & Artists That Today’s Generation Should Know So I Took It Upon Myself To Teach A Little Lesson At The Wedding: A.K.A. Songs I Thought Little Kids Would Enjoy Dancing Too
Walk Like An Egyptian – The Bangles  3:24
I’m A Believer – The Monkees  2:49 – I was raised on The Monkees and so too shall future generations be raised on The Monkees. I doth decree it! (“procree”, “proceed”, “demand”, “demure”, “decree”….that’s how my head got there….uh ohhhhh). Seriously, kids, learn The Monkees.  And the Beatles! (See next song)
I’ve Just Seen A Face – Jim Sturgess  1:50 – I also want kids to grow up on the Beatles, so I infused our little dance party with my favorite cover from the Across The Universe soundtrack. It’s not a well-know Beatles song, which made people ask “what is this?” and I responded “A Beatles cover!” and then they thought to themselves probably “I need to listen to every Beatles album in order with my children.” And least that’s what I wanted everyone to think…..
Songs For Old People
Let me clarify the title of this section: I truly LOVE all of these songs, as I am an old soul and whatnot. But despite the fact that my generation loves them, the target audience for  these specific songs was the previous generation….and the songs worked! They drew more aunts and uncles and grandmas and moms and dads to the dance floor than anything else. Let’s go into the list…
Hey  Ya! – Outkast  3:55 – I’m being honest here, this is a previous generation favorite, no joke. It’s a combination of two things: 1) old people like it because they have a good, broad, classic taste and this song is really genre-and-time bending, 2) they like it because it makes them feel hip and young and cool, like my generation will hold them in higher esteem if they “shake it like a polaroid picture”. My final word: this song is an inside joke between Todd, my sister Cat and I about old people thinking they are cool based on a specific incident of an old person trying to be cool, so I’m really not making up that whole “old people try with this song” scenario. I’m done.
Never My Love – Blue Suede  2:29 – I played this song for my Aunt Mary Anne, who loves the Association (who did the original version of this song). But the biggest fan turned out to be Uncle Greg, who was really into this cover version that he didn’t know about. It is a very danceable cover, I suggest checking it out! And obvs, great lyrics for a wedding.
Cool Jerk – Capitols  2:39 – I played this song because it’s totally Home Alone, the shower scene with the uncle before the family leaves Kevin (aka “Get out of here you nosy little pervert!”), but, like, no one got the joke! So it ended up being a bunch of old people and my cousin Matt and Laura dancing. I was disappointed in the reception of this track, but looking back I think I put too high expectations on it.
If  You Really Love Me – Stevie Wonder  2:58 – I did a Motown set because my Uncle Kevin reminded me that since I was raised in Detroit it would be a fitting tribute. It’s a little slow to dance to this stuff, but everyone ever knows the lyrics so it’s really fun to dance to. The set ended up being sort of Old Person-oriented because a lot of my friends and cousins left the dance floor during these songs. So I guess you could say the Older Generation just outlasted them? That turns the tables a bit on the whole premise of it being old people music, so that works!!
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours – Stevie Wonder  2:41 – Classic Motown love song!
Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart – The Supremes  2:57 – Really cleared the dance floor, thought that still meant about 20 people dancing. I did my really bad choreography from when I was a kid to this song: it basically involves me standing totally still for all of the verses and then putting my index finger up with an itching gesture for the chorus. But I can’t actually itch with it because “love is like an itching in my heart, tearing me apart, an itching in my heart, and, baby, I can’t scratch it”.
You Can’t Hurry Love – Supremes  2:45 – Definitely a song about the two of us, who first wanted to get married in 2005 when I graduated from college, but instead proceeded to live in different states for the next five years and pursue graduate school and careers while maintaining a long-distance relationship. You could not hurry us, lol.
(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave (David Elizondo Mix) – Martha Reeves & The Vandellas  3:09 – MOTOWN REMIX!! A great record put out by Motown Records in 2007. Thanks for the record, Dad!
Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It – Will Smith  3:48 – This was a song for my mom, though everyone who lived through the 90’s really got a kick out of the playing of this song as well. My guess is that most of the people present haven’t heard the song since the 90’s, though that certainly isn’t the case for my immediate family. We rock this album hard still to this day. Don’t worry ’bout it.
We Are Family – Sister Sledge  3:37 (See also, “Songs I Wish The DJ Hadn’t Played) – My mom really wanted this song played, and I really think it’s terrible, but wanted to appease her. She was threatening that she’d just make the DJ play it anyways, so I figured why not have some control over it and request it. I put it on the list and said “Do not play this near the end of the night.” This song makes old people do stupid things like form kick lines and circles and it really drives me crazy, so the less people were drunk when it played the better. Ugh, I hate this song. I actually had to hide during this song because Todd, knowing how much I hate this song and kick lines, started a kick line during this song to poke fun at me and got about 7 people on the line and they kept calling me over to join. Hello, no. And, hell no. I don’t think anyone would have noticed that this song and songs of its lame ilk were missing from the night if I had totally erased them from the playlist, and I do think that there are less lame, equally recognizable disco songs out there to play, but I was happy to see my momma’s smiling face on the dance floor when it played. Doing her little roll dance moves, smiling at her sisters-in-law and nieces and nephews, surrounded in love. That I am OK with!
Songs Everyone Danced To
I Gotta Feeling – The Black Eyed Peas  4:49 – We opened the dance floor with this beauty and it was magical. Perfect lyrics to start the night off with! Mazel tov! Aunt Chris loved it especially, she kept saying “This is my song!” So awesome!
Human – The Killers  4:06 – Second to last song of the night. Dedicated to my sister Caiti, who loves The Killers and who danced this whole song with me, our our knees, looking for the answer. This song was the surprising hit of the night though for me because the dance floor was packed, and I didn’t think that many people knew the song! It ended up so awesome because my other sister Lindsay and my Dad joined Caiti and I for the second half of the song and we rocked hard like half a family unit should. The lyrics were also ridiculously appropriate for the night because as it turns out my family is filled with dancing maniacs, and the running joke now is that we are not human, we ARE DANCER. I loved that song’s moment that night—Maggie (maid of honor) put a video of it on facebook, so check it out!
Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey  4:11 – Last song of the night, and EVERYONE came out to sing along. Toddy and I did air guitar solos at the bridge. This was the only dance of the night for many of the uncles! And it’s not really a dance, it’s like a giant group sing-a-long, which was incredible! Glee fans, Journey fans, classic rock fans alike can all rock to this song now, and rock we did! Oh, and everyone yelled “born and raised in South Detroit” at me, which was awesome! Maybe someone taped that, because our videographer had already clocked out at that point.
Songs No One Danced To, And It Was Embarassing
All I Want Is  You – Barry Lousi Polisar  2:40 – This was the lowest point of the night, though it was funny and turned out fine, so it wasn’t really that low. The dumbest DJ in the world, my DJ, chose to play this slow, not-very-well-known song IMMEDIATELY AFTER BLACK EYED PEAZ “I GOTTA FEELING”….like, are you kidding me? Third song of the night? Just got everyone on the dance floor? Just got the party started? Energy is high and everyone is having a blast? I can’t wait to see the video to laugh at this moment again, literally EVERY SINGLE PERSON left the dance floor. I actually began dancing 100% alone in the center of the dance floor during the first chorus because it was so ridiculous. A couple of cousins and siblings whipped out some gym class square dancing moves and assisted me. It was awful. Funny in a very sad way. I danced with Todd so what can be bad about that. I had a friend who did this song as her wedding party dance song and it was adorable, so it was especially sad that my playing of the song went so horribly wrong because I’ve seen it done right and it is awesome. C’est la vie?
Songs I Wish The DJ Had Strategically Axed, Rather Than The Songs Below Because They Weren’t As Good As The Ones He Axed
So here’s the second list that could be subtitled “The Dumb DJ”. These are songs he played that using any bit of logic, he should have axed since we had started the dancing a half an hour late and lost a chunk of time. Because these songs were played, others were not, and most of the songs he cut were much better choices for dancing than these songs below. Now don’t get me wrong, I love these songs below, but look at the list of songs he DID cut and you’ll see what I mean.
I  Want You – Bob Dylan  3:06 – Great song and got a great response, but I would have lived without it. Only the chorus actually makes sense for a wedding, the rest is typical Dylan metaphor aka total gibberish.
We Are Family – Sister Sledge  3:37 (See also “Songs For Old People”) – Well, as you may have read above, I hate this song. And suffice it to say that no one would have noticed it was missing.
Jungle Drum – Emiliana Torrini  2:14 – No one knows this song, and hence very few people danced to it. It’s a great song to dance to, but using discretion, this would definitely be one to cut. Still, I appreciated the TK Kelly cousins and Aunt Chris’ masterful impromptu drum choreography to the song.
Happy People – R. Kelly  4:47 – Love love love this song, but it’s a seriously unknown song, and again when you look at what he cut when he chose to play this, you’ll be like “What what??!”
Concrete & Clay – Unit 4 + 2 Â 2:17 – Also love love love this song, but it’s a seriously unknown song, and again when you look at what he cut when he chose to play this, you’ll be like “What what mcwhaterstein??!”
Songs My Dumb DJ Didn’t Play Because The Dumb Group Pictures Took Too Long
You Make My Dreams Come True – Hall & Oates  3:11 – SERIOUSLY? YOU CUT THIS SONG??? HOW?? Sadness personified, especially because my family loves Hall & Oates and because Toddy & I love this song!
Modern Love – David Bowie  3:59 – I am Bowie’s biggest fan in my generation. I love that spider man from Mars. And this is his love/ wedding anthem…”get me to the church on-time”. I was appalled that this was cut.
Just Can’t Get Enough – Depeche Mode – Superfun and ridiculously danceable 80’s track. You keep R. Kelly, but you cut these songs? Seriously? It’s getting ridiculous, right?
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic – The Police  4:21 – CLASSIC! DANCEABLE! SINGABLE! Sadness personified.
I  Would  Walk 500 Miles – Proclaimers  3:36 – Ditto from above.
I  Want You – Savage Garden  3:53 – Okay this song is so hilarious “chicka cherry cola” and I could just see it being a super fun moment on the dance floor because no one except me has heard it since 1996. But that moment never came…
Songs I Was Okay With The DJ Axing
White Wedding – Billy Idol  4:09 – Cliche. lol. Yeah, I put it on the list but now that it wasn’t played I can see what a good choice that was since it is cliche.
Get Outta My Dreams Get into My Car – Billy Ocean – Very long but fun, I wish we’d had time for everything but was okay that this memory wasn’t made.
Jungle Love – Steve Miller Band  3:09 – Okay with cutting, since I am singularly along in my love of this weird song.
Lions – The Features – Okay with cutting, no one knows it and it was included on the wedding favor mix cds.
Give It to Me Baby – Rick James  4:18 – Long and would have gotten old, but he only cut it because I told him to cut it. He gave me cutting power only for the last three songs, so thankfully this was cut and “Human” by The Killers was spared. Imagine if it had been the other way around? Gross, I don’t even want to think about it.
Robot Dancing Competition Song
Acceptable in the 80’s – Calvin Harris  5:34 – Nobody knows the song or the artist but that didn’t matter because it was totally the best robot dance competition song ever. Perfect perfect perfect choice, and one of the best moments of the whole wedding day experience. It was mostly little kids competing and our friends Derek and Pete, lol. Troopers on the Joan & Todd behalf frontlines. My cousin Nate surprised us by dancing at all, because he’s a quiet kid, but then suddenly he BLEW US AWAY when we saw how seriously he was taking it and how much dance he was doing! His encore performance totally stole the show! And it was totally unexpected! The best part was the prize for the competition was a C3P0 doll and the kid is a mega-fan of Star Wars. Couldn’t have been more perfect! Exceeded all of my expectations, and I had high expectations for the competition, but you just can’t even plan for something as amazing as that. Can’t wait to share the video with you!
Songs For Todd
Ain’t Too Proud to Beg – The Temptations  2:35 – Toddy sings this to me all of the time, as a joke obviously. I love the man, and it was very special to have him sing this to me surrounded by our family and friends on the dance floor!
Don’t you Worry ’bout a Thing – John Legend  4:47 – Toddy loves loves loves John Legend, and this cover of a Stevie Wonder classic is so danceable it’s sick. This was a great moment of the night. I think this was the moment that my cousin Matt unleashed his salsa hips! Mr. 100% Irish surprised us all!
Oh  Yoko – John Lennon  4:16 – This was the first song of the night and we had our parents and the wedding party all dance it with us. Perfect tempo when you hate to slow dance. Not a lot of people know it, it’s probably most notably recognized from the Rushmore soundtrack. We love the song though and it was simply wonderful to sing it to each other on the dance floor while my siblings danced ridiculous gym class square-dancing moves all around us.
Two Princes – Spin Doctors  4:21 – Todd saw them in concert a few years ago and had so much fun. I have always loved the song and this album, so this is musical ground that Todd and I can solidly agree on. This was one of the most fun moments of the night because everyone was totally loving the blast from the past and remembered all the lyrics. It’s also very danceable, so I highly recommend it for playlists!