A Post-Rockist Wedding

Tom Waits – Frank’s Wild Years 
(from Swordfishtrombones)

Randy Newman – A Wedding in Cherokee Country
(from Good Old Boys)

Jens Lekman - If You Ever Need a Stranger (To Sing at Your Wedding)
(from When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog)

Elvis Presley – Hawaiian Wedding Song
(from Are You Lonesome  Tonight?)

Of Montreal – The Blank Husband Epidemic
(from Aldhils Arboretum)

The Hidden Cameras – Ban Marriage
(from The Smell Of Our Own)

Radiohead – A Punchup at a Wedding
(from Hail To The Thief)

Daniel Johnston – I’ll Never Marry
(from Continued Story/Hi, How Are You?)

The Blanks – Married Young
(from Love You Too)

The Walkmen – Danny’s at the Wedding
(from A Hundred Miles Off)

Dear readers,

If any of you have made it this far with our humble site, almost one year of digital existence despite an increasing rate of infrequent posting, then you truly are a remarkable person. Or perhaps you’re not one of the faithful few who refreshes this webpage every day with the unfulfilled hope of a religious devotional; perhaps you just stumbled upon us for the very first time by accident after searching elbo.ws for some topical additions to your tiki torch-themed wedding later this summer and had the great fortune of finding the embarassingly infectious Elvis Presley movie love song on this post, in which case lucky you, because that song’s not half bad. As a matter of fact, out of this entire list of completely inappropriate wedding songs, the Elvis tune was the only one that slipped through the cracks and made it onto the reception playlist of my otherwise un-Hawaiian wedding. (And in case you’re wondering, yes, this is my roundabout way of offering an excuse for not having personally posted anything since late March. What can I say – the wedding was wonderful when the big day finally came around, but all the preparations leading up to it can be very consuming, both financially and mentally, and waxing poetically on the importance of newly discovered pop music just drifted down on my list of priorities. Sorry.)

With all the time I spent trying to uncover the perfect unoffensive, family-friendly dance party playlist for my wedding, it was inevitable that my thoughts would turn to finding the most deceptively unsuitable songs for a wedding.  These are all songs about falling in love with the wrong person, falling in love for the wrong reasons, and other such obstacles (political, cultural, physical) to a happy union. Of course, these songs were easy to pick out of the pack thanks to their song titles. Can you think of any others better suited for this list?

Ah, it’s good to be back, reader(s). Perhaps with the one-year anniversary looming it’s time that we hold a commitment ceremony of sorts to let it be known that we, the Post-Rockist (website), are committed to you, post-rockist (collective). At least we can count on you to uphold your end of the bargain.

Yours truly,

Todd