Wedding song choices strike the wrong note
By Staff Reporter
A DIOCESE in the Republic is to discourage couples from choosing inappropriate songs for their wedding ceremonies.
New guidelines to be circulated shortly will steer choirs and soloists towards songs and music considered more fitting to the sacrament of marriage.
Padraig McIntyre, director of sacred music in the diocese of Kerry, the first lay person to hold such a full-time post, said he will direct wedding parties to “an understanding” of what is suitable.
Bette Midler’s ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ is one of the most popular wedding songs in the diocese, but its lyrics, which begin “It must have been cold there in my shadow, to never have sunlight on your face …” are wholly inappropriate, Mr McIntyre said.
“Somebody is in somebody’s shadow in the song. When you consider it properly, while it might be a love song, it is not a song suitable for a wedding,” he said.
Nostalgic songs like ‘Danny Boy’ are also out, as are much requested Beatles numbers and songs and music from the film ‘Titanic’ which bring to mind ice-cold water in what should be a warm communal experience.
PUBLICATION DATE: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2002 Belfast Telegraph
