Kicking off the Dance Party

Mr. Peep is a total music person. On our first two dates, other than bringing me flowers and sparkling wine, he burned me two mixed CDs, and I only knew one song from both CDs. Now these songs are burned into my brain from listening to Mr. Peep's music practically non-stop for the last three years. He introduced me to folks like Gomez, the Arcade Fire, Spoon, Silversun Pickups and the list goes on.

While we have a couple songs that are our songs, neither of them are first dance material. The first song is My Doorbell from the White Stripes. But it is so not first dance material. The other song is almost a contender, I love it, but you can't really dance to it (we tried, and failed): See the World by Gomez

We talked about what we would dance too for months- then we got in a bit of a skirmish over it. So I decided to drop the subject for a few months and gift Mr. Peep a mixed CD full of first dance contenders for our third date-a-versary.* It seemed so appropriate.

Yet were would I find all these fabulous songs? The Weddingbee Wiki for this topic is pretty great, but I knew we needed something different. I'd be more than happy to dance to something classic, but Mr. Peep didn't seem into it. So I went where any novice music lover should go for great inspiration: Pandora!! It's genius. You type in one song you like and then they create a station for you based on that song. You can even make mixed stations with multiple songs you like.

For the last few months, I have donned my headphones at work and bookmarked all the songs I thought might make the first dance cut. I compiled all the songs about a week ago, and I had over 25 songs! Fantastic. I used a handy dandy gift card from iTunes and create two CDs for Mr. Peep. I presented them to him first thing on our anniversary. He ran (well sauntered is more like it) over to the stereo and put the first one in as we were getting ready for work.

The first contender was a Jack Johnson song. Mr. Peep heard this song and said right away that this should be the song we dance to. I love it, but he still had a lot more tracks to go. Sorry, the song doesn't start until 17 seconds in:


I had to head out the door for work, so I left Mr. Peep to listen to the rest of the music. I eagerly called him when I got to work and asked what song he liked. He asked me about the first song on the second CD. Since I didn't have the list memorized, I told him to look up the iTunes account. He said he started to cry when he first heard it (don't tell him I told you) - I knew that second that this would be our song. I have been humming it for months and I love it. He told me later that he thinks she is saying Jeremy (his name) in the video, so it's even more appropriate than I first thought. It's not really a video, but the song:


So there ya have it!! The Peep's first dance song! It's new, different and totally perfect.

Since I think I made a pretty great list of potential first dance songs, here's the playlist. Some are classics, some aren't and some are classics with a twist. And so sorry if these are just not your style.

Into The Mystic, Van Morrison
Wonderful Remark,Van Morrison (our third choice!)
Days Like This, Van Morrison (obviously I like Van Morrison)
1 2 3 4, Feist (this song is just so fun)
Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You - Lauryn Hill
Little Romance - Ingrid Michaelson (this didn't actually make the CD since I would have had to buy the whole album, but I love it just the same)
You Really Got A Hold On Me, She & Him (thank you Weddingbee for introducing She & Him)
Fly Me To The Moon, Frank Sinatra (these next few are classically perfect)
Come Away With Me, Norah Jones
You Make Me Feel So Young, Frank Sinatra
I Wish You Love, Tony DeSare Moondance, Michael Buble
La Vie En Rose, Louis Armstrong (this song always reminds me of the movie French Kiss)
Falling Slowly, Glen Hansard & Marketta Irglova (you MUST see this movie, love it!)
Forever, Ben Harper (there really couldn't be a more perfect love song than this!)
In Your Eyes (Acoustic), Sara Bareilles (as an 80's fan, I love this version)
New Soul, Yael Naim
Supposed To Be, Jack Johnson
Songbird, Eva Cassidy (inspired by Mrs. Cookie and Love Actually)
The Way I Am, Ingrid Michaelson (love this song, and so do other bees)
1963, Rachael Yamagata (not really wedding-esque, but a great song)
Maybe I'm Amazed, Jem
You Are The Only One I Love, Jaymay

Hope you enjoy! So, are you going with an old stand by, or something new and different?

*Decidedly the last time we'd celebrate our date-a-versary since we'll have an even better anniversary to celebrate next year!