GENERAL FEATURES
Partnership Playlist Issue 254 February 2011
With our 2nd annual Civil Partnership issue out now, we look back at highlights from last years issue. Next up - GCN's Partnership Playlist, listen here!
The moment you walk up the aisle is the moment civil partnership celebration begins, so it's a good idea to get the guests in the mood for what's to come, while at the same time saying the things you want to say to each other with the right music. Shane McNamara picks his 21 top songs to start tying the same-sex knot with.
1. I Do, I Do, I Do - Abba
Used to surprisingly good effect in the film Muriel's Wedding, this has to be the gayest aisle anthem of them all. That rousing multiple saxaphone intro will give everyone a perfect snapshot of the celebration they're about to enjoy.
2. The Power of Two - The Indigo Girls
Penned by Emily Saliers, this is still one of the best lesbian love anthems of all time. Your guests will all cry messy little Cheryl Cole teardrops.
3. Secret Love - Doris Day
A bona fide gay anthem that's not about the usual surviving or being proud of who you are, but about loving someone in secret and now shouting it from the highest hills. Go on, you know you want to.
4. Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
If you're lost and you look, then you will find me... If you fall I will catch you, I'll be waiting... This song proved to the world that Lauper was a great lyricist, and it will prove to the word that you love each other.
5. Close To You - The Carpenters
Let's face it, we adore a little kitsch and we love to celebrate the schmaltzy, so what better way to start your partnership than with birds suddenly appearing and stars falling out of the sky?
6. Eternal Flame - The Bangles
Close your eyes, give me your hand... Almost up there with Close To You in the schmaltz stakes, this is one for the Disney Princess in every gay.
7. Come What May - Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor
The first song from a musical to appear on our list, this //Moulin Rouge// love ditty is super-soaked in high-octane emoting from singers who act at the same time. OTT in the best possible taste.
8. You're My Best Friend - Queen
Freddie Mercury might have sang "in rain and shine you've stood by me girl," getting the gender wrong, but those were the days when a gay pop star with a Village People moustache had to be seen as straight. Never mind, it's a simple message that just about says it all for your big day.
9. The Book of Love - Magnetic Fields
Slow and sublimely beautiful, this is one for the less mainstream couple who have something serious to say to each other about the real nature of love.
10. A Simple Love - Mellissa Etheridge
Melissa's got a lot of good love songs, but we're partial to this short and sweet one. The lyrics go: "There's a place we're bound / And they call it forever / It's a simple love / Between you and me." What more could you want?
11. Seasons of Love - Cast of Rent
One from the gayest musical off all time, this is a song that not only celebrates your love, but celebrates how much everybody in the room loves you both. Bathe in it.
12. Sun and Moon - Lea Salonga and Simon Bowman
Okay, so //Miss Saigon// is about a doomed heterosexual romance and this song is sung by a girl and a boy to each other, but for GayLord's sake, it's the perfect blend of camp and romance. "And we meet in the sky..." Ah, bless.
13. The Man I Love - Irvi Lider
From the soundtrack of the Israeli gay film //The Bubble//, this version of the Gershwin classic sung by a (hot) man for a man turns from melancholia into celebration at the flick of a gay switch. Gorgeous.
14. Only You - Yazoo
Want to inject some eighties flavour into your nuptials, yet keep it a class act with good lovin' intact? You couldn't do better than this classic featuring the amazing voice of gay icon, Alison Moyet.
15. Marry Me - The Cast of Glee
Don't pretend that just because you're old enough and mature enough to get hitched that you don't watch //Glee// religiously. Ditch the shame and get your guests high on McKinley High.
16. I'll Be There - The Jackson Five
The opening bars of this song actually sound like something you'd hear in a church, circa 1974. Bring the flare (and the flares) back and get your wedding off to a great start with this timeless classic.
17. Your Song - Ellie Goulding
A cover of the Elton John classic that not only does it justice, but lends it a sweet vulnerability that is sure to move even the toughest member of your guestlist.
18. Moon River - Audrey Hepburn
We're after the same rainbow's end, my huckleberry friend... From the soundtrack to //Breakfast at Tiffany's// this is the ultimate fairytale love song and at one minute, 30 seconds, your guests will be charmed but not bored.
19. Love Changes Everything - Glória
Take a song from the musical Aspects of Love, give it the Dublin Lesbian and Gay Choir treatment and you have one perfect opening number for a perfect day. Glória are available sing it (and other classics) live while you walk up the aisle, or even at your reception, for booking information, call www.gloria.ie
20. The Rose - Bette Midler
It was a toss-up between this and The Wind Beneath My Wings and we're still undecided. This one is marginally less cheesey, and its piano underlay is very 'wedding'.
21. Evergreen - Barbra Streisand
There are some people who would rather chew broken glass than have Barbra Streisand warble this song of love as they walk up the aisle, but those people are not gay. Like a rose, under the April snow, I was certain our love would grow... we're going, we're going, we're gone!
Listen to the playlist here and tell us what you think in the comments below!