Our Song

According to Elton John, you can tell everybody this is your song.

Apparently, Elton didn't see the list of songs Todd and I had to consider as "our song". Because of one issue or another, we were faced with a bit a dilemma when it came time to choose the song that would be the first one we danced to as man and wife.

Don't believe me? Let's review:

Strike #1 - Nine Inch Nails "Closer"

Todd would quote this song and send it as messages to me thru a third party who had no clue what he was doing. It was sweet really. The avaunt garde feel of NIN was cool, but I really thought that lines like "I wanna f**k you like an animal" didn't fit the classy vibe of our wedding. Plus, you know, my grandmother was there.

Strike #2 - Radiohead "Creep"

This would be the first (and to date last) song Todd ever dedicated to me at a Human Zoo gig. It's heartbreaking and beautiful and completely wrong for a first dance. Or a wedding in general.

Strike #3- Aerosmith "What It Takes"

We played this song on the jukebox at the Bull Tadpole in South St. Louis on our first date. And it's a break-up song. Nuff said.

Foul Ball - Paul Westerberg "Love, Untold"

On one of our first dates, Todd asked me if I liked this song and I said "Like it? I have the album." I didn't. I had never heard of it. But by the next date, I had the album and adored that song. While the most appropriate of all of our choices, it's story of missed opportunities just didn't feel right.

So we settled on Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love". It was romantic and beautiful and the fact that it was Dylan lent a quirky edge that suited us. We had "our song".

A week or so before the wedding, I got a call from Todd. He had found our song. Now, most changes this close to the wedding were unthinkable and should only have been brought up because someones life was in danger. This one, however, was actually a very sweet surprise.

When Todd heard the song "Babylon" by David Gray, he said it was us. How I was there right before him, even when he wasn't perfect. It meant so much to me that he had felt that about this song that is was a no brainer. We had a new song.

Flash forward ten years and that song is now used to torture prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Every time I hear it though, I smile and remember that first dance. Surrounded by family and friends, I danced in the arms of my new husband.