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<p>There is a line in that song which is: “Fill up my cup (drink) … Mazel tov (l’chaim)” (with l’chaim pronounced in a way no true Jewish person would). I read an interview in which the guy from the Black Eyed Peas said that they deliberately inserted that line so that it would become a popular song at bar mitzvahs. FWIW.</p>
<p>A good wedding band or DJ will be able to judge the crowd and to figure out what gets the party started and what keeps it going. Sometimes they make mistakes, but they know how to recover from that, too.</p>
<p>I would identify 3-4 songs with special meaning to the bride/groom and their friends, set some parameters (e.g., no Electric Slide, no Hava Nagila, no Play That Funky Music, White Boy – my bete noire) and let the professionals do the rest. Unless one of the happy couple is a successful club DJ, they should not be programming all the music.</p>
<p>This sounds silly, but when looking for songs to play, I look for songs that have some memorable phrase or riff that people recognize and want to dance to. For example, I’m with you on Love Shack (“the whole shack shimmy!”) and Hey Ya (“shake it like a Polaroid picture”) as good songs to get people moving.</p>
<p>For those who want to play Michael Jackson, I think Billie Jean or Pretty Young Thing would be easier to dance to than The Way You Make Me Feel or Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough. “Pretty young things, repeat after me! say na-na-na-nah!” </p>
<p>Others that are pretty easy for a mixed crowd to dance to: Dancing With Myself - Billy Idol (“oh-oh-oh!”), I’m Too Sexy - Right Said Fred. </p>
<p>I know, it was overplayed, but I always thought Mambo #5 - Lou Bega was cute. There’s a more recent song, Say Hey I Love You - Michael Franti that has that same New York urban guys-hanging-around-the-stoop feel to it.</p>
<p>And I agree with JHS – a good DJ knows how to read the crowd and adjust accordingly and doesn’t need a lot of direction beyond a few “please play thises” and “please don’t play thats.” I too don’t want any Electric Slide or Macarena!</p>
<p>Thanks for the great suggestions so far! Keep 'em coming!</p>
<p>I agree Mambo #5 was very dancable and fun. I love to have some of the real oldies thrown in: Rock Around the Clock, Blue Suede Shoes, Mustang Sally, the Twist. I like It’s Raining Men - it always makes me laugh.</p>
<p>PG–we have the same taste in music (let’s throw Roadrunner in while we’re at it.) Say Hey is my favorite dancing song in the last year, and Dancing With Myself is a perrenial fav of mine.</p>
<p>A fun one from my wedding–I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll, by Nick Lowe. </p>
<p>(Actually, she still does.)</p>
<p>I went to my godson’s wedding just last month. There’s a new song that all the kids dance to now (like the Electric Slide was in the 80’s) but I didn’t know it before I went and can’t remember the name. DS said they danced to it all through high school. Ask a kid.</p>
<p>All the Single Ladies–played for those about to do the bouquet toss
Another One Bites the Dust – getting ready for the garter throw
Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy–new to me but even I danced to it (yee ha!)</p>
<p>Wish I could remeber more. The DJ played great music–folks were dancing all night.</p>
<p>In our group of friends, when we were all at that wedding stage, we would have them play the song that goes If You Want To be Happy for the Rest of Your Life, Never Make a Pretty Woman Your Wife (the implication being that we were all pretty women who had no intention of cleaning or cooking).</p>
<p>Garland - glad to hear we have similar taste. I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar would be fun to dance to, but I don’t know if you’d want to spring that on a crowd who has not been initiated into Jonathan Richman!</p>
<p>What Wikipedia has to say on the meaning of “YMCA”, FWIW:</p>
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<p>Do not play: Meatloaf - “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad”</p>
<p>I’ve heard some weird ones at receptions. One wedding, the groom’s parents were both singers. The groom’s mom sang “Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue” as the bride and groom entered the hall. Later, the groom’s dad sang “Rainy Night in Georgia” (we were not in Georgia, it wasn’t raining). That couple got divorced a year later.</p>
<p>Once I heard a country song, “I Don’t Call Him Daddy” (about divorce) at my cousin’s wedding. Totally inappropriate.</p>
<p>LOL, atomom–that Meatloaf song is unlistenable.</p>
<p>Sweet Caroline and Dirty Water are always played at weddings in the Northeast. We just can’t escape it :)</p>
<p>I don’t know if I have been to more than one or two weddings in the northwest, where there was dancing. Men here, don’t dance, unless they are really inebriated, or gay.
Yes I realize those are generalizations, but the guys here believe them. :(</p>
<p>I didn’t have dancing at my wedding ( or a bouquet toss- or a garter snap either- didn’t have a garter I think I had a bouquet, but as I didn’t have a photographer- we just had H’s sister- I don’t see any pics with a bouquet), it would have been fun, but how many people really hire live bands?</p>