Happy Birthday, Chris Isaak!
The man that started it all…
What I mean by that, is Chris Isaak was the first concert my wife and I went to together. We actually took a weekend to travel up to Reno, Nevada just to see him perform at the Hilton (now the Grand Sierra Resort).
After the show, I remember us being towards the end of the autograph line. My wife got a glossy picture of him signed with devil horns. I, however, had a copy of the local paper, which had a huge picture of Isaak on the front cover. It seems that management frowns upon the signing of objects not purchased on site. Instead, I got a long “secret handshake” and a conversation with him. My [then] future wife was quite jealous.
Today is Isaak’s birthday, and I figured it would be a great way to share some of his more wedding friendly songs with you. If you have a favorite, wedding friendly or not, be sure to tell everyone in the comment below!
Two Hearts
Hands down, this is the number one Chris Isaak song that you can get away with at a wedding. All the lyrics are dead on happy and about love. I’ve had requests to play this during the cake cutting and during the recessional of a ceremony, but I think it lends itself well to a first dance. If you are a shy bride and groom, this song transitions from a slow beginning to and upbeat ending — easy enough to pull all your guests onto the dance floor and open it up part way through the song. This is also a great one to watch live, as the band always does a little synchronized dance. (smile)
I’ll Go Crazy
I honestly just found this, but I like to play the James Brown version quite a bit. It’s probably best reserved for cocktails or dinner time, but it’s still a great song, and done well by Chris Isaak and the band.
Dancin’
This is probably one of my favorite mellow tracks, and there are two versions out there. My favorite comes off the Baja Sessions album, but any version is great. This live version is actually better than both of those, in my opinion. This song works great during cocktails or dinnertime.
Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing
I know what you are thinking, but hang on a second. This is a great song to use when you are doing a garter toss. The bass provides a great intro, and it allows you to have a little bit of fun with it in the process.
