the human jukebox

I just received a phone call from my buddy Kevin aka "Roman Red". He is tying the knot at the end of this month and wanted to know if I'd like to play guitar and sing songs at his wedding.

As the guests enter the chapel, Roman's friend Trevor and I will be trading off, playing songs in the background as people take their seats. I was touched and honored to be asked for such a thing, although to be fair he only asked me after another friend said he could not do it.

Still, Roman has always been one of those friends whom I have always felt was extremely reliable and honest. He and I never got that close but I think of him fondly because he was always such a funny motherfucker. And the fact that this handsome, talented man is getting hitched makes me feel good as opposed to making me want to scream "NO!! DON'T DO IT!! IT'S A TRAP!!"

Anyway, I have a favor to ask: What songs do you think I should play? I will probably work out a list with Trevor (whom I have yet to meet) so as to not repeat the same selections twice.

I have some old standbys and chestnuts that I'd like to pull out, compiled over the years for those times when drunken frat girls wanted to hear some crooning from me.

I am ready to play any love song by The Beatles, including:

Yesterday
The Long And Winding Road
Julia
Yes It Is
And I Love Her
Do You Want To Know A Secret?
It's Only Love
All My Loving
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Michelle
P.S. I Love You
Girl
Woman (solo John Lennon but it counts)
Something
Junk (solo Paul McCartney but it counts)
If I Fell (a DEFINITE requisite-- I love this song more than life itself)
Don't Let Me Down
I Will
Hey Jude
Golden Slumbers
Words Of Love (Buddy Holly cover)

I also know songs from The Smiths/Morrissey, Elvis Costello, The Kinks, Burt Bacharach, Poison (hey man, I gotta play "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"), Warrant ("Heaven isn't too far a-way-ay..."), and Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys stuff like "God Only Knows" and "Caroline No"...

I know I am barely scratching the surface here, so if anyone knows a song by an artist that can be played on the guitar and sung at a wedding, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

Wish me luck.


UPDATE: I just heard a song on the radio that not only gave me another idea for a wedding song to play, but also supplied me with my Mother's Day gift.

My mother gets too many jewels, rings, bracelets, trinkets and knick-knacks to deal with, and every year she asks that we not spend a lot of money on her.

Typical mom routine. But I do know that she is sick of all the jewels and dolls and china.

Occasionally, I get away with simple, handmade gifts because I am the "artistic" one in the family. Last year, I painted her portrait-- it looked more like her my aunt Kathy but my mother loved it anyway. I told her that, when I get better at painting, I will do another one for her.

This year, I will buy her The Best of Procol Harum on CD.

No, it's not her favorite band of all time. But their most famous song, "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", is one of her all-time favorite tunes.

Well, maybe not her favorite... but it mesmerized her for years as a little girl. She told me once that she owned a 45 of the single and wore out the grooves by playing it over and over and over.

Years ago, I bought her the single on 45 for a birthday gift, but she barely plays those vinyl records anymore. Even though she only wants to hear that one song, I figure the cost of one CD is a small price to pay for such a memory.

Every time I hear this song, I cry... and not because of the rumor surrounding the song, that the group Procol Harum ripped off J.S. Bach's "Air for G String (Suite No. 3)" (To be frank, I've never heard the Bach composition in question so I don't know).

No, I cry because I did some math in my head once and figured something out, something that my mother would probably never cop to, on account of the pain it would conjure within her.

The song was released May 12, 1967 (that's only three days away, folks!). My mother was 11 going on 12 when the song came out.

Also, my mother was about twelve years old when her father-- my grandfather whom I have never met --was killed in an airplane manufacturing plant by a large metal cylinder that came loose from a crane.

It landed right on top of him, killing him instantly.

And so she bought the 45 record, and (in her own words) "sat in my room for hours, listening to the song repeatedly..."

The song sounds like a gloomy funeral procession, or a morose wedding ceremony. I can only imagine how the song must have soothed her, in her hours of need, in her darkest moments...

Some time last year she showed me old photographs of her father, pictures I'd never ever seen before. They were faded and old but vivid and colorful.

My grandfather was a big man, a strong man. My mother, whom I always used to assume took her looks from my late Japanese grandmother, is the spitting image of her father.

My mother named her first son (my older brother) after her deceased father.

While looking through the photographs, my mother made the comment, "It's been so long, I have a hard time remembering what he looked like."

My intention is not to revive painful memories in my mother. Like I said, she likes the song. It was a valuable friend to her, a consolation that carried her through difficulties.

Being the oldest of five girls with no father figure in sight, my mother had to help raise her sisters. This cut her childhood short.

And when she became a mother herself at age 16, that signaled the end of her innocence permanently.

I can't help think of my mother whenever I hear that beautiful, haunting melody. And so I hope she likes my gift to her. I hope she understands what it means to me as well as what it means to her.