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My fiancé's mother was emotionally abusive for most of his life, but now they are trying to make amends. She is contributing to our wedding, and very much wants to do a special mother-son slow dance song.
Problem is, all the other wedding websites recommend songs like “Mama's Song” by Carrie Underwood, and “How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You)” by James Taylor. Songs with lyrics about love and how great a parent relationship are just too hurtful for him and bring up bad memories. There just has to better choices for slow dancing songs not about love! Any suggestions on how to overcome this obstacle? I can't be the only bride out there struggling to find a slow sweet song not about love…
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It's a terrible situation when there's strife with parents during wedding planning. But I'm so glad there are amends being made and that it seems to be working out so far.
My first piece of advice is that any formal dances at a reception don't actually have to be slow dances. You can bust a move with the folks on the dance floor without having to have it get overly sentimental or romantic. Plus, it can get the rest of the guests in the mood to live it up when it's not too slow.
Second, feel free to toss on an instrumental, especially if it's a cover of a song you really like. Any punk, metal, movie theme, etc. can be made totally wedding-friendly and feel like one of the classics when it's an instrumental cover, like from Vitamin String Quartet. Ever thought about an Aerosmith song, but a classical cover?
Here are some suggestions for mid-tempo or slow dance songs NOT about love…
- “Wild Horses” by The Rolling Stones or The Sundays
- “Tonight, Tonight” by Smashing Pumpkins
- “Dock Of The Bay” by Otis Redding
- “Day-O!” by Harry Belafonte
- “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash
- “Imagine” by John Lennon
- “What's Goin On” by Marvin Gaye
- “With a Little Help From My Friends” by The Beatles
- “The Greatest” by Cat Power
- “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
- “Lights” by Journey
- “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf
- Anything from this instrumental list!
Here are some slow dance songs that are more traditional, and might include lyrics about love…
If you can find instrumental covers of some of these, they might work!
- “Lover,” by Taylor Swift
- “Coming Home,” by Leon Bridges
- “At Last,” by Etta James
- “Until the End of Time,” by Justin Timberlake feat. Beyoncé
- “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” by Marvin Gaye
- “Thinking Out Loud,” by Ed Sheeran
- “If I Ain’t Got You,” by Alicia Keys
- “Wonderful Tonight,” by Eric Clapton
- “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” by Frankie Valli
- “Lady,” by D’Angelo
- “All of Me,” by John Legend
- “Keep on Loving You,” by REO Speedwagon
- “I’m Yours,” by Jason Mraz
- “Crazy Love,” by Van Morrison
- “All My Life,” by K-Ci & JoJo
- “My Cherie Amour,” by Stevie Wonder
- “Time After Time,” by Cyndi Lauper
- “How Deep Is Your Love,” by the Bee Gees
- “Overjoyed,” by Stevie Wonder
- “Better Together,” by Jack Johnson
- “You Are the Best Thing,” by Ray LaMontagne
- “Stand by Me,” by Ben E. King
- “The Way You Look Tonight,” by Frank Sinatra
- “When a Man Loves a Woman,” by Percy Sledge
- “Fever,” by Peggy Lee
- “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” by Elvis Presley
- “In My Life,” by The Beatles
- “No One,” by Alicia Keys
- “10,000 Hours,” by Dan + Shay feat. Justin Bieber
- “Crash Into Me,” by Dave Matthews Band
- “Adorn,” by Miguel
- “Fade Into You,” by Mazzy Star
- “You Send Me,” by Sam Cooke
- “This I Promise You,” by *NSYNC
- “Butterflies,” by Kacey Musgraves
- “Love on the Weekend,” by John Mayer
- “Kiss Me,” by Sixpence None the Richer
- “Amazed,” by Lonestar
- “Truly Madly Deeply,” by Savage Garden
- “My Best Friend,” by Tim McGraw
- “Perfect,” by Ed Sheeran
- “Your Song,” by Elton John
- “Everything,” by Michael Bublé
- “Make You Feel My Love,” by Adele
- “By Your Side,” by Sade
- “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),” by James Taylor
- “California Stars,” by Billy Bragg and Wilco
- “Maybe I’m Amazed,” by Paul McCartney
- “Wild Horses,” by The Rolling Stones
- “You're My Best Friend,” by Queen
- “Vision of Love,” by Mariah Carey
- “L-O-V-E,” by Nat King Cole
- “Here and Now,” by Luther Vandross
- “Harvest Moon,” by Neil Young
- “Baby I Love You,” by Aretha Franklin
- “Like I’m Gonna Lose You,” by Meghan Trainor feat. John Legend
- “Say You Won’t Go,” by James Arthur
- “Islands in the Stream,” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers
- “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” by Crowded House
- “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” by The Miracles
- “Electricity (Acoustic),” by Silk City, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson, and Diplo
- “Til Kingdom Come,” by Coldplay
- “Because You Loved Me,” by Celine Dion
- “I Swear,” by All-4-One
- “Dream On” or “Don't Wanna Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith
Don't forget: we've got LOTS of other ideas for wedding songs like parent dances, slow jams, and wedding first dance songs, in our archives…
About the Author: Catherine Clark
Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.
My fiance had a similar problem, but ultimately we’re glad he had a mother/son dance. The DJ picked out the Israel K. Ukulele version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” for them, which I think was a great choice. The DJ also opened up the floor to other mother/son combos in attendance about a minute into the song, which took some of the pressure/focus off of my fiance and his mother.
That is EXACTLY the song I was going to suggest! There’s also a Ray Charles cover that’s fantastic, which is what I danced with my dad to, if that’s more your style.
My husband and his sisters danced to “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack. They lost their mom as teenagers, so a parental-themed song would have been much too painful. The song worked well too, as it’s about hope for the future. It was still pretty tearful for everyone.
My dad and I danced to “Walk of Life” by Dire Straits, which also has nothing to do with parents or love! It’s more upbeat though, so it depends on what kind of tone your fiance and his mom are looking for.
I would suggest “Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie. That’s what my dad and I are dancing to.
Here are a couple of options I’ve seen used: “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong is good (not a “love” song & rather short), “Forever Young” by Rod Stewart,
My dad and I danced to “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley for our father-daughter dance. We’re huge Elvis fans so I picked a song I knew we would both enjoy.