Tonight, one of my favourite Britpop bands, The Beautiful South is playing in Toronto. They're a piano-based group who write melodies like Burt Bacharach but lyrics like Elvis Costello (or somebody even more sarcastic and bitter.)
I'd thought about going but between all the work I'm trying to get done (even though it's research week) and an early morning meeting tomorrow, that's not going to happen. The Calgary Flames are in Detroit, a couple hours down the road (and a place where it's likely easier to get tickets than the ACC in Toronto) and long, long ago, in a headspace far far away, I'd even marked that as a possibility knowing this week wouldn't have any classes scheduled (except I did end up with two make-up classes this week in addition to meetings every single day for Academic Rep stuff, Student Council stuff, group assignment stuff and “meet the distance course instructor” stuff.)
Oh well, at least there's always YouTube. This is a link to a semi-crappy fan cam clip of them singing “Prettiest Eyes” but I picked this song instead of one they've made a video for because it has a personal connection.
When Shea and I were having our reception in her hometown after getting married in Mexico earlier that same year, we debated what to do about the “first dance.” Neither of us are big dancers but I came across a great idea while surfing wedding sites on the Net that would get us out of the spotlight. I can't remember which song the site recommended but they suggested a “removal dance” for non-dancing newlyweds where you get every married couple on the dance floor for the first dance and then, after every verse, your MC asks people to leave the dance floor based on how long they've been married. When they leave the dance floor, they form a circle around those who remain dancing.
Of course, this means the bride and groom leave immediately and are followed by their younger friends, then all the people who are their parents' age and finally, in a nice moment, only the longest lasting couples are left on the dance floor. (One funny moment was when a couple comprised of two 80+ year olds left at the “Five years or less” verse. Turns out they were a local couple who'd only recently married after losing their first spouses.)
“Prettiest Eyes” was the song we used and except for one typically dark Beautiful South line about “And I only wrote this down, just in case that you die”, the song does a wonderful job of capturing the progression of a relationship through early courtship, blossoming romance and into old age with the chorus “Just take a look at these crow's feet, just look/Sitting on the prettiest eyes/Sixty 25th of Decembers/Fifty-nine 4th of Julys”
We didn't really count too closely (other than knowing that there were no couples present who were past their 50th anniversary) so we had our MC do the final removal for anyone past their 40th anniversary and ended up with one couple from my side and one from Shea's. This was perfect – we joined them back on the dance floor to finish the song in what was really a special moment. (Lyrics below if you want to sing along)
Line one is the time
That you, you first stayed over at mine
And we drank our first bottle of wine
And we cried
Line two we're away
And we both, we both had nowhere to stay
Well the bus shelter's always ok
When you're young
Now you're older and I look at your face
Every wrinkle is so easy to place
And I only write them down just in case
That you die
Let's take a look at these crow's feet, just look
Sitting on the prettiest eyes
Sixty 25th of Decembers
Fifty-nine 4th of Julys
Not through the age or the failure, children
Not through the hate or despise
Take a good look at these crow's feet
Sitting on the prettiest eyes
Line three I forget
But I think, I think it was our first ever bet
And the horse we backed was short of a leg
Never mind
Line four in a park
And the things, the things that people do in the dark
I could hear the faintest beat of your heart
Then we did
Now you're older and I look at your face
Every wrinkle is so easy to place
And I only write them down just in case
You should die
Let's take a look at these crow's feet, just look
Sitting on the prettiest eyes
Sixty 25th of Decembers
Fifty-nine 4th of Julys
You can't have too many good times, children
You can't have too many lines
Take a good look at these crow's feet
Sitting on the prettiest eyes
Well my eyes look like a map of the town
And my teeth are either yellow or they're brown
But you'll never hear the crack of a frown
When you are here
You'll never hear the crack
Of a frown
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