SwingDJs

Hey DJs,

I've been asked to DJ a wedding in which they want romantic swing songs which are still danceable. Sad to say, I've never Dj'ed more than one or two, and I'm looking for some ideas. Because it's a wedding, I'm expecting to need a wide range of styles and danceable-ness.

A few examples of what I've got;

I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Django Reinhardt; Memorial
Smile, Madeleine Peyroux; Half of the Perfect World
Keepin' Myself For You, Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five; The Complete Gramercy Five Sessions
My Baby Just Cares For Me, Nina Simone; Anthology
Sweet Lorraine, Teddy Wilson; The Gentleman of Swing
No Regrets, Billie Holiday; Lady Day

Thanks!

The Armstrong-Fitzgerald duet albums have lots of good slower options.

It would depend on whether you want to avoid songs that sound romantic but are really about pain, heartache and despair. Or songs that are romantic but heavily laden with innuendo.

Doesn't really matter. Whatever you want to suggest I'll look at.

I like this thread because it sounds like the opening line from a classifieds ad.

I really like 'Autumn in New York', the 1952 Billie Holiday version. It's only about 70bpm, but it's a nice 'kissing song', where you dance in close with someone you like.


I really like a few versions of 'Cheek to Cheek', which always feels very romantic to me. There's a version by Fred Astaire which is nicely bouncy as well as romantic! There're a few Astaire versions, but most of them are too heavy on the strings and too cheesy. But there's a nice version on Fred Astaire Sings Irving Berlin.


I can think of heaps of 'romantic' songs, but I'm not sure exactly what you're going for, so this is the best I can do right now. Hope they're useful.

dogpossum wrote:I like this thread because it sounds like the opening line from a classifieds ad

You could try some of these ...

Banana Split For Baby, Louis Prima
(not exactly a love song, but a light-hearted number about ordering food for your girlfriend in a cafe ...)

Be Mine, Etta James

Comes Love, The Andrews Sisters

Hallelujah I Love Her So, Ray Charles

How Come You Do Me Like You Do?, Connie Haines

I've Got You Under My Skin, Frank Sinatra

My Baby Said Yes, Bing Crosby

Solid As A Rock, Count Base or Ella Fitzgerald

You presumably have been hired by the groom and/or the bride, who are going to be too busy pay pay attention to your set. Thus you should give it a ironic twist with songs such as:


Am I blue
After You've Gone
Baby, Won't You Please Come Home?
Dinah
It Makes No Difference Now
Somebody Stole my Gal
Some of These Days
Sittin' On Top of the World
Who Walks In When I Walk Out

Those are all standards with many different versions available.

Lorenzo

I love being here with you - Barbara Morrison
Don't Falter at the Alter - Cab Calloway

So, if it is for a wedding: At one point, we had a rash of weddings and were all DJing each other's nuptials. We burned all their song choices on CDs and presented it to them after the wedding. Even get requests by parents. We usually collected 70-80 tunes approved by bride and groom, all genres, becuase you end up playing more like 40-60 songs, depending on how many special dances there are. FYI: everyone dances to 70s music. Stuff like Stevie Wonder. Let me see if I can find an old list tucked on my computer.

Special songs:
dance with mom/dad
first dance
any line dances
any performances
cake cutting
etc.