It's A Great Institution...

So this Saturday, July 20, my son Sam gets married.  As those of you who have gone through this already--the marriage of a son or daughter--know, it's difficult to realize that those babies we bounced on our knees, snuggled with at bedtime, carried on our shoulders, are old enough to be taking this step.  Obla-di, obla-da....

As any of you who know me or read me know by now, it's very difficult for me to write sweet and heartfelt sentimental stuff.  Alice, for instance, thinks I'm the most cynical creature to have walked upright.  I express it that way, although my knuckles are rubbed raw from dragging.  But I want to send the newlyweds off with all best wishes and optimism.

Sam and Carolyn have been together for 7 years (at the ripe ages of 23 and almost-22), and have owned a house together for 2 1/2 years.  At that age I still needed help getting dressed--and some of you will claim this is still true.  They have been clear about their path, set forth on it, and bless 'em for that.  They're sweet, loving, smart and capable, which certainly gives them a pretty damn good start.

In being even peripherally involved in The Great American Wedding Machine, though, all I can do is shake my head and say "whew!"  Like all things in American--probably global, though I think we lead--society, costs and expectations have soared beyond belief and control.  In 1960, just to pick a year, the average cost of a wedding was $1,000; according to the most recent stats, that has increased 2400 percent.  Not, of course, $2400, but 2400 times-- and I suspect that's somewhat conservative.  In fairness, though, and for comparison, in 1960, bread cost $.25 a loaf, stamps were $.04, milk $.49/gal, gas $.31/gal (!), and a new house cost $16,500.  No wonder all of us old folks remember the old days so fondly.  And by the way, this perspective is all by way of making (particularly) Carolyn's folks feel slightly better--hope it works!

So I'm playing wedding-related songs this week, again trying to focus on the positive (with some tongue-in-cheek, all-in-good-fun (another sale on hyphens this week) songs thrown in ("Married Man's A Fool,"  "Wah She Go Do?," "Better Off Without A Wife," for instance), but it turns out that, at least in my collection, musicians may not have the most favorable view of marriage.  Dylan and Arlo--one surprising, one not--are among the exceptions.  So here's the playlist:

Love and Marriage                                                                     Frank Sinatra
Marriage Chant                                                                          Greg Brown
The marriage                                                                              Billy Bragg
Marry Song                                                                                Band of Horses
Marry You                                                                                  Eric Clapton & B.B King
Plan To Marry                                                                            Lucinda Williams
Let's Get Married                                                                       Al Green
Married Man's A Fool                                                                Ry Cooder
I Married An Angel                                                                    Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker
Single Girl, Married Girl                                                            Levon Helm
We Got Married                                                                          Paul McCartney
When Will We Be Married?                                                       The Waterboys
Wah She Go Do?                                                                        Bonnie Raitt
Better Off Without A Wife                                                         Tom Waits
That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be                       Carly Simon
My Wife                                                                                      Ben Sidran
When I Say Wife                                                                         Jonathan Richman
Something Borrowed, Something Blue                                      Tommy Flanagan

An Acceptable Level Of Ecstasy (The Wedding Song)              Lyle Lovett
The Wedding                                                                               Abdullah Ibrahim
The Hawaiian Wedding Song                                                     New Hawaiian Band
Here Comes The Bride                                                               Wedding Music Experts
Wedding Bell Blues                                                                     Laura Nyro
January Wedding                                                                         Avett Brothers
Wedding Bell                                                                               Beach House
Wedding Bells/Let's Turn Back The Years                                  John Prine/Lucinda Williams
Wedding Rain                                                                              Liz Story
A Wedding In Cherokee County                                                 Randy Newman
White Wedding                                                                            Billy Idol
Wedding Waltz                                                                            Brian Melvin/Jaco Pastorius
Wedding Song                                                                             Bob Dylan
Wedding Song                                                                             Arlo Guthrie
Wedding Song                                                                             Anais Mitchell/Justin Vernon
The Wedding Song                                                                      The Ahs

I hope you can join me in honoring my son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law (there's those bargain hyphens again) this Tuesday, July 16, from Noon till two on wool.fm or 100.1 FM.

...finish Groucho's quote here.  Oh, of course you know it!