First dance songs that haven't been done to death

Thanks to Emily's Junk for submitting this to the OBB Flickr pool.

Not that I have anything against Etta Jame's "At Last" or Michael Buble's "Everything," — they're both perfect first dance songs — but I've heard them both WAY to many times at weddings. So, combining my database of musician friends (some of whom made the list), Shrie's music writing experience and Ariel's… whatever the hell Ariel listens to (which, I believe, includes everything from deep neo-soul to esoteric Euro dance pop), the OBB team has compiled a list of totally not overused first dance songs, from the silly, to the romantic, to the extremely controversial!

Oldies but Goodies — along the same lines of "At Last"

• The Beach Boys "God Only Knows" (hear it)
• Shuggie Otis' "Strawberry Letter 23" (hear it)
• Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On" (hear it)
• Otis Redding's "That's How Strong My Love Is" (hear it)
• Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing" (hear it)
• The Zombies' "This Will Be Our Year" (hear it)
• The Kinks "Waterloo Sunset" (hear it)
• Toussaint McCall's "Nothing Takes The Place Of You" (hear it)
• Al Green's "Love and Happiness" (hear it)

Sexy Romantic

• (Ariel's) Me'Shell Ndegéocello's "Love Song #1" (hear it)
• Ben Folds' "The Luckiest" (hear it)
• Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" (hear it)
• Massive Attack's "One Love" (hear it)
• Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" (hear it)
• Portishead's "All Mine" (hear it)
• Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" (hear it)

Wonky 'n Fun

• Adam Sandler's "I Wanna Grow Old With You" (hear it)
• The "Family Matters" theme song "As Days Go By" (hear it)
• Doris Day's "A Bushel And A Peck" (hear it)
• The Velvet Underground's "I'm Sticking with You" (hear it)
• The Band's "Cripple Creek" (hear it)
• Toto's "Africa" (hear it)
• Sam Hart's "Mario Kart Love Song" (hear it)
• Rick Roll those bitches!

Indie

• (Megan's) Pavement's "We Dance" (hear it)
• Jon Brion's "Here We Go" (hear it)
• Neko Case's "This Tornado Loves You" (hear it)
• Sufan Stevens' "The Dress Looks Nice On You" (hear it)
• Wilco "I'm the Man Who Loves You" (hear it)
• The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love" (hear it)
• Bright Eyes' "First Day of my Life" (hear it)
• Nick Drake's "Northern Sky" (hear it)
• The Pixie's "La La Love You" (hear it)

SUPER Indie

• Bird and the Bee "My Love" (hear it)
• Obi Best "Nothing Can Come Between Us" (you can get a free mp3 here)
• The Moldy Peaches' "Anyone Else but You" (hear it)
• The Mountain Goats' "No Children" (hear it) — yes, some people find this song controversial!
• Neutral Milk Hotel's "I Love How You Love Me" (hear it)
• She & Him's "I Was Made For You" (hear it)
• Captain Beefheart's "I'm Glad" (hear it)

Jazzin' — along the same lines of Michael Buble

• Sara Gazarek's "Makes Me Feel This Way" (hear it) or her version of "You Are My Sunshine" (hear it)
• Harry Connick Jr.'s "Come By Me" (hear it)
• Kurt Elling's "I Feel So Smoochie" (hear it)
• Jamie Cullum's "I Think, I Love" (hear it)
• Renee Olstead's " A Love That Will Last" (hear it)

Upbeat Swingin'

• (Shrie's) Chuck Barry's "You Never Can Tell" (hear it)
• Barry Louis Polisar's "All I Want Is You" (hear it)
• Sly & the Family Stone's "You Can Make It If You Try" (hear it)
• Huey "Piano" Smith's "Little Liza Jane" (hear it)

Laidback Easy-Peasy

• Mayer Hawthorne's "Make Her Mine" (hear it)
• Cat Power's version of "Sea of Love" (hear it)
• Peter Gabriel's "Book of Love" (hear it)
• Air's "Playground Love" (hear it)
• The Fruit Bat's "When U Love Somebody" (hear it)

Dark and Romantic

• Judas Priest's "Angel" (hear it)
• Rammstein's "Ohne Dich" (hear it with English translation)
• Type O Negative's "Love You to Death" (hear it)
• Stone Temple Pilots' "Still Remains" (hear it)
• Incubus' "Monuments and Melodies" (hear it)
• Killswitch Engage's "My Curse" (hear it)
• HIM's "Join Me In Death" (hear it)

As in our last post for "Non-sappy father/daughter dance songs" if you've got any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.