Famous weddings and iconic songs
The combination of music and marriage has always been a winning combination. Each couple has its own soundtrack, made of significant memories and iconic songs. Today we talk about songs that have marked the history of music, not only for their beauty and fame, but because they have become the emblem of famous weddings, whose backgrounds have intrigued thousands of readers over time.
Passionate dedications, through which some of the most acclaimed stars of the music scene have paid tribute to love and told the essence of their marriage.
Elvis Presley: Always on my mind
The relationship between Elvis Presley and his fiancée Priscilla Beaulieu was one of the most talked about stories of rock ‘n’ roll. The two met in 1959 in Frienberg, Germany, while the artist was doing his military service in the U.S. Army. The growing fame of Elvis and the young age of Priscilla, who at the time of the meeting was only 14 years old, pushed the Beaulieu family to strongly oppose this bond, which despite the difficulties survived the time and the distance.
On May 1, 1967 the couple was married at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, in the presence of the closest family members and a few close friends. The ceremony lasted only 8 minutes, but the lavish reception cost about $10,000 and was crowned with a lavish 5-story cake. After his divorce from Priscilla in 1973, Elvis publicly dedicated to her the nostalgic and beautiful Always on my mind, written by Wayne Carson and Johnny Christopher, arranged for “The King” by Mark James.
The song has countless covers, including the re-adaptation in French by Mireille Mathieu (Tu n’as pas quitté mon coeur), the country/rock version by Willie Nelson and the synth-pop version by Pet Shop Boys, which in 1987 topped the international charts.
The Beatles: The Ballad of John and Yoko
Recorded in April 1969, this song celebrates the iconic love story between John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who were married on March 20 of that year at the Rock of Gibraltar. At the wedding, both were dressed in white: he wore a suit and turtleneck; she wore a wide-brimmed hat, mini-skirt and knee socks, in accordance with the youth fashion of the time. Taking advantage of their notoriety, the couple transformed their honeymoon into a peaceful protest against the war in Vietnam and spent the first week locked in a room of the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam, in the constant presence of photographers and journalists.
The images of the so-called bed-in, replicated two months later in Montreal, went around the world and were immortalized in the official video of the overwhelming song written by Lennon and Paul McCartney: The Ballad of John and Yoko.
Madonna: True blue
True blue, the third single from the 1986 album of the same name, is the first song written by Madonna after her marriage to Sean Penn. Composed and produced with American songwriter Steve Bray, owes its title to an expression coined by Penn himself, to whom the singer dedicated this carefree hymn to pure love: I never knew love before/ ‘Til you walked through my door […] True love/Your heart fits me like a glove.
Seven times platinum, True blue stayed on the UK charts for 85 weeks. With 25 million copies sold, it is one of the most popular albums in pop history.
John Legend: All of me
Released on August 12, 2013, All of me is a tender tribute by artist John Legend to his wife, American model Chrissy Teigen. The video clip, set on Lake Como, was shot a few days before the wedding. The final scenes of the film, entirely made in black and white, show some color images of the wedding, which took place on August 31, 2013 at Villa Pizzo, a residence of the seventeenth century overlooking the Gulf of Cernobbio.
With over 12 million copies sold, All of me is one of the most beloved songs by the new generation of artists, who have often proposed it in successful talent shows such as X-Factor and The Voice.
