I remember the day my nephew Jeff McColl was born as though it was yesterday and I remember every day since then, my nephew was a terrific kid and he is a terrific man and now he is about to get married to his lovely fiancée Jeannie, he will one day make a a terrific father -if watching him with his own nephew and niece is anything to go by.
I remember taking Jeff to the World Series at the Old Yankee Stadium, standing him on the seat (he towers over me now) and then holding his hand as we ran to the train after they won it all, we were at field level and I pointed at Wade Boggs riding on the back of a cops horse round the field of dreams.
A tall, handsome, good hearted kid, according to his Mom he could be a handful but I never saw it. We shared a taste in hip hop (Eminem anyone?) and a mutual respect and love and I am so excited he is marrying Jeannie; a beautiful woman and a smart woman, a match made in heaven. You know the story, well, here the story is true.
The wedding is around two weeks away and for me, my feelings are nostalgia and a tinge of sadness because I’ll miss the kid he was, mixed with joy at the milestone and joy for his joy.
So what did I do?
I asked what their wedding song is.
Because that’s what matters, and I wasn’t expecting “Square Dance” and didn’t get it and, though I caught Jeff listening to Chris Brown on Spotify. and he had me a little worried, I would’ve forgiven him for “Loyal”, less so for “Bitches N Marijuana”. Hey, it could be worse, it could be R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” or equally rotten “You Decorated My Life” which has a connection here with the couples choice but no… Jeff and Jeannie went with “Everything” by Michael Buble.
“Everything” was a huge breakthrough for Buble, off his mammoth third major label album Call Me Irresponsible, the song proved Buble could write a lyric, if not a song as it is an extremely irresponsible track: Buble can consider himself very very lucky Barry Gibbs and his brother Maurice, didn’t sue the pants off him. “Everything” written for his then girlfriend Emily Blunt, is a rip off of “Islands In The Stream” (not to mention “Ghetto Superstar” but at least Pras ‘fessed to it and Mya sang it to a standstill) . Now, if you want to write a love song to Emily (or Jeannie for that matter), “Islands In The Stream” is the song to rip off in order to do it, but if Marvin Gaye had written it, Buble would be down seven million bucks right now this second.
The writing credit for “Everything” goes to Buble, his pianist Alan Chang and Amy Foster-Giles, and it really is a terrific song. The album was a smash though “Everything” stalled. Still, it builds along American standard faultlines and finds a middle ground between pop and easy listening rock. As full hearted declarations of love goes, this is pretty thorough:
You’re a falling star, you’re the getaway car.
You’re the line in the sand when I go too far.
You’re the swimming pool, on an August day.
And you’re the perfect thing to say.
And you play it coy but it’s kinda cute.
Ah, when you smile at me you know exactly what you do.
Baby don’t pretend that you don’t know it’s true.
’cause you can see it when I look at you.
You’re a carousel, you’re a wishing well,
And you light me up, when you ring my bell.
You’re a mystery, you’re from outer space,
You’re every minute of my everyday.
And I can’t believe that I’m your man,
And I get to kiss you baby just because I can.
Whatever comes our way we’ll see it through,
And you know that’s what our love can do
And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times
It’s you, it’s you, you make me sing.
You’re every line, you’re every word, you’re everything.
Well, that’s the sort of words you want to say to your bride now isn’t it? Jeannie deserves no less. Neither does Jeff.
Everything – Michael Buble – B+
Ghetto Superstar – Mya – B+
Islands In The Stream – Dolly Parton And Kenny Rogers – A