{"id":37300,"date":"2024-10-06T05:53:53","date_gmt":"2024-10-06T10:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=37300"},"modified":"2024-10-06T06:04:06","modified_gmt":"2024-10-06T11:04:06","slug":"wedding-song-there-is-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=37300","title":{"rendered":"Wedding Song (There Is Love)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“Wedding Song (There Is Love)” is a title of a 1971 hit single by Paul Stookey: the song\u2014which Stookey credits to divine inspiration – has since been recorded by many singers (with versions by Petula Clark and Mary MacGregor returning it to the Billboard Hot 100)\u2014and remains a popular choice for performance at weddings.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Composition and original recording<\/strong>
Stookey had first performed the song at the wedding of Peter Yarrow\u2014Stookey’s co-member of Peter, Paul and Mary\u2014to Mary Beth McCarthy at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Willmar, Minnesota. Stookey was best man at the ceremony, which took place in the evening of October 18, 1969.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Paul Stookey has an autobiographical article in Guideposts<\/a><\/strong> web site, where he describes the events surrounding the song’s creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Those were heady times. A sense of change was sweeping the country. There was a young president in the White House, hope on the wing and a new day dawning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then: despair. The impact of the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy was devastating. The arts became more and more expressive of the dark mood of the country. Gone were the dreams of a better tomorrow. The only choices left seemed to be cynicism or escape.
[…]
Less than a year after Peter\u2019s wedding, the trio took a leave of absence from performing and we each created solo albums. By then I knew that \u201cWedding Song\u201d would be included on mine, but now I had a dilemma on my hands. How could I honestly copyright the song in my name? Yet if I didn\u2019t claim the song for someone, the record company would pocket the royalties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end I set up a foundation to oversee the publishing rights and to receive all my income as composer. Any money the song earned could then be distributed to worthy causes.
[…]
It\u2019s been 22 years since the Public Domain Foundation was created to receive the royalties from \u201cWedding Song.\u201d Two million dollars has been distributed to charitable organizations all over the United States\u2014from soup kitchens for the homeless to research into computer interaction for hospitalized kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year, too, I turn down requests to sing \u201cWedding Song\u201d at services around the country. \u201cIt\u2019s not my song,\u201d I can honestly say. It belongs to every bride and groom who ever had a good friend strum a guitar and sing at their wedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God gave me a song. It was mine to give away.<\/p>\nGuideposts<\/a><\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Wedding Song (There Is Love)<\/strong>
Song by Noel Paul Stookey

He is now to be among you
at the calling of your hearts.
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
for whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name

There is love
There is love

Well a man shall leave his mother
and a woman leave her home
They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning, is now until the end.
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.

(And) There is love
There is love

Well then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here, or love that brings you life?
For if loving is the answer then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?

There is love
(Oh) There's love

The marriage of your spirits here has caused him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in his name
There is love
(Ah) There's love<\/pre>\n\n\n\n