A time-honored tradition at a wedding, the father-daughter dance is a sweet moment the bride gets to share with her dad or father figure. While all eyes are likely on the duo during the number, all ears will be on the song they selected to dance to.
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Knowing this, musicians far and wide have penned sweet tunes that are perfect for the sentimental moment. Read on to hear three such songs.
“Daughters” by John Mayer
Though John Mayer isn’t a dad, he penned an exceptional song about daughters in 2003. “Daughters,” which won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year, asks parents to care for their daughters when they’re young, so that they can accept love when they grow up.
“On behalf of every man, looking out for every girl / You are the guide and the weight of her world / So, fathers be good to your daughters / Daughters will love like you do / Girls become lovers who turn into mothers / So, mothers be good to your daughters too,” Mayer sings.
As for how he came up with the track, Mayer discussed just that during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast.
“I was in the shower when I came up with it,” he said. “I got out of the shower and skipped the next thing that I had to do, which was a radio interview.” Mayer recalled stating, “I can’t do the radio interview. I have to write this song.”
“I Loved Her First” by Heartland
Heartland’s debut single and its only No. 1 hit, “I Loved Her First”, is the perfect song for a father-daughter dance. “From the first breath she breathed / When she first smiled at me / I knew the love of a father runs deep / And I prayed that she’d find you someday,“ the band sings on the track.
While Heartland’s Charles Crawford didn’t initially connect with the song, once they began performing it live, he knew it was special. “I didn’t have a daughter, and the song didn’t speak to me the way it did to millions of people,” he told Pro Country Music. “However, after playing a couple of shows, it was easy to see what we had done and how it was going to go over.”
Crawford’s prediction was right, and the song turned out to be a huge success. As such, the track has had a lasting impact on its writers, Elliott Park and Walt Aldridge.
“For me, being a part of so many special days is a great blessing,” Aldridge told Pro Country Music of the track being used in weddings. “We don’t get checks for that, but it’s what motivates us to continue to express ourselves in our songs.”
“Yours” by Post Malone
A stand-out on Post Malone’s first country album, “Yours”, is a sweet song he penned with his own daughter, who was born in 2022, in mind.
The track imagines his little one’s future wedding, as Posty sings, “And she might be wearin’ white / But her first dress it was pink / She might be your better half / Yeah, but she’s my everything / We’ll both love her forever / But I loved her long before / And one day I know I’ll give her away / Buddy, that don’t mean she’s yours.”
In an interview on CBS’ Sunday Morning, Posty admitted that he already thinks about his daughter’s big day “a lot” and has written “a whole lotta songs” about the toddler.
“I’ll never forget her,” he said. “If you heard her cry, you’ll never forget her, either! It changes you in the best way ever.”
Photo by Ethan Miller/ACMA/Getty Images for ACMA
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