The Wedding Song That Bites Back
By Aaron Wulff
Some songs were just meant to be wedding songs.
A Thousand Years by Christina Perri, which was featured in the Twilight movie series, is an all time heavyweight champ, and probably holds some kind of record for most played wedding song. It’s definitely the top played track at vampire weddings.
Fun fact, she wrote it for the wedding scene, but it wasn’t actually in the wedding scene. The filmmakers decided to put it in the end credits instead. Which…talk about a stake through the heart (vampire humor!)
Fang you very much.
In an interview with Songwriter Universe Perri said “…when I wrote “A Thousand Years,” I was just being true because I loved the Twilight movies. I was being really nerdy. I begged my manager to let me go see the movie. And it was though I cared more about screening the film more than I did the writing of the song. I literally had the Twilight book covers framed on my wall when I was a waitress. And so when they asked me to write a song for the wedding scene, I took David Hodges, my trusted writing partner, and I made him go see the movie with me, which he was not excited about because he was a grown man (laughs). Then we went back to his house and we wrote “A Thousand Years” for the wedding scene.”
They even brought it back for the second movie because, well, Bat Sabbath and Drake-ula weren’t available.
Sorry. I’ll stop.
The melody is graceful, the vocals are tender, and wedding couples everywhere have given their stamp of approval.
So can you dance to it?
Well, my Twilight-loving friends, the news is “bloody” awful. (They just keep coming to me)
But first, a note. There are two versions, one from the first movie and one from the second. We’re using the first one, though the versions are similar enough that the breakdown is basically the same.
Perri wrote the song as a waltz, but the tempo is so fast it’s really a Viennese Waltz. Good news, it’s a beautiful dance. Bad news, it’s one of the fastest and most technically demanding dances there is.
But before you drive a stake through it (ok, that’s the last one), read my article called “Is Your Dance a Speed Trap?”. This will explain the challenges of and workarounds for dancing to faster songs, particularly Viennese Waltzes.
A Thousand Years starts with a delicate piano intro, so you’ll have some time to get into the groove.
You’ll need to get your beat mostly from the guitar and strings until the first 1:30, then the full orchestra and percussion kicks in and the beat is solid.
The song generally doesn’t have any surprises or changeups. But it’s close to 5 minutes, which is too long, especially if you’re dancing a Viennese Waltz. You’ve got a short fade at the end, but I suggest you cut much earlier.
The Danceability Score for the song isn’t great, but the wedding score is Fang-tastic (you knew this would happen), so weigh them both appropriately.
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