This Track Is Vintage Cool,
but Will It Work for Your Wedding?
By Aaron Wulff
Leon Bridges has been called the second coming of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. To my ear, he also channels Elvis and James Brown, and pretty much every influential, old-school musician short of Lady Gaga. You name it, he does it: blues, soul, funk, R&B, and Rock & Roll.
I’d be lying if I said “Beyond” wasn’t one of my favorite wedding slow songs. Nay, one of my favorite jams in general. I’m a sucker for Leon Bridges’ soulful melody and gushy lyrics.
Ok, to be fair, it sounds like he’s having commitment problems at the beginning of the song, but don’t worry. Eventually, he nails it when he gets to this line:
I give up, I’m in love cryin’ out to you
Obviously, he’s found true love, and if you’re in the market for a first dance song, then you know how he feels. This song is just so damn romantic and a wonderfully laid-back slow jam for your first dance. Listening to tracks like “Beyond” and “Coming Home” (another first dance song option) makes me feel like I’ve traveled back in time to soul’s glory age. And who wouldn’t want to have a little retro coolness for their first dance?
As much as I rave about this song, it pains me to say that it has one drawback that puts a major dent in the danceability score.
What could possibly lower the score that much?
Answer: The Tempo.
I want to dance a Rumba to this song. My Rumba tempo sweet spot is 90 to 125 BPM, comfortable enough to enjoy the romance without being rushed. But ‘Beyond’ comes in at a slower 76 BPM, well under that, which could feel like you’re stuck in molasses depending on how you hear the beat in the music.
There’s another phenomenon with this tune, which is people tend to hear the quick beats instead of the slow, which would put the speed at double time in your head. Now you’re up to 152 BPM which is going to feel too fast. This gets especially exciting when one person hones in on the slow and the other hones in on the fast. I call that job security.
If you can keep with the slow beat in the dance then you can get by with a Nightclub 2-step, but it will feel close to a swaying tempo, which plenty of people will like, but might feel like you’re trapped in a song you want to move to.
As always the footnote (pun intended) I add to all of these songs: if you’re going to skip the dance lessons and just sway back and forth then you can clomp around to your heart’s content.
But let’s say you’re going to power through and use the song for your dance. Fantastic. More power to you (I did say this is one of my favorites). The song arrangement is easy to hear and there aren’t any major change-ups to throw you off.
At four minutes this ditty is going to feel long, especially if you don’t have any choreography, so you might want to consider an early fade with your DJ. The ending is abrupt, so you’ll want to anticipate when it’s coming so you can stick your final pose.
“Beyond” is a fantastic tune, and for those reasons I give it a decent score. The tempo is too slow for my liking and I’ve had couples get antsy, so it loses a couple points. If you’re thinking of getting lessons for this one, proceed with a little caution.
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