Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A Harry Connick, Jr. Review and Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed.
Random.org has spoken and the lucky weiner is commenter #54- Lindsey from Where the Wild Things Are. Congrats, Lindsey! You must be Irish, you lucky gal!

Do you know that one Perfect song that you want to be the first dance song at your wedding reception? The one that will be ideally symbolize your love, your holy union and magically make you thinner while the whole room swoons at your sickening love?

wedding

The truth is, Jason and I never had THAT song. Even more of the truth is that I have no idea what song we danced to for our first dance! We asked the band to play a James Taylor song {Something in the Way She Moves}, but they didn't "know" it {really??}, so we improvised the night of the reception and ended up with "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"... or something as romantic and lovely as that. I guess I've blocked it from my memory!

I'm so excited to be doing my first official review and telling you all about the new Harry Connick, Jr. album that came out today! I am beside myself to be asked to review it because we LOVE Harry {first name basis in my mind}, so I jumped at the opportunity. Jason and I have seen Harry live and it was amazing and we listen to his Christmas albums every year.

Harry's new CD is called Your Songs and it's chocked full of Perfect first dance songs and other remakes of your favorite songs {from Elvis to Sinatra to Nat King Cole}. He performs classics like "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" {Elvis}, "And I Love Her" {Beatles, of course}, "Besame Mucho" {which means Kiss Me Much} and "The Way You Look Tonight". If you want to hear a bit a see a behind the scenes look at the making of the album, this video will give you a great snapshot!
Wouldn't any if those be perfect at a wedding?
Specifically if you were I was marrying Harry?
Do you think he could sing to me while dancing with me?

Harry Connick, Jr.

Apparently he is already married {and I guess I am, too}, but my Hubs loves him as much as I do, so I think he would have loved to have Harry at our wedding.

Threesome

Don't we all look great together? So natural.

Jason likes his musical ability/ styling/ the band, etc. You know, things music people would like.
I fall for his love-er-ly voice and everything that he croons to me .

Most importantly, I love that we popped this CD in and my sweet hubs spun me around the kitchen, carefully avoiding trains and Hot Wheels, while briefly ignoring the pleas of young children in our path. Something about Harry's voice makes you remember falling in love. And whisks you back to that time when you didn't think about discipline methods, lost shin guards, potty training or dinosaur shaped foods.

Thank you, Harry. I appreciate that time warp.

And as much as I love your music, Harry, I have to let you know I'm happily taken by a man who rocks out with our children and takes me for a spin around the kitchen every now and again.
So, if you want a peaceful CD to pop in while doing dishes, soaking in a bubble bath or hopefully dancing with your man {or woman, guys- hello guys? Can you take a hint, here?}, I would highly recommend this one.

It'll put a kick in your step unlike Bad, Bad Leroy Brown could ever do.

And I am happy to pass along the LOVE and give you your very own copy of this new CD!
Just leave a comment telling me your first dance song {if you remember} or what you want it to be {if you haven't gotten married, yet, or if you'd like to change it!- song, not husband}.

That will be your entry!
One entry per person, please. And don't forget to leave your e-mail address {if it isn't connected to your Blogger account} so I can get in touch with you!
I'll draw for one winner next Monday at 12:00 noon. Good Luck!

61 comments:

Unknown said...

We didn't dance, but my hubby can dance with me anytime he wants when Tony (Bennett, of course) sings. Or sometimes Sinatra. Harry's good, and has only gotten better with age (OK, did you not adore him in "The Memphis Belle"???) But the guy who really gets to me is Josh Grobin.... yummmm (oops, did just type that.) And out of left field, I've always thought that you need to have someone to slow-dance with for Alabama's "Feels So Right."

(Am I comment 1 or 2??? this is so exciting!)

Lori said...

What a fun idea! Ours was "Come Rain or Come Shine." Perfect sentiment for a wedding day, if I do say so myself. ;) Love your song story!!

Dawn said...

first: love of a lifetime (firehouse)
going away dance: beauty & the beast. yup. for real. and he sang to me. ahhh... it's been a long time since we took a turn around the kitchen :)

but my son is learning to dance in p.e. class and they are having a show tomorrow night! can' wait to see him cha-cha and waltz. with an icky girl!!!

HollY Powers said...

Well I am very, very single but have had those silly Cinderalla dreams about the 1st dance which I envision to be the Nearness of You by Norah Jones ... simple and sultry. Now I if I can just find that husband :)

CLS said...

First Dance by Corey Smith

If you go to by blog and scroll down a little bit, you can read the words to it. Perfect for us.

We are not having a big reception but we are having a party at our beach house afterwards and we have been working on putting music together on iTunes for it. Harry would be a PERFECT addition. Only 17 days to go!!

susanv said...

The Way You Look Tonight.

I love HCJ ... can't wait to pop in his christmas albums in the next couple of months.

Kim S said...

So natural. LOL!!!!!!

Unknown said...

We didn't end up dancing at our wedding reception - too crowded in the church reception hall (and we were VERY old when we got married!)... but, I really wanted Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" because we truly did wait a lifetime...

Kelli said...

Hey Hillary!

This is so funny - My husband just got married this summer, and for a long time, we also did not have "that song." We went back and forth with some Celine Dion, Frank Sinatra, and eventually decided to use "At Last." Then one day, Jason called me and said, "Hey I think I found the perfect song.. it's a little different, but I think it's perfect for us!"

SO we danced to HARRY singing "With a Wink and a Smile." It was so fun and everyone was surprised because it was so upbeat and just a really fun dance! We loved it!!!

PS - This CD is fantastic! I listened to all the previews on iTunes and I'm so excited!

Ashley said...

Hillary,
I would love to win that! I don't think I remember either a specific song we had a "first" dance too, but I do remember the song we marched down the aisle to as husband/wife, ha, it was "Today is the Greatest Day", we loved it and still do!
Hope I win!
Ashley
ashleyandcraig@msn.com

phillips phamily said...

"A Kiss to Build a Dream On" by Louis Armstrong LOVE IT!

busyrunningmama said...

Danny's Song by Kenny Loggins.....I still get teary eyed when I hear it!!

erinstwo said...

That photo is so funny! (The photoshopped one that is!) Can't wait to see you next week!

Lane Gunter said...

Our first dance WAS JT's Something in the Way She Moves!!! We love JT and I'm still pleased with our first dance selection. :) And I'm still pretty darn pleased with my husband selection too!!!

Rachel B said...

Philip and I danced to "I Could Not Ask for More" by Sara Evans but a wonderful friend Kristine sang the song for us. She had an amazing voice and it make it all the more special.

I adore Harry. I have several albums and may have to go get this one. Thanks Hillary!!

MenefeeMenagerie said...

I LOOOOVVVVEEEE me some Harry Connick, Jr!!! I'm not sure how I missed out on the new CD debut??? Anywho, Dennis and I also LOVE Van Morrison, so we danced to "Someone Like You".

Tara said...

You crack me up girl! Reading your blog puts a smile on my face with your witty comments.

Becky said...

give.me.my.harry.

we didn't have dancing. in fact, i've never ever danced with my husband in any way b/c well, he's like that. so SEE? i deserve it. i mean, did we dothan girls NOT grow up in a time where you went to a dance every other weekend?

harry...le sigh...

Anonymous said...

So Sad...no dancing at our wedding! It was back in the "olden" days, when the reception consisted of food, cake and punch in the church hall!

However!! We honeymooned in Disney World, and were serenaded by the waiters at breakfast with "I Love You Truly". It's such a sweet old fashioned song, and it always pops into my head in tandem with the smell of bacon and toast!

The Incredible Shrinking Woman said...

I am a HCJ freak myself. He single handedly saved "Hope Floats," and was brilliant in the movie "Life without Dick." (It's great!)
As far as his music...well, he is up there with Michael Bubule. Between those boys, my ears are in heaven! I actually walked down the aisle to Michael's song "That's All." I hit the room right as the music crecendos during the musical break. It was very dramatic. (Would you expect anything less than that from me??? hee hee)

Jennifer said...

We also went with James Taylor for our first dance but we had a DJ so we lucked out and actually got our song...How Sweet It Is. But I have to say that I loved our last dance song even better: Everyday by Jill Phillips. If you haven't heard it, you would love it, esp. if you enjoy dancing around the kitchen with your husband. :)

Kelly Bolerjack said...

We danced to "At Last" by Etta James. I completely copied it off another wedding I went to. I hadn't really heard the song, and I'm at this wedding (of people who I don't really know, just friends of friends) and the bride sings this song to the groom before their first dance. I was crying like a baby...it was so beautiful. So when I got married 3+ years ago, I knew this song would be perfect. It was so sweet...all except my niece getting right beside us (unbeknown to us) so she could be in every picture. Yeah, that was great. :)

Mary @ Giving Up On Perfect said...

I love, love, LOVE Harry!! (Yes, we're on a first-name basis, too.)

Mark and I danced to "I Know How the River Feels" by Diamond Rio. (If you don't know that song and want to, you can hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlc-wdWP5l4)

Michelle S. said...

I love Harry Connick, Jr.! I'm like you I can't remember what our first dance was to. We wanted it to be Lonestar's "Amazed" but we had a Jazz band so they just played some jazz song.

Lydia said...

Ohhh...HCJ makes me SWOON! I love him! I especially love "The Way You Look Tonight"...one of my favorite songs. We actually didn't have dancing at our wedding. We're not big dancers, but we love music. One of our faves is "Forever and Ever, Amen"...kind of our song. :-)
See? Harry makes me so giddy, I can't even make sense when typing!!! Please pick me! OR, if you don't pick me, please pick Candi--she's getting married Oct 10 and could totally use this at her reception!

Jessie Weaver said...

Our first dance song was "By the Way They Dance" by Jump, Little Children. It wasn't even ON a CD at the time, it was an Internet release, and the DJ LOST OUR BURNED CD the day before the wedding. Luckily, we were able to find it on one of our computers and get it to him again.

Unreasonable Grace said...

Bon Jovi's Crush had just released before our wedding in 2002 and we both quickly agreed to make "Thank You For Lovin' Me" our first dance song.

Love the pic with Harry - I'll have to try that on my husband. Replace one of the pix in our wedding album with one that shows Jon Bon Jovi looking over his shoulder. I can't wait to see what he does!
kim

Bowerman Blessed said...

SOrry to say we had no dancing at our wedding. I would have chosen "At LAST" if we would have.

Maybe this CD will spark some dancing in the kitchen for me and my husband.

holly said...

This is gonna be a long comment...deal with it...all your posts are long...ha! OMG, i never thought i'd forget what song i danced to, but i had to call tadd to find out and he forgot too! anyway, i remembered. it's Van Morrison's "Someone Like You." And ok, Harry, I love him! SOOOO MUUUCHY MUCH! I have his Christmas CDs, and a few others AND I've seen him in concert twice. He rules. And I want to know who asked you to review this CD, and why they didn't ask me since i'm OBVIOUSLY a bigger fan.
ciaobella112@comcast.net

Unknown said...

Ours was "Shining Star" by The Manhattans...NOT by Earth Wind and Fire!

Rachel

Melissa @ The Littlest Lobo said...

Hillary you are cracking me up with that picture of you, Jason & Harry! I love me some Harry Connick, Jr! This will sound crazy, but I have been told several times (in my college years) that I look like Jill Goodacre! I don't know where those crazy people got the idea that I looked like a Victoria's Secret Model, but I'll take it!

My Dad, Brad and I saw him in concert a few years ago and he was awesome! He was so funny, too. He really heckled some guy in the front row for wearing a golf sweater and he gave a foursome Hell for coming in late!

He is so handsome, even if he is a little too short for my taste. I sure wouldn't complain if he wanted to sing to me, or leave Jill for me!

Oh yeah, I think I was supposed to be telling you about my wedding instead of raving over Harry. Guess I got a little sidetracked there. Hmmm, let me think back, way way back, to April 1 2000. Harry, I mean Brad, and I never had a song, but we danced to Billy Joel's She's Always a Woman. Cliche, I know. And Dad and I danced to Silly Little Girl Come Back To Me, by the Tams. Wish we'd had some Connick.

Okay, I must go wipe the drool from my face. Random Number Generator, Pick Me!

Tina (www.the-miles.org) said...

We didn't have a first dance (because we didn't have dancing at our wedding) but I love the whole Love Songs CD Harry has (I think it's love songs...I just know I love to dance with my hubby to it now).

Mr. and Mrs. Nurse Boy said...

It was "You Call Me a Dog"... boy, I couldn't even make that up if I tried, could I? So sad, but so true.

I think it is now apparent that I NEED this album in my life! :0)

Mrs. Nurse Boy

pendy said...

"What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" was our first song...at my mama's suggestion. I still love it.

We are big fans of Harry as well...can't wait to hear this CD.

Anonymous said...

HI! We didn't dance at our reception-would not have been a pretty site! But I get twirled around the house every once and awhile. Would love a new HCJ CD!!
-Annan
chrisannan@juno.com

Carrie said...

No dancing for us, but we both fall for those old Bryan Adams songs.

Julie said...

Ooooh! I love me some Harry!!
I didn't have a first dance bc we eloped!

meredith said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
meredith said...

Our first dance was somewhat of an inside joke between me, my husband and several of his buddies. The band learned "You Bring Me Joy" by Anita Baker. Nice, right. Well...you kind of have to know my husband to appreciate his sense of humor. He showed me this video & I thought it would be a nice idea to have this song be our first dance. The link to the video is below. And yes, that is the dude from The Hangover. Enjoy!
~Meredith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoO_8Di7Ta4
meredithkay3878@gmail.com
(I forgot to add me e-mail!!)

Diana said...

Our first dance song was...N*SYNC This I Promise You. Not that we're huge N*SYNC fans. OK, I admit it, I liked them better than the Backstreet Boys. Anywhoo...it took us a long time to settle on a song since we didn't really have an "our song."
But I love Harry Connick, Jr!

Rachel Olsen said...

Well, our piano player never showed up at our reception. I was furious. We'd even rented a grand piano for him. I later found out he'd died.

Uh, yeah.

Anyway, Rick & I's song is "At Last" by Lou Rawls.

I like Harry too. I think I need to buy his new album to support him - apparantly Harry can't afford shoes ... or even feet.

Amy said...

Shania Twain's "From this Moment." I still get tears in my eyes when I hear it. Sigh :)

ohAmanda said...

Don't enter me b/c I already have it. But oh, I just have to tell you again how we are soul sisters. I'm about to cut/past your exact post on my blog...b/c I LURVE Harry.

Anonymous said...

into the mystic - van morrison
josh.andrews@onepak.com

Shooting Stars Mag said...

I'm not sure what I want my first song to be. I always loved the song from Rent, "Cover Me." My friend joke we'll dance to that, but who knows? maybe.

-Lauren

lauren51990 AT aol DOT com

Beth Mitchell Gencel said...

Our first song was --Can't Help Falling in Love" not sung by Elvis, but by Lick the Tins--a little 80s Irish band that was featured in Some Kind of Wonderful at the end of the movie when Keith gives Watts the diamond earrings. My husband is Turkish and fell in love with that song when I was playing my mix 80s cd that I had made while we were dating. He knew right then and there that was 'our song.'
On another note--I met HCJ in London back in 1994 after I saw him in concert at the Royal Albert Hall. He was so gracious and a southern gentleman. I had always been a fan, but after meeting him was more so (if that possible) than before. I told him what a wonderful concert and as he shook my hand, he said in his southern drwal--why thank you very much, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I was over the moon that he took the time to talk to me and shake my hand--I think I was drooling a bit--lol.....
uk4me@hotmail.com or beth@spacecampturkey.com

Jenny said...

Ours was "The Way You Look Tonight", followed not long thereafter by the Chicken Dance and other goofy 90's songs/dances. It was great fun and I worked up a big 'ol Alabama sweat in my wedding dress. :)

I also LOVE Harry. I feel like I can have a 1st name acquaintance with him b/c he's from the great NOLA where I was born. Ha! Saw him in concert a few years ago, and he's just as hot in person as on the cover of his albums! Great review, Hillary!!

Sally said...

Didn't dance at our wedding, the church social hall was too small. Would love this CD though, thanks for the giveaway

Joanne said...

We didn't dance at our wedding because my husband didn't like dancing. We are divorced now, but should I ever get married again, I would dance to Unchained Melody. I absolutely MELT whenever I hear the song. Love your site and I am a brand new follower.

Anonymous said...

We danced to Steven Curtis Chapman's I Will Be Here. I still cry when I hear that song and it's almost 12 years!
thanks for the chance to win!
Sonia

Dee said...

I was fortunate to see my boyfriend Harry at Red Rocks. He was (and still is) adorable. Our first dance song was, "I Will Show You the World" from the movie Aladdin. We subsequently moved all over the US, so he really did "show me the world" (okay not the world, but the US)

Maryann @ Domestically-Speaking said...

Love Harry! Our first dance was to "The Way You Look Tonight" - still one of my favorite songs.

Anonymous said...

Glenn miller jigger of moonlight. We love old classics.

Jennifer (smiling1nhsv@yahoo.com)

Lindsey said...

well, we danced to a song that ole stevo wrote for me. he had already recorded it so it was on a CD. and i LOVE harry too! i think you have my email:).

Kimberly said...

I found your blog through Amy Browning's blog. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Harry Connick Jr. I was in New Orleans when he got married and saw him and his new wife as they left the church building and took a carriage ride around the city. I have been to two of his concerts and his christmas albumns are a staple every year, starting the day after Thanksgiving.

Kmann05@comcast.net

Elyse said...

Okay, so I'm a bit late, but not too late :o) I also love Harry. How couldn't you? I caught beads thrown by him during Mardi Gras 8 years ago, I've been to a live concert and seen him jiggle his booty - whew! Of course the Christmas albums are always listened to beginning the day after Thanksgiving. We didn't have a first dance due to no music at the wedding. However, his after Katrina CD is my favorite for some reason.

kalea_kane said...

We didn't have a first dance. We got married outside at the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada and had a small get together at a condo that my brother rented. When we finally did get our dance together it was on our honeymoon in Carmel to When God Made You by Natalie Grant and Newsong. :) Thank you for the great giveaway.

:)

kalea_kane(at)yahoo(dot)com

Lyn said...

Hi!

Our first dance was Elton John - Your Song. We wanted to dance to Peter Gabriel - Book of Love, but the dance studio where we took lessons said it was too hard to dance to so we used it for our cake cutting song.

Our first duet as a married couple was "it had to be you" featuring Stephen on trombone and Lyn on trumpet as we walked into our reception.

Lyn said...

http://picasaweb.google.com/lyntrier/ItHadToBeYou#

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to edit my first comment. Here's a link to photos! Can't find a non VHS video.

Emily said...

Mike insisted on having a Brian McKnight song (his favorite) and I really wanted Crazy Love by Van Morrison. So we compromised and danced to Crazy Love by Brian McKnight!

Stephanie said...

I have been in love with Harry since I was 15. I was convinced he would meet me, say "adios" to his Victoria Secret wife (she is lovely!), and pop the question to me. It turns out that didn't happen and I met and married Prince Charming instead! But I still have a love for Harry!

Our wedding song was "When I Fall In Love."

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