JEFF CAPLAN'S MY MINUTE OF NEWS
Jeff Caplan’s Minute of News: Why did so many people celebrate their wedding anniversary over the weekend?
Sep 23, 2024, 8:00 PM
From flowers and photo locations to checklists, here's everything you need to know about planning a Temple Square wedding.
Editor’s note: This is an editorial piece. An editorial, like a news article, is based on fact but also shares opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and are not associated with our newsroom.
SALT LAKE CITY — Would you plan your wedding around a pop song lyric? There aren’t many songs that mention a specific date. And when they do — for the most part — it ain’t good news.
Like Ode to Billy Joe, a 1976 song that mentions the 3rd of June. It’s a song about, well, suicide.
Here’s another song that mentions a specific date –Sep. 3. It’s also about death.
Pretty dark stuff. But there’s another song that helps explain why so many couples celebrated their wedding anniversary this past weekend. Since 2019, data shows the number of weddings is up 33% — on the 21st night of September.
The song is a relentlessly positive celebration of the magical, mystical, properties of love, and I can’t imagine a young couple saving the date because of a half-century-old song. So we presume these must be second or third marriages. Starry-eyed music lovers who knew to stay away from the third of June and that bridge.
Instead, “Ba-dee-ya, say do you remember, Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September.” The songwriter, Allee Willis, said at the recording session, “Ba-dee-ya is just a placeholder. We’ll put in real words, right guys?”
Wrong. And when they left it in, Willis says she learned you never let a lyric get in the way of a good groove. And countless couples who just celebrated anniversaries would probably agree.
Jeff Caplan is the host of Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News on KSL NewsRadio. Follow him on Facebook and X.
