Round three of the song game, and this time the stakes are real. Rhoni Mohanraj and Joey Simms rank the top ten first dance songs, blind. Each of them sent five songs to Aiden, who shuffled the whole thing and reads them out one at a time. Neither host knows what is coming, and once a song is placed it is locked. There was zero overlap between their two lists, which surprised both of them. Rhoni admits his strategy up front. Two of his picks are pure cliché, the songs that pack a floor no matter what. The other three he chose on the strength of the lyrics, because he thinks couples pick a first dance on vibe and never actually read the words. He proves the point by reading John Mayer's XO out loud, over Joey's loud objection to turning the episode into a poetry reading. The ranking exposes the real tension in picking a first dance: popularity today against how the song will feel in ten years. Alex Warren's Ordinary was everywhere last season, to the point where Rhoni watched three separate couples get lifted on the chorus, and both hosts suspect it will not age. Meanwhile Elvis has been getting couples onto floors for sixty years. That argument decides the top of the list. Around the ranking there is a lot of shop talk worth having. The Taylor Swift saturation problem and why her requests have dried up this season. A DJ hunting down a Chris Taylor cover of I Hope You Dance that only exists on SoundCloud. An award winning Elvis impersonator booked for a wedding on the eighteenth. And a genuinely good idea neither of them can use: a surprise flash mob at a reception, which fails the moment you try to plan it for your own wedding. It closes with a World Cup tangent, a bet involving Joey's beard, and a round of Things I Wouldn't where the topic is things you should never yell at a live sporting event. That segment gets away from them, and the editor gets some work. ===== TIMESTAMPS / CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold Open: Let's Get Married 0:53 Welcome to Episode 63 1:41 The Game: Blind Ranking First Dance Songs 3:19 Where Would ABBA Go? 3:55 A Word From Trident Films 4:59 The Surprise Wedding Flash Mob Idea 5:45 Ordinary, Alex Warren 6:33 The Taylor Swift Saturation Problem 7:23 XO, John Mayer 9:01 Spin You Around, Morgan Wallen 10:37 Tennessee Whiskey, Chris Stapleton 12:08 Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Frankie Valli 12:54 Thinking Out Loud, Ed Sheeran 14:25 Can't Help Falling in Love, Elvis Presley 15:19 Elvis Takes Number One 16:07 King of Rock and Roll, and an Elvis Impersonator 16:56 You Are the Best Thing, Ray LaMontagne 17:42 Beyond, Leon Bridges 18:05 Amazed, Lonestar 18:28 The Final Top Ten 20:02 World Cup Talk and Joey's Beard Bet 22:27 Things I Wouldn't Yell at a Sporting Event ===== SHOW NOTES The final ranking 1. Can't Help Falling in Love, Elvis Presley 2. Amazed, Lonestar 3. Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Frankie Valli 4. Tennessee Whiskey, Chris Stapleton 5. XO, John Mayer 6. Spin You Around, Morgan Wallen 7. Thinking Out Loud, Ed Sheeran 8. Ordinary, Alex Warren 9. You Are the Best Thing, Ray LaMontagne 10. Beyond, Leon Bridges
