"More" Than The Greatest...

It was a little smug, a little jaded, a little insensitive. I caught myself a few seconds after I said it, don't know how much offense was taken. He would have been well within his rights to put me in my place, but he didn't.

"More than the greatest love the world has known,

This is the love I give to you alone"

It was a recent Sunday afternoon at the restaurant, and a 70-ish fellow came up and asked me to play "More".

I said "Let me guess--it's your 50th anniversary, and 'More' was your wedding song back in 1964."

"49th anniversary" he replied, adding that he wanted it for his wife, who was at a table just 40 feet away.

Now trying to recover from my original snotty response, I offered hearty congratulations to the anniversary couple, and did my damnedest to play a nice rendition of the tune.

Fortunately it's a beautifully crafted song, and a solo pianoman has plenty to work with. There's a great and irresistible 5-note counter-melody at one point, moving simultaneously to the main melody's "more than you'll ever know, my arms long to hold you so...", and it's impossible to exclude it from any arrangement, whether piano, band, or 60-piece orchestra.

"More" - from a forgotten movie called Mondo Caine, was one of the defining songs of summer 1963, with two different versions being played everywhere.

The instrumental version was a curiosity, featuring a weird instrument called an "ondioline" -- a very high-pitched forerunner of the synthesizer, sounded something like a cheesy electric organ, but better. America had never heard this instrument prior to this recording.

Concurrently there was a vocal version by Vic Dana, also a hit. "More" quickly became required learning for anyone in a wedding band. It was easy and satisfying to play, and wafted through catering halls all over America. It became the most popular "first song" for newlyweds in the mid-1960s, unaffected by Beatlemania and other huge musical trends of the time.

I know a couple who married in 1974, using "More" as their first song. By that time it was falling out of favor. I was working my first wedding receptions at the time, and the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun" and Chicago's "Colour My World" were the tunes to know. I expect that these two tunes will be frequently requested a few years from now as anniversary remembrances.

But at the present time in my little corner of the musical universe, "More" has risen to prominence again. Anniversary prominence that is -- thus my ill-considered first response to Mr. and Mrs. 49th Anniversary.

I took note of them finishing their meal and getting up to depart. I then played the song a second time -- this time adding a vocal, with a few nearby friends joining in.

Hopefully it relieved me of my guilt for having been so smug earlier on. If I was the writer of "More", I'd be awfully proud of its place in American culture, and its deep meaning to so many people throughout the years. Hopefully I'll see that couple next year on their 50th.